Steak and salmon: This new gourmet food truck often draws a crowd in Warner Robins

When the fledgling Signature Flavors Cafe & Catering food truck sets up in its usual spot in Warner Robins, a crowd frequently gathers.

Owners Dee and Ronnie Glover often sell out of their restaurant-style salmon and steak grilled on site.

Their customers describe their business as a gourmet food truck.

Their signature meals include ribeye steak tips, smothered salmon and bang! bang! salmon each served with mashed potatoes, sauteed green beans and brown sugar cornbread.

Other signature dishes include chicken strips and waffle balls and their spinach mac-n-cheese. They also offer green wraps and a club sandwich on weekdays.

Desserts include orange marmalade cheesecake cups, strawberry cheesecake cups and chocolate cookies.

Their story

Dee is a pastry chef and Ronnie is a veteran restaurant cook who’s been grilling steaks for nearly 17 years.

Debuting in March, their food truck was birthed out of a COVID-19 pandemic business casualty.

“I was unemployed and I really didn’t know what I was going to do,” Dee explained. “And I remember sitting at the kitchen table, and I just lifted my hands and I said, ‘OK God. I need to use my hands because I gotta help bring some money in because you know we got bills to pay.’

“And I decided to start in the kitchen because that’s something I love to do … We have many gifts and talents and I just believe that God just allowed me to tap into that gift and so I started baking and then decided to go culinary school.”

For several years, Dee owned and operated RSDR Cleaning Service — each initial representing the first name of her four children. But her home cleaning business went under when the pandemic hit because customers became fearful of having people in their homes, she said.

Praying and not sure what to do, Dee said she saw a Facebook post by a woman named Tina who asked if anyone could make a peach cobbler cheesecake.

Dee replied that she could and what would become Signature Flavors Cafe & Catering was born.

“I made it for her and she posted it and my business just blew up,” she said.

Dee’s business began with her selling cheesecakes via her personal Facebook page. She’d later created a business Facebook page and a website. She also sold cookies.

She next bought a food truck in August but without telling Ronnie first.

“He just came home from work and I was like, yeah, I kind of did something. We’re going to own our own food truck.”

Ronnie took the move in stride.

“The food truck came as a surprise,” he said. “I never really thought about something like that. But I actually love cooking. So, it’s really kind of cool to work with my wife.”

Dee’s father, William Dumas, did the interior remodel of the food truck.

At their wedding Sept. 25, Dee and Ronnie displayed their food truck.

“We pretty much introduced it to people like we would be the owners of the food truck but we didn’t have a grand opening until March,” she said.

Setting up

With Ronnie working full-time at a popular restaurant, the couple generally sets up the food truck to serve meals only twice a week on his days off, Dee said.

Their usual spot is the Oasis Plaza at 627 South Houston Lake Road outside Renewed Beauty & Spa.

They also do events by invitation such as a recent food truck night at The Brantley subdivision in Warner Robins.

“It’s fun,” said Claire Reynes, who was among the subdivision residents lined up at the food truck Wednesday. “You get to meet people in the community and neighbors you don’t see often.”

Because the food is prepared and cooked on site, there’s about a 9 to 12 minute wait between orders. Reynes said she knew this ahead of time, so she didn’t mind waiting. The desserts are prepared in advance.

Grant Fossum, who was also in line, thought the food truck event was a fun idea.

“The spirit the people have who invest in little businesses like this I think are great,” Fossum said. “I like to support them anyway I can.”

Seeing other subdivisions host food trucks, Kristen Hoots said she asked their Homeowners Association if they could do the same. She has been organizing their subdivision’s food truck events for the past two years.

“It’s kind of a nice way for the neighborhood to get together and share some camaraderie,” she said.

Describing Signature Flavors Cafe as a gourmet food truck, Hoots first tried their food when the mobile business was set up at its usual spot.

To find out where the Signature Flavors Cafe & Catering food truck will be next, check out their Facebook page. Dee posts where they’ll be and often takes pre-orders.

Officially earning her pastry chef designation when she completes a year-long online program through the Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts in July, Dee also still takes dessert orders via social media. She also uses the food truck to distribute those orders and sell desserts.

Dee said she’d like to open a brick and mortar one day.

“This is my dream,” she said.