The Red Pickle food truck has been selling Guatemalan-fusion dishes to Ellensburg since they opened three years ago.

Mario Alfaro, the owner of the Red Pickle, has a true rags-to-riches story as he worked his way up to owning his food truck. Alfaro began his culinary career in Washington D.C. where he started as a dishwasher. Over 14 years, he went from dishwasher to manager of 5 restaurants. All of his experiences in these different positions led to Alfaro creating a successful business with the Red Pickle.

“I think every single part of any job in the restaurant business is crucial,” Alfaro said. “It’s really good to know a little bit about everything so when you run your business you know you aren’t missing those parts.”

After watching the movie “Chef,” Alfaro decided to open his own food truck. The main character in the movie opens up a food truck to sell food that he wants to make, his own way. “Chef” inspired Alfaro to create the Red Pickle.

This past weekend, the 27-28th of October, was the last time the Red Pickle food truck would be parked next to the Whipsaw brewery, as they will now have their own building on the corner of Third Avenue and Pine Street where D&M Coffee Downtown used to be.

The food truck will remain a part of the kitchen, but they will now also serve cocktails and expand their menu from the truck. This is exciting for customers like Gabe Caskey who go to Red Pickle weekly as they are starting to notice the number of new customers coming to get food.

“Especially on the weekend, it gets packed. Sometimes you have to wait 20 minutes for some food, but it is always worth it,” Caskey said.

Many CWU students who are fans of the Red Pickle are very excited that they will now have a restaurant with a more typical schedule. Luke Asbjornsen, a senior at CWU who has been going to Red Pickle since it opened, hopes that the new location will help drum up more business.

“I think that they [CWU students] eat foods close to campus, and Red Pickle, sometimes they park out of the way. But I think when they move into downtown that will also attract more customers because they will be closer to campus and student activity,” Asbjornsen said.

The downtown location is expected to drum up a larger customer base among CWU students and could lead the Red Pickle into more popularity than it already has. The restaurant will open in early November.