Local foodies and vendors show up for Food Truck Rally in Albuquerque

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – It was a nice day to eat some great food outside, and that’s just what many did Saturday at Cliff’s Amusement Park.

One food truck that was there for the rally Saturday is showing us the successes and challenges of the business.

Las Chanclitas 2 was serving up music and food for customers at Cliffs Amusement Park. The park was closed, but food trucks were open for business for the Food Truck Rally hosted by Delectable Baking Company. 

Food trucks and local vendors were out enjoying the sunny winter afternoon, and so were a ton of local foodies.

“So my mother-in-law, started her business a couple of years ago doing carnitas and things she actually named Las Chanclitas, after my two daughters. So there’s these two little sandals, if you look at it, it has their names on it. So cute, and so she got really popular,” said Shaina Snell with Las Chanclitas 2 Food Truck. 

Snell and her husband run Las Chanclitas 2. She says the original truck got so popular they expanded.

She says, so far, business is great since opening in October.

“It’s been super popular just because we added menu items. So we don’t have certain things that she does, we do pizza birria we do, like comabatos, and ours are a little different, but we follow her recipes as well,” said Snell. 

Recipes like the birria tacos. And what’s a pizza birria you may ask?

“It’s going to be a 10-inch flour tortilla, and then it’s melted cheese, and then you have the birria meat which is beef from ours. And then you have another tortilla on top, and then they, he makes a guacamole salsa to go over the top, and then cream like sour cream, and then cilantro and onion,” said Snell. 

But with the rising cost of everything, she has to spend more time buying food.

“I’m the one that runs a lot of the errands, and they prep everything. So I will literally go from store to store and then kind of compare prices and get the best deals I can find,” Snell said. 

She says they buy bulk as much as they can to help save money too. Even with inflation, Snell loves being her own boss now. 

“I think it’s been less stressful. So when you’re in a work environment, you’re, you know, following those rules and the time and all the people, and it’s just really brings the stress level down,” Snell said. 

People can enjoy both food trucks downtown on the weekends.