Family-run food truck is a smash

The Smashed Cow quickly gained popularity in Princeton

A new food truck has been making waves through Princeton with its signature smash burgers and wings since it opened its doors.

The Smashed Cow food truck only recently began patrolling local communities and attending events, with its first event having been in mid-April this year.

Siblings Robert Matthews and Peggy Starr started the food truck as a new business venture, and it has been a smash hit ever since.

“I’m a retired police officer from Los Angeles, and she worked in the corporate world and decided she didn’t want to do that anymore. I decided to get out of retirement and do something, so we decided to do a food truck,” Matthews said. “We both have backgrounds in customer service, food, and restaurants, so it was a good fit for us.”

The pair first began planning for the food truck in October and November 2023. That’s when they began designing their logo and menu and ordered their trailer.

The first step was for the pair to decide on the food they wanted to serve in their food truck. Then they were able to start developing their recipes.

“We did our research to see what was lacking in the area, what kinds of foods were needed, and we decided on burgers and wings,” Matthews said. “Everything is all ours. I like to cook, I’ve been cooking forever. It was trial and error. We sat down and looked at what kinds of burgers were popular and looked at what we liked. We decided to go with the smash burger type burger because they cook quicker and people like them.”

All of the meats sold from the Smashed Cow are locally sourced from Milaca’s Backroad Meats, including the beef, chicken, and bacon, plus cheeses.

The food truck’s most popular menu items are its homemade smash burgers.

“We have our five specialty burgers, and we have a build-your-own burger, so you can pretty much get whatever you want on it — they sell the most,” Matthews said. “As far as the specialty burgers, the mushroom swiss and the BBQ bacon, even the peanut butter and jelly. I make the pepper jelly myself.”

Since their opening, the Smashed Cow quickly became popular with local residents and has been in high demand for local events ever since.

“Last week we booked three big events in one week. We were at the brewery (Sunken Ship Brewing), we were at Food Trucks on the Farm, and the Mille Lacs County Fairgrounds for the craft fair and tractor pull,” Matthews said. “We actually had to turn down quite a bit. We were looking at how many people we’re going to serve, and we are well above what we thought we would be.”

Matthews and Starr plan to keep the Smashed Cow local to Princeton and other nearby communities despite the high demand.

“We want to stay local, too. We’ve stayed mainly in Princeton and the surrounding areas, but we want to keep it local,” Matthews said.

Matthews and Starr spend four days per week serving their burgers and wings all around the Princeton area, often working 12-hour days.

“We like to work Wednesday to Sunday. Typically, Wednesdays we detail the truck and do a deep clean,” Matthews said. “In the mornings we prep everything so that we can make it fresh. It’s 12 hours a day at least four days a week.”

Due to the popularity of the food truck and all of its food made to order, wait times can often run long.

“We make everything fresh and there are only two of us cooking. So our wait times do get up there sometimes, but when you get 50 burgers all within a short amount of time, we can only have so much meat on the grill,” Matthews said. “When we’re busy, 12 to 20 minutes is an average wait time. Be patient, it’ll be worth it.”

According to Matthews, the majority of the feedback and reviews they have received have been positive, and they see a lot of familiar faces in returning customers every week.

“We’re very fortunate, 99% of the reviews are positive. We have tremendous support already, which is amazing after two months. So hopefully we can keep it going,” Matthews said. “It’s nice to know that people like your food. They’re our recipes, so it’s always nice when people like it. We have people coming back multiple times a week.”

To make the wait times a little easier on their customers, the Smashed Cow plans to start using pagers to let people know when their orders are ready so they no longer have to wait near the food truck for their food.

But Matthews and Starr would not have had the positive responses they’ve had without the support of their customers and the community.

“We really appreciate all their support, all of their comments and everything have been outstanding and we really appreciate that,” Starr said. “The big ol’ smiles on their faces are pretty awesome.”

To learn more about the Smashed Cow or to see its weekly schedules, visit its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61554853684874.

Reach Chloe Smith at chloe.smith@apgecm.com