JANESVILLE — Through perseverance and passion, Alexis Riemer of Janesville has made her dream of owning a food truck a reality.
Lex’irriaz is a woman-owned and operated karaoke birria food truck that serves Janesville, Beloit and surrounding areas.
“I never would have thought my career would have been with food,” Riemer said.
Initially wanting to be an esthetician, she started taking classes at Aveda Institute in Madison in 2020.
“When COVID hit, we were on a pause and I wanted to make some extra money, so I started selling plates to friends and family. First I was doing seafood boils, chili plates and then I started doing tacos, and they really took off.
“My friends were like ‘Lexi, you need to sell these’ so I started doing it once a week,” Riemer said. “Sometimes I’d get five orders, sometimes zero, then all of a sudden I have a whole work crew ordering 25 meals.”
A year later, she ran into an old friend who had a food truck, and the friend invited her to serve her birria tacos.
“It was amazing. I got such great feedback and I got my food out to people in different areas,” she said. She continued working under her friend’s establishment and started to branch out on her own in 2023.
After attempting to serve food at the Evansville Fourth of July celebration last summer, she hit a wall.
“I was so excited, this was a four-day event and they wanted us there. I bought hundreds of pounds of meat but then received a voicemail from the (Rock County) health department for a cease and desist order. Someone told them I had an incorrect license,” Riemer said.
She was unable to serve food for three months because she didn’t want to take any risks that could potentially ruin her business forever.
“You can only feel sorry for yourself for so long, so it fueled my fire. I got my LLC and server’s permit to serve the general public,” Riemer said. She was preparing food out of her friend’s commercial kitchen, which was approved by the health department, she said. She was able to go back to serving at events.
“I would rent a U-Haul and throw my tents, tables, crock pots and I would cook everything in the kitchen the night before and load up the next morning. Then after taking everything down I would return the U-Haul, which is how I got so close to U-Haul and now that’s our base,” Riemer said. At this point, “I had a food business, and I’m just really trying to get a food truck. Through consistency, I was able to make it happen.” Riemer said.
After saving money and raising some through a GoFundMe and with support from family and friends, Riemer was able to secure a food truck from Tennessee.
“I’ve just been dealing with so many little things over the last year so to finally have this is such a blessing. I’m so grateful,” Riemer said.
Riemer enjoys singing, so she added the karaoke aspect to give customers a different experience. The grand opening was May 19.
The Lex’irriaz Facebook page provides the food truck’s menu and location, which can change weekly. The truck’s base is at U-Haul, 1900 E. Milwaukee St., where food is also served if not at a different location or at the Janesville Farmers Market on Saturdays.
“I found them at the farmers market and I just love the food. I missed the market last week, so I tracked them down,” Demecia Pitchford said on Wednesday while getting birria plates with her son, Raymond Davis. The truck was out near the Southern Wisconsin Regional Airport that day.
Terry Clemons and Amber Tracy tried Riemer’s food for the first time on Wednesday.
“I’m hoping we can get her to cater my son’s graduation,” Clemons said.
Any leftover food at the end of the day is given to people who are homeless in Janesville.
“Everything, every night just goes back to the community. The community has helped me so much that I can’t help but want to give back, so we actually just donated $1,000 to Family Services of Southern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois,” Riemer said. “I just love being a small business in this community.”
For more information, contact Riemer at 608-290-1602 or lexirriaz2021@icloud.com.
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