March 1, 2021

Finding a “Filly” sandwich this year will be a lot easier.

Fat Kid Filly’s, which started as a food truck last year, is expanding with a kitchen in a Canton bar and a second truck.

“It’s only 10 months in, and my fuzzy head is spinning,” said Cody Sauers of Salem, who started the business with his wife, Amber.

Fat Kid is taking over the kitchen in Bushwhackers Bar & Grill that was operated most recently by Bone Daddy’s Smokehouse.

To start, Fat Kid will operate Friday and Saturday nights on select weekends, “with more to come throughout the year,” Sauers said. It might be fall or the end of food truck season before a regular schedule is set. When Fat Kid isn’t in the kitchen, Bushwhackers will sell pizzas on the weekends, owner Scott Pearson said.

Hours will be 4 to 8 p.m., and the menu will be similar to what the food truck offers: Sauers’ spin on a Philly cheesesteak, with other beef brisket, ham and pork options. Weekend and holiday-related specials are a possibility, he said.

The first dates will be March 19 and 20, so there might be a St. Patrick’s-type special.

The second truck wasn’t part of the original plan, Sauers said.

“We were considering upgrading the camper to a more professional-looking food truck, but by late January already, we were almost booked up for the year,” he said. “I don’t like turning down work, so instead of upgrading, we expanded.”

That means the original 1986 RV that Sauers gutted and rebuilt himself won’t be retired. Fun fact: It looked a little bit like the one from “Breaking Bad” until he gave it a new paint job.

The new unit is the former Snortz Barbecue trailer, which went on the market a couple of years ago. It has a hardwood double-rotisserie smoker on it, so Sauers is looking forward to being able to smoke the next day’s meat while he’s selling sandwiches. It’s also going to be enticing for customers.

“The smoker will be rolling, and people will be able to smell the hardwood smoke.”

He had been using Traeger smokers, and “they’re really good but don’t give you that natural hardwood-smoked flavor. Some people have already noticed the big difference in taste.”

The truck will be ready to go once the Fat Kid Filly’s logos are installed. “We’re shooting for mid- to late April.”

An unseasonably warm winter has allowed food trucks to operate longer than usual for many. Fat Kid Filly’s has been out for events Tuesdays and Saturdays at Liberty Hall at 49th Street and Minnesota Avenue, and it will be part of Food Truck Alley, which will be the first and third Thursday nights of the month in Brandon. That starts this week in the parking lot of hosts Kingbird Coffee and Tally-Ho Art Gallery on Splitrock Boulevard.

This season’s schedule includes twice as many appearances at Food Truck Tuesdays at Golf Addiction. Fat Kid also is booked for some of the bike nights at J&L Harley-Davidson, Critters Bar in Crooks and Red Rock Bar & Grill in Rowena. It also will be a regular at the Brandon Farmers Market on Saturdays.

Additional growth could be coming with stadium contracts, Sauers said. Fat Kid Filly’s began operating its first stand in the Denny Sanford Premier Center this winter, which includes sporting events and concerts.

He’s planning to add staff but wants to stay family-operated as much as possible. Fat Kid will continue to do catering, but that’s the one area Sauers said he won’t advertise as much.

“Everyone wonders about the pressure of it,” he said of hustling on the food truck scene. “At the end, it makes us smile and happy to see where we are. I’m excited to see where we are in another 10 months.”