Food truck pushes healthier options

The food truck concept often evokes images of greasy, fried foods that aren’t reasonable options for the health-conscious. But Desmond Ng and Bryan Leong’s endeavor, Amazebowls, is far from that stereotype. Their bright purple truck, which students have likely seen at the intersection of Hoover Street and Jefferson Boulevard on Wednesdays and Thursdays, boasts a refreshing innovation: the acai bowl.

Amazing team · Acai bowls have become a popular healthy treat for university students, and USC alumnus Bryan Leong (far right) and Desmond Ng (far left) came up with the idea of opening a food truck. – Courtesy of Amaze Bowls

Leong, a 2013 graduate of the Marshall School of Business, compares acai bowls to sorbets, minus the guilt. Each bowl contains a blend of acai berries topped with granola, bananas, strawberries and coconut shavings.

“It gives you a good boost,” Ng said. “We were catering for a marathon, and I had to wake up at 4 in the morning, and I had a double acai bowl. It got me through the day.”

Acai berries have emerged as the recent craze among fitness enthusiasts, labeled as a “superfood” by many dietitians and experts. Leong explained how the high price of their bowls, which come at nearly six bucks a pop, can be attributed to the rarity of the acai berry — these berries can only be found in the Amazon rainforest.

“We first came across it in Santa Barbara, at a place called Backyard Bowls. There really wasn’t anything like that around here, so we started working on one,” said Ng, Amazebowls’ self-proclaimed “chief chemist.”

As co-founders, Leong and Ng have already faced many roadblocks since starting their business. At first, accruing capital and labor was a challenge. Currently, Leong and another partner are the main investors.

“We received unbelievable support from a lot of people. Whenever we need help, like when we first started doing study nights [at USC], we had no labor,” Leong said. “But all of our friends worked for free, helped chop up the food late at night and helped us figure out how to clean the truck.”

But the ultimate test for the duo wasn’t crafting the perfect recipe or branding their product: It was finding parking space.

“When we wanted to start a food truck business, we thought we could roll up to any area and get a lot of sales. That isn’t the case at all,” Leong said.

Ng added that getting a parking spot with lots of people isn’t necessarily a guarantee of success.

“High traffic areas do not mean high sales. We went to Santa Monica, where there were so many tourists, but none of them stopped by to buy anything,” Ng said.

Moreover, working out of a truck isn’t easy. Like restaurants, trucks must abide by a host of health and safety regulations. They must also park at least 100 feet from a restaurant and owners must constantly feed parking meters to avoid costly fines. And a noticeable dent on the truck’s front bumper, caused by another careless driver, seems like an imperfection on nearly perfect presentation. But to Leong and Ng, such accidents are expected, and it’s more important to roll with the punches than dwell on the setbacks.

Despite the obstacles, their close friendship and sense of trust has helped them persevere. Both co-founders have seen their fair share of adversity, but the two have developed a relationship that plays to each other’s strengths. Ng said he appreciates Leong’s ability to think on his feet, while Leong said he admires Ng’s business skills and passion.

“Desmond’s work ethic is one of the best I’ve ever seen. He keeps everything neat and organized. Finding that is not easy,” Leong said.

Amazebowls has already amassed an impressive social media following. Their energizing bowls currently have all of Los Angeles talking, whether it’s through enthusiastic tweets or comments on the company’s Instagram photos. The Amazebowls team is composed of five other members who contribute to daily operations.

“Since everyone is working on it so much, we take everyone’s input into consideration. It’s more of a team effort,” Ng said.

Leong and Ng also said that their consumers continue to inspire them to better their product.

“After we serve a bowl and they say, ‘This just made my day,’ that definitely keeps us going,” Leong said.

Ng and Leong hope to expand their food truck business to an actual café by next year. But for now, Trojans tired of dining hall pizza and sandwiches can always opt for this tasty and healthy treat, just a brisk walk away on Jefferson and Hoover.