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A Day in the
Life of a Gordita Street Vendor |
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The stand is mounted on a tricycle which is stored each night at a friend's house near-by. It's almost 8:00AM as Jesús pushes the stand into place and begins the setup. First the gas tank is connected and the burners lighted to begin heating the comal. Then he unloads the tables and chairs. |
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Two tables and eight chairs are set up. Each table gets a bright cloth, a salt shaker, a napkin holder and bowls of red and green salsa. |
Finally the boxes of gorditas are unloaded from the roof of the SUV. |
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Jesús begins stacking the gorditas on the comal to reheat them. |
The menu sign lists the gorditas in the general order of popularity. |
It's now a bit after 8:00AM and all is ready for the first hungry customers. |
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Some like to stand, some take away |
Some like family style at a table. |
I enjoy their gorditas very much. |
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Jesús and Olivia take turns at the comal. The stand closes at 1:00PM or earlier if all the gorditas are sold. Then they will pack up and head home. On this day, at 12 noon, only these were left from the original 300. Just potatoes and eggs, everything else was sold out. |
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On weekdays, they will serve more than 100 customers, even more on Saturdays. Closed on Sundays. Much of their clientele are regulars. I found it interesting to observe that once the gorditas are packed in the plastic boxes at home, they are never again touched by a hand until delivered to a customer. All manipulation of the gorditas at the stand is done with tools. Those who eat at a table are served their gorditas on a plate that is inside a plastic bag, so neither food nor hands touch the plate, thus no need for paper plates or on-site washing. The bags are discarded after use. The location is on a frontage street paralleling the busy main drag. They pay a franchise fee to the city plus a small percentage of the gross for the exclusive use of this location. |
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