![](https://www.marketplace.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/IMG_3277-e1597172091210.png?w=720)
His Houston food truck business has become “very hit or miss”
His Houston food truck business has become “very hit or miss”
![](https://www.marketplace.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/IMG_3277-e1597172091210.png?w=720)
“My Economy” tells the story of the new economic normal through the eyes of people trying to make it, because we know the only numbers that really matter are the ones in your economy.
When office buildings across the country closed their doors in March, many food truck owners were left scrambling, having lost a significant portion of their lunch hour customers. Jose Sanchez was one of them. Sanchez began his food truck business, Ay! Empanadas, last October in Houston, and in January, business was finally beginning to pick up as he had started selling his food at apartment complexes and outside office buildings.
Now, because of the pandemic, “it’s very hit or miss,” he said. Since many more people are at home, he said local home ownership associations are requesting food trucks in neighborhoods. But reliable revenue is tricky. Sometimes, he’ll go to a location and make around “$500 in four hours,” he said, and just a week or two later, he’ll return to the same location, only to make about $70. But Sanchez is trying to make things work. His son is almost a year old, and right now, Ay! Empanadas is Sanchez’s only source of income.
Click the audio player above to hear the full story. Let us know how your economy is doing using the form below, and your story may be featured on a future edition of “My Economy.”
Let us know how your economy is doing using the form below, and your story may be featured on a future edition of “My Economy.”
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.