Sioux Falls family’s horse trailer-turned waffle food truck is already a hit at events

Chris Brockevelt first saw the old, 1974 horse trailer five years ago in Britton, just lying in a friend’s field. Each time he saw it, he kept thinking he wanted it, but didn’t know what he would do with it.

It was his daughters’ idea to do a food truck.

“We chose waffles because it’s the only thing our family will eat without complaining,” laughed Chris’ wife, Autumn Brockevelt. “So then over time, we just kept putting random toppings on making them better and better.”

“I was the taste tester!” their 10-year-old daughter, Leighton chimed in. She and her sister, Emory, 11, help run the family’s new food trailer–Black Iron Waffles.

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Black Iron Waffles is already a hit at events

Black Iron Waffles' first gig was at Brandon Elementary School on April 22, just two days after they had their last trailer inspection.

“It was so nerve-wracking, but we made it,” said Autumn.

For Teacher Appreciation week at Sonia Sotomayor Elementary, where the girls go to school, Emory had a chance to serve her own teachers. Already, the family has brought their trailer to multiple elementary schools and graduation parties, and they are booked out for graduations in 2023.

Many of the graduates have even wanted their picture taken with the trailer.

“We wanted it to be visually appealing,” said Chris, “and when people come up and take a look at it, we want them to see just how different and cool it is.”

Black Iron Waffles will be at upcoming events like Fridays on the Plaza, Levitt at the Falls and the Hot Classics Night car show.

“It will be fun to hear music while we work,” said Emory when talking about the concerts.

The trailer also will be at the CPM Fitness challenge, where they’ll serve waffles with fresh fruit and eggs as a post-workout meal.

Eventually, they’d like to do something different and bring the trailer to softball tournaments or to campgrounds and serve waffles there.

They also want to keep up with the winter season and serve things like hot chocolate or cider with chili cornbread waffles at local ice fishing events or when the falls at Falls Park are lit up.

Autumn also said they are looking for more ways to contribute to the community.

Black Iron Waffles will be at an upcoming fundraising event for Feeding South Dakota, and the family is looking at connecting with Love Inc. in Canton, where they will donate part of their earnings to people in need through their ministry.

“It’s nice to pay it forward a little bit in our community,” Autumn said.

What’s on Black Iron Waffles' menu?

Black Iron Waffles serves a variety of waffle creations, such as the Sweet Patootie and the Big Cheese, two fan favorites.

The Sweet Patootie is a bubble waffle with Nutella and powdered sugar, and the Big Cheese is like a grilled cheese waffle with bacon, Havarti, cheddar and a side of strawberry preserves for dipping.

They serve two different waffle styles–traditional Belgian and bubble. Bubble waffles originated in Hong Kong, and they are round and inverted compared to a regular waffle.

Some of the items will be seasonal, like the cornbread chili or pumpkin spice waffle that will be served later this fall. For the taste of spring and summer, the Moxie is a lemon waffle with lemon drizzle.

Leighton is a big fan of the Oreo dessert waffle, which is a chocolate waffle with pudding and vanilla whipped cream topped with Oreos.

The PB&J waffle is another popular hit, but Emory said she can never go wrong with a classic Belgian with powdered sugar or syrup.

The family comes up with recipes as they go. They talked about trying a confetti cake waffle or French toast waffle and even a Monte Cristo, which has ham, turkey and swiss and is dipped in egg batter before being fried.

“The options really are endless,” said Autumn.

Black Iron doesn’t have any gluten free options, but the family said maybe once they get more comfortable with the business, they can add that to the menu.

Trailer design, inspiration behind the name

It took the family a year to get everything ready, and it was much more work than they realized it would be.

“You think, ‘Let’s start a food truck – it’ll be fun.’ But there’s way more that goes into it than you think,” Autumn said.

Autumn and Chris originally wanted to name the trailer “Off the Grid” and use solar panels, but they soon realized just how much energy waffle irons take (1,400 watts each), so they needed a large generator.

“‘Off the Grid’ went off the table,” said Chris. Eventually, he thought of “Black Iron” after the idea of the waffle irons and the trailer’s design.

The design – the wood, black and copper features – was inspired by the 1930s and 40s, and so are the names of the food. “Moxie,” “big cheese” and “sweet patootie” were all terms and phrases popular in the 1930s, said Autumn.

“That was really the theme we were going for,” she said. “We thought it would be fun.”

Chris, who is an architect by trade, designed the trailer and logo.

“I love projects,” he said. “I’m always building something or creating something, and this is definitely a much larger challenge. But it’s something to be proud of.”

Improving as they go

One of the things the family is working on is how to get faster at making waffles. Each waffle takes about 2-3 minutes to make, but they try to get ahead as best as possible to keep things moving.

“I hate lines,” said Leighton, “and so does everybody else.” There are napkins, silverware and condiments at the end of the trailer that help with the stream of customers.

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Already, the family is trying to prepare for larger events like the Levitt, where they know to expect a lot of customers. Figuring out just how much food they’ll need is something they’re still working on.

Emory said one of the difficult things for her is when they get a large rush of people all at once, but she handles it pretty well.

“I feel like we’re getting better at it more and more, and it’s a lot more fun now, too,” she said.

Autumn said one of the great things to come from starting the waffle trailer is that it’s teaching her daughters how to work and earn money, something Leighton is still working on.

“She (Emory) saves her money and I spend it all,” Leighton said, making her whole family laugh. “But it’s fun.”

As a whole, the family agrees that the more they do it, the better things get.

“We went into this blindly and learned something new,” Autumn said. “We wanted to do something different, something that we thought was fun, and in the meantime we can also help our family…. It’s rewarding to know we actually did it.”

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Black Iron Waffles food truck created from old horse trailer