STOCKTON, Calif. — The past few days have been busy but rewarding for Steve Ramsey of Lathrop.
On Tuesday, Ramsey opened up the gates at "Lathrop Food Plaza", the city's only food truck park, featuring 17 different food trucks. Once the gates opened, the customers began arriving.
"We're seeing it daily, you know, more people, more people, more people," Ramsey said. "I think this weekend we'll be extremely busy."
The park is expected to be busy over the weekend as new customers stream in to taste the different foods from vendors and food trucks.
While Ramsey has negotiated with 20 food trucks to move in by the end of the month, only three are on site now. At the plaza, restrooms and covered seating are also be available to customers.
"Everything's clean and neat, it's all concrete. It's going to be a nice destination for everybody to come to and enjoy these vendors," Ramsey said.
For Lathrop residents, the new attraction is another place to try new and unique dishes but for Ramsey, Tuesday's opening was the manifestation of a year and a half of work to get the facility open.
"It's been challenging," Ramsey said. "I still have lights that are delayed sitting on some ship out in the ocean."
While shipping and construction delays caused the project to slow down, the community's support did not, according to Ramsey.
"The city of Lathrop has been unbelievable to us, they're calling it a destination," Ramsey said. "I just had people coming over yesterday from the hotel, very thrilled that we're going to have this type of deal here."
A second phase of the project, still under construction, will add 10 new food truck spots to bring the total to 30. Ramsey is also hoping to open a commissary in the middle of the plaza.
"The city and county, everybody's working with me very, very well," Ramsey said. "We're going forward, it was a big deal to get started."
For now, Ramsey is bracing for the weekend as he expects more vendors and customers alike to fill his plaza, right off of I-5, and enjoy new food.
"I think this weekend will be the big start of when we can get some of these vendors in here," Ramsey said. "They're going to come in and we're looking forward to it."
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