LANDIS — If variety is the spice of life, then Landis’ new Food Truck Thursdays is a great recipe.

Landis Town Manager Michael Ambrose and Mayor Meredith Smith were brainstorming ways to offer something different for town residents and workers.

With space in the parking lot of South Central Avenue, the prospect of hosting food trucks created a way to diversify food options for those in and around Landis at lunchtime.

“It’s been a great attribute down here,” Ambrose said. “We have done this a couple of weeks now, and it’s been a great flow of traffic for our downtown businesses.”

Ambrose said that the traffic has increased to the point that they are considering additional parking measures. That way, if someone were coming for food, they wouldn’t take up a parking space that a customer might typically use at one of the downtown businesses.

“We want customers of the business to be able to get into the businesses,” Ambrose said.

According to Ambrose, it’s been a big hit so far.

“I have heard a lot of our citizens come up and said they appreciated something this close to where on Wednesday and Thursdays when other businesses are closed they don’t have to go up to Salisbury or Kannapolis for a bite to eat,” Ambrose said.

It’s working out for the city employees as well. With only a half-hour lunch break, driving out of town for food cuts into their time drastically. Ambrose hopes this will give them a closer option.

“It’s easier for them to come up here and grab something from the food truck and then be back in 30 minutes,” Ambrose said

Ambrose wants to switch things up each week.

“That is why we are not having several food truck vendors out here on a given week,” Ambrose said. “We are just having one food truck at a time. That helps the vendor as well.”

Landis Parks and Recreation Director Jessica St. Martin is taking over booking the food trucks.

“I am excited about researching and finding different options to bring to Landis,” St. Martin said. “(I’m looking for) things we have not had before and things we cannot easily get to on your lunch break.”

St. Martin said she plans to research possible food truck options from social media.

“I am a member of several pages for local food trucks and vendor events, so I go on there and find them,” St. Martin said.

On Thursday, This Little Piggy BBQ Smokehouse was serving up their BBQ. Owners Jeff and Paige Overcash have had the food truck for two years, but Jeff has been smoking barbecue for a quarter century.

“I could tell you my recipe, and you still couldn’t do it the same way,” Jeff said with a smile.

The Granite Quarry-based restaurateurs are excited about what the Landis event means for their business.

“It gives us an opportunity to get out into other parts of the (Rowan County) community and to get our food in front of people,” Paige said. “We like going when other restaurants are closed. We don’t want to take away from restaurants. We just want to give more options for the communities.”

Landis Public Safety Director Kevin Young and a few firefighters were taking advantage of the variety on Thursday.

“It’s something we can take back and get back to doing what we are doing,” Young said. “I am glad to see them doing what they are. I think it is good. It brings more options for citizens and brings them out to be interacting with the town.”

It’s even catching the attention of residents from outside Landis. Mark Lambert and his daughter Miranda Miller were passing through Landis and noticed the food truck, so they came over to investigate.

Lambert is from Landis and grew up there. They currently live in Enochville, but now that they know about the food truck event, they look forward to seeing what is in store next time.

Landis aims to have a different food truck on South Central Avenue each Wednesday and Thursday from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Go to the Landis Town Facebook page for upcoming food truck vendors.