The Mighty Spork Food Truck
On a hot day in early May, one corner of an otherwise empty parking lot is buzzing with activity. At the center of the crowd, young children ride their bikes or chase each other in circles around a bright orange food truck known as The Mighty Spork. Rachel Ariaz leans out the window and calls the children or their parents by name, handing them turkey sandwiches and cold drinks.
From afar, this might look like an ordinary event—and, for the most part, it is. Outside Peace Lutheran Church in Belgrade, customers of The Mighty Spork order from a menu and enjoy their food outside, chatting with one another. What sets this scene apart from other mobile kitchens is that customers here aren’t expected to pay for their meals. In fact, it’s enthusiastically encouraged to only “pay what you can.”
The Mighty Spork food truck was established in June 2021 as a complement to the Bozeman Human Resource Development Council’s Fork & Spoon restaurant, which also utilizes a pay-what-you-can model (read “A Restaurant for Everyone” at ediblebozeman.com to learn more). The model itself is simple: Customers set the price. Though the menu lists a suggested price for each item, variability is expected. If someone’s budget is tight, they can pay less or nothing at all; if they’re feeling generous, they can pay it forward.
Initially, the HRDC Food & Nutrition Program envisioned the Spork as a tool to address rural food insecurity. The intention was to “make cooked meals more accessible to people who might not be able to get to the physical Fork & Spoon location,” says Ariaz, who has since relocated to Missoula. But that turned out to be more challenging than expected. Inclement weather and unpredictable road conditions make it difficult to consistently get the truck to places like West Yellowstone, Ennis, Three Forks, or Manhattan. And without a permanent location, the truck has struggled to establish a regular clientele in those smaller communities Ariaz has also observed a resistance to embracing the pay-what- you-can model in rural communities, where taking “handouts” might be frowned upon. “Most people have been paying full price,” she says. “People who are in dire need use these resources, and anyone else doesn’t.”
While these challenges have led the Spork to primarily operate in Bozeman, the truck has still managed to increase food access around town. “We’re reaching people who could use some pre-made food but just aren’t accessing it for some reason,” Ariaz says. “Our goal was to help feed rural communities but now it’s really just making food more accessible to other communities or other pockets of people.”
Perhaps surprisingly, the Spork is almost entirely self-sustaining. Though they receive in-kind or financial donations through various partnerships, most of the truck’s funding comes from sales. The truck operates at a wide variety of locations including private events––some of which bring in revenue, while others address a need.
At the end of the day, Ariaz doesn’t want anyone to feel like the pay-what-you-can model doesn’t apply to them. Her preferred messaging is “our food is free, and if you want you can make a contribution.”
Andy Galloway, the manager at the Fork & Spoon, practices the same approach. “We have started to just ask if customers would like to make a contribution and we don’t give any other information unless they ask,” he says. “With that approach we’ve seen an increase in people contributing small amounts. A lot more one-dollar bills have been coming in the last couple of weeks.”
At Peace Lutheran Church, every kind of paying customer stops by. Michelle and Tory are single moms who’ve been coming to this location for years, and though they pay it forward when they can, they comfortably order without paying. After the model is explained to him, Mike chooses not to pay but says he’ll throw some money in next time. A young couple stops by with their son—he regularly gets drinks or snacks for free after school, and they choose to pay for their meal in addition to paying it forward.
For Ariaz, each of these exchanges is a win. “I’d rather give out 25 sandwiches and only have two people pay than give people we have eating with us, the more we succeed.” out two sandwiches and make the suggested price. The more Since Ariaz’s relocation to Missoula, Galloway has taken up the torch and is leading management of The Mighty Spork.
- For more information and to see the food truck’s schedule, visit forkandspoonbozeman.org/mightyspork.
