Five Questions with Serendipity Mobile Catering

Chef Bill Gruesser has been all over the country, and his extensive travels are commemorated in one of the Indianapolis area’s most unique food truck/trailer menus.

Serendipity Mobile Catering offers a slew of innovative eats, but they’re also focused on environmental friendliness and fostering a customer experience that blends a smattering of unorthodox dishes with the accessibility of a food truck.

Gruesser’s success has been more than “Fortunate Happenstance.” Read on to learn more about the chef’s food truck fortuity, and how hungry customers stand to benefit from it.

Q: Serendipity Mobile Catering leans on the more than  two decades of experience of Chef Bill Gruesser. What are some of the more unique items on your menu, and where did Chef Gruesser first see them on his travels?

A: Elk burgers, red mole’ chicken tacos, crab cakes, our hand-cut fries, and our brand new scratch tater tots, both available truffl’d.

Note: Check out the food truck and trailer menus for a full run-down.

Q: Your business’ philosophy is centered on environmentalism and “respecting the food.” What are some of the challenges in maintaining such a mission?

A: Sourcing is by far and away the hardest part of keeping local and green!

Q: What do you enjoy most about the Statehouse Market?

A: The people! For sure, everyone there is a pleasure to serve. They’re patient and we have a pretty good following there built up over the years.

Q: Chef Gruesser is a graduate of the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu Atlanta. How did that background prepare him for the culinary business, and later, taking those skills “on the road” via food truck and trailer?

A: The goal was to serve higher-end food/tablecloth casual fare off of a food truck, cooking everything to order, as fast as possible and as fairly-priced as possible. So, the name of my company was pretty obvious when you just received an award [for] a crab cake — off of a food truck of all places: Fortunate Happenstance.

Learning how to do the mobile thing, well, that wasn’t as easy as one would think. I, luckily, had a couple food truck mentors in Ryan [Krcmarich] (of Tacos without Borders) and Tami [Maslyk] (of Neighborhood Pizza), who kinda guided me through some of the mistakes one would make when you have limited space (no walk-in refrigeration or dry storage) on board. So, you gotta learn how to bring everything you need with you!

The food part was easy. Getting used to going away from more traditional professional cooking with such amenities like a walk-in or your dry storage? Whole different ballgame!

Q: Do you have a personal favorite Serendipity menu item? If so, which one?

A: They’re all my kids! Kinda hard to pick a favorite. The truck menu: crab cakes are probably the best seller, though I tend to [like] the red mole’ taco.

The trailer menu is brand new for 2018 and it’s KILLING IT! Item-wise, I’d have to go with our new, homemade, from scratch, tater tots. There’s not a restaurant in town, let alone a food truck doing this, and when people try them they’re hooked!

Check out Serendipity online at their website, and follow them on Facebook and Twitter.