Even J. LancasterIrvine native, Chef Daniel Shemtob, owner of Born From The Lime Truck, became the newest winner of the Food Network’s Great Food Truck Race All-Stars show, giving his Cali-Mex brand nationwide recognition, and making him and his team $50,000 richer.
“Winning that was obviously huge, because it’s like the best-of-the-best food trucks,” Shemtob said to Irvine Weekly after claiming his victory. “It was so cool – the prize is $50K and a belt — the belt is pretty cool.”
Featuring Cal-Mex style fare, Born From The Lime Truck features all the well-known culinary staples – a California burrito, tacos, burrito and poke bowls, quesadillas, and heap of other tasty snacks all made from scratch, with an organic twist.
The Lime Food Truck winners (Courtesy Daniel Shemtob)
While winning this recent round of competitive cooking on Food Network has fueled this desire to expand, Shemtob confessed that his real passion lies within entrepreneurship. As the co-owner of Hatch Yakitori + Bar in Los Angeles, and an ownership role in a service-industry footwear company, Snibbs, it is clear entrepreneurship is in Shemtob’s veins.
Tacos from The Lime Food Truck (Courtesy Daniel Shemtob)
Considering his leap into franchising Born From The Lime Truck, Shemtob adds that along with his passion for entrepreneurism, he hopes to find a common ground with other entrepreneurs through collaboration — an inevitable aspect of Born From The Lime Truck’s newly announced franchising opportunities, which Shemtob estimates will be a welcomed challenge.
“What’s the next 10 years going to look like; and that’s where I got really inspired — I switched the menus, no hormones, no antibiotics — good quality meat, where I know the farmers,” he said. “I went to five meat alternatives, dropped some of the meat we use, because I want to be more sustainable — how do we do a better job for the world? It’s still tough, when packaging is $0.90 when you use fully-recyclable packaging, compared to the $0.15.”
To jump start his vision, Shemtob explains he has hired a restaurant operator that pioneered the sandwich building system that Subway pioneered.
“He’s probably a little bit too senior, but I’m like the visionary – but I want someone that’s just epic at restaurant operation,” he said. “I brought this guy who invented the assembly line at Subway and Chipotle — he invented it, that’s his claim to fame – he’s been doing it for a while.”
