New Centre County taco truck is a stepping stone toward full restaurant, owner says

A new food truck is making its way around Centre County. Tyler Sedlock and his wife own the Happy Valley TaCo Truck, which diners can most often find in Philipsburg on the weekends.

Sedlock boasts a long history in the food industry, working in his family’s restaurants since his preteen years and now as a cook at Penn State. The food truck, which began operations last month, is a stepping stone toward Sedlock opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant in State College.

“I wanted to get something off the ground and start working toward having a full restaurant. It was a middle step, (requiring) less capital to start,” he said.

Sedlock created the food truck’s menu himself, aiming at offering Spanish and Mexican cuisine unlike what is currently available at the county’s other sit-down and fast-food offerings. Visitors can expect a constantly changing menu, he said, though three items are consistent: chicken tacos, quesadillas and chicken quesadillas.

“Those three stay the same, but the others change. ... The tacos are kind of just like the vessel for whatever I want to cook. For example, last week, we had reuben tacos,” Sedlock said. “On Sundays, we do barbecue pulled pork topped with coleslaw, which seems to be pretty big. So it’s not normal Mexican food, but it’s a unique experience.”

Other recent menu items have included a shredded carne asada taco with queso fresco and chimmichurri, and a jerk chicken taco with pineapple salsa.

Already, Sedlock said, he has a group of regulars who can be counted on to visit the truck each day it’s open, whether to try the always-present chicken tacos with fresh pico and chipotle mayo, or Sedlock’s creation of the day.

Starting a new business during the COVID-19 pandemic wasn’t easy for the husband-and-wife team, though. Sedlock uses the word “nightmare” to describe the experience.

“The ball started rolling back in December. Between making the business plan and meeting with the banks, we had everything laid out and then the bank said, we’re not going to be doing business loans at this time due to the crisis,” he said, noting they ended up purchasing their food truck with a vehicle loan. “We went from having all the money we needed to the bare minimum, to ripping from our savings accounts and credit cards. ... Then as soon as we got the truck all done and got the equipment we needed, we submitted for our agriculture inspection, and then we had to wait ... about a month and a half.”

Still, Sedlock says being laid off work for the time begin gave him the extra bandwidth to focus on starting the business.

Looking toward the near future, hungry patrons may be able to spot the Happy Valley TaCo Truck at events in the fall, with Sedlock taking a cautious approach to choosing event appearances, putting customer experience first and acknowledging the team’s limited capacity, with just two or three individuals working at a time.

“We’re worried about the customers. We wouldn’t want them to have a bad experience if we had long lines or long wait times,” he said.

Looking toward his long-term goals, though, Sedlock has a concrete plan for the future.

“The goal right now is to be in State College, but seeing restaurants close in State College on an almost weekly basis is nerve-wracking,” he said. “We intend to pay off this food truck and then build a smaller and newer (truck) and then move into a brick-and-mortar hopefully in the State College area.”

The physical location would still offer the same taco concept, and the two trucks would allow for simultaneous operations across the county and at different events, as well as catering.

For now, though, Sedlock says he and his wife are just enjoying the freedom of owning their own business, choosing their own hours and own menu. “The most enjoyable part,” he adds, “is it being our own thing.”

You can find Happy Valley TaCo Truck’s daily menus and location on its Facebook page, @happyvalleytacotruck.