A closer look at Cupbop and Waffle Love, the final two Food Truck Faceoff contestants
Waffle Love's Adam Terry, far left, founded Waffle Love after losing his job as a banker. The truck has become a local favorite, and even competed on the most recent season of the Food Network's "The Great Food Truck Race."
"Any time we add something to our menu, I’m a little bit careful about it, because I want to make sure we can do it quickly, and can make it taste amazing, and be consistently amazing," Adam Terry said.
Waffle Love serves a variety of waffle options including the Waffle Works, Red Wonder, Nutella Love and Paityn.
A combo bowl with pork, beef, sweet potato noodles, lettuce, rice and a variety of sauces at Cupbop Korean BBQ in Provo.
Paulina Ochoa orders from Abby Hill at Cupbop Korean BBQ in Provo.
A combo bowl with pork, beef, sweet potato noodles, lettuce, rice and a variety of sauces from Cupbop Korean BBQ.
Local food trucks Waffle Love and Cupbop Korean BBQ have emerged victorious from their respective brackets in the Herald’s Food Truck Faceoff. Now they go head-to-head in the Faceoff’s final round, which closes on Wednesday afternoon. The Herald spoke with owners of Waffle Love and Cupbop about their culinary endeavors. Here are the men behind the meals.
WAFFLE LOVE
Adam Terry had hovered around the food industry for years. He grew up in a home that valued food done well, and he worked in a few restaurants earlier in life. Getting into the food business always interested him. That’s a risky move, though, especially when you have a wife and three young children to take care of.
Then Terry lost his job as a banker. A new career path was no longer a dream, but a necessity. The couple invested their money in a truck, fine-tuned a handful of waffle recipes and created Waffle Love.
“At that point in my life it was one of the craziest things I’ve ever done,” Terry recalled. “I think once you build up a really, really strong desire, things start to fall into place of where you can make that desire come true.”
Things quickly took off for Waffle Love, which was one of Utah Valley’s first successful food trucks. In time Terry and his crew opened a restaurant next to Mountain West Burrito on State Street. Waffle Love got national exposure last month when it competed on the Food Network’s “The Great Food Truck Race,” making it to the season finale.
“We’re so grateful for everyone’s response to our offering,” Terry said. “And I think how everyone responded so well to Waffle Love has inspired other people to start a food truck. I think that’s really great for people to do that. And I hope for all of the success that they can get.
“I think people were kind of ready — like they really wanted to see a food truck happen in Utah County, and they did eventually get to see it,” he continued. “They showed that they were willing to track a truck down. It’s just a change of pace; people are tired of going to the same places. When you go to a food truck, it’s a nice little changeup.”
CUPBOP KOREAN BBQ
Cupbop’s founders are as surprised by its success as anyone. Korean food hadn’t been among Utah Valley’s more popular culinary offerings. Now, two years after Cupbop launched, it’s a local favorite, with a food truck and sit-down locations near Brigham Young University and Utah Valley University, as well as a booth in EnergySolutions arena.
Founder Jihyung Park previously worked in the advertising side of the food industry, partnering with hundreds of Utah eateries. Attending a restaurant convention a few years ago, he noticed there weren’t any Korean offerings. Food trucks were gaining popularity in Salt Lake City. Putting two and two together, he partnered with fellow Cupbop founders Jong Kim and Jung Song, and Cupbop was born.
“One of the main differences between Cupbop and Korean food is that usually Korean food is in a sit-down restaurant,” Park said. “When you eat at a Korean restaurant, you just sit there, and wait about 15-20 minutes, they bring side dishes. But at Cupbop, we just take like 30 seconds to make the one bowl. So we just serve really fast. And American people love to eat the sauce, so we kind of combine the sauce and Korean barbecue together to create the Cupbop brand.”
Cupbop’s uniqueness, he explained, was also an obstacle at first.
“When we started the food truck, we were kind of struggling, because people had no idea about Korean food,” he said. “I think food is about 40 percent of it. The other 60 percent is kind of what makes us special — we’re very crazy. If you go to our truck, we’re just yelling and dancing together. We interact with the customer. That makes our Cupbop truck special, and that’s why we got a lot of followers in a short time. It’s unique because people hadn’t seen this kind of food, and how we interact with the customer.”
For now, it seems Utah Valley foodies have taken Cupbop’s slogan to heart: “Shhhh … just eat!”
Challengers: Waffle Love and Cupbop Korean BBQ
Where to vote: heraldextra.com/foodtruckfaceoff
When: Voting ends Wednesday at 2 p.m.