Most people only think of food trucks in their finished state, a ready-to-roll kitchen bringing favorite foods across the city right to the curbside. But if ever afforded the opportunity, take a closer look inside…you’ll notice these trucks sport a sophisticated array of cooking, preparation, and communication equipment optimized for cooking, serving, storing, and preparing foods in very tight quarters. When we conceived the Okamoto Kitchen Truck we knew we wanted a mobile food preparation vehicle (MFPV), where customers could be offered made-to-order meals instead of pre-packaged foods made elsewhere, earlier. This would require the expertise of a company specializing in converting trucks for the demands (and meeting the regulations) for making the best food possible. We turned to MSM Catering Trucks to help realize these dreams into reality.

Operating as a father and son operation, MSM Catering Trucks owner Luis Delgadillo has been in business since 1991, helping build out popular food trucks like Crepes Bonaparte, My Delight Cup Cakery, and food trucks for the entertainment industry. We gave him our plans and in 8 weeks we were the proud recipients of “Ume” – “plum” in Japanese – the nickname we bestowed our converted 2004 step up van, soon be traveling across the city regularly to bring our menu of curries, sandwiches, croquettes, and other authentic Japanese offerings.

8 weeks of fabrication and install were required to customize our 2004 step van to our specifications. But in the end it was all worth the wait.

Once the truck build inside was completed, the van was ready to be wrapped in a customized graphic theme designed by co-founder Gerald Abraham, embellishing the Okamoto Kitchen Truck with a unique red, yellow, and white design which we hope becomes an instantly recognizable part of the Los Angeles dining landscape.

Chef Chizuru Okamoto Abraham and team give the truck one final inspection before earning a “thumbs up”.