Traveling food truck Smashing through their first anniversary

A traveling food truck known for hopping town to town in East Texas and serving tasty smashburgers and crisp, perfectly golden fries is celebrating their first anniversary on April 29.

If there’s one thing any Texan knows by the smell and taste, it’s a good burger. In one town alone, there’s various options of burgers to choose from. From Hughes Springs, Robert Nelson and his wife, Heather, bought a trailer and fired up their own grill, capturing local taste buds with their smashburgers.

“I bought a blackstone griddle and started cooking burgers at the house,” Robert said. “Cooked for some friends and they all liked it and said I should sell it. It was kind of a joke at first, but then we jumped into it. It happened really, really fast.”

The smashburger, said to originate in Denver, Colorado, is a burger in which the meat patty is smashed into the grill. The result is a perfect sear on the meat, locking in all the juice and beefy goodness. It’s gained popularity through the years, not only for the taste, but also due to how fast it’s cooked.

Robert said he’s always enjoyed cooking and jumping into a food trailer gave him at least one of his childhood dreams. He added that the business has come a long way in a year, “We originally had a barbecue trailer. When we first looked at it, we didn’t like it at all. The layout wasn’t going to work. But we eventually went with it and put a blackstone griddle in the back, had an itty-bitty fryer in there.”

After three months, Robert and Heather were able to upgrade. They eventually bought the new, current trailer and also got commercial equipment. Robert expressed that they’ve thought about expanding, but ultimately, the trailer is a lot of work and they enjoy being on the road, “We’ve had multiple people reach out to us about buying in the restaurants and buying brick and mortar restaurants. At this time, we just don’t feel like that’s where God’s leading us. We like being able to go to different areas and let the people that haven’t had our food try it.”

Heather, who used to work at her sister-in-law’s daycare before jumping into the ETX Trailer, is very supportive of her husband and said she’s enjoyed the ride, “It felt like a long journey, but then it was really fast. And there’s been so many changes that we would have never expected– like, to have a whole other trailer already. But it’s been a pretty good experience and we’ve met a lot of nice people.” Robert said the menu, for the most part, hasn’t changed too much. They have new burgers that they test out and if people love it, they add it as a permanent menu item. The Luau Burger is one of those new menu items that East Texans can’t seem to get enough of.

“The truck has limited space, so there’s not a lot I can do besides whatever I can cook on the griddle,” Robert said. “I’m also running on generator power, so even if I wanted to add more equipment, I have to consider the generator. But I like trying new things. I’m working on a chicken sandwich, just to give someone who might not eat red meat an option.”

On ETX Smash’s anniversary, the truck won’t be open, but they’ll be doing giveaways. This will include T-shirts, burger packs, and other ETX Smashed products. Robert said to watch their Facebook page for the giveaway and also follow them to see their weekly schedules. This week, Robert and Heather are in Hughes Springs for the Wildflower Trails Festival.