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Nearly four years ago, Aaron Ricketts chose a food truck over a brick-and-mortar restaurant as the more affordable option. With brother Jason helping in the kitchen and their ever-smiling mother, Linda, at the window, passing out orders, the robin’s-egg-blue Hapa Bros. food truck, with its signature Asian-influenced chicken sandwich.
Preparing the sandwich correctly is a two-day process, from brining to marinating in buttermilk. Fried with a light breading, it is topped with creamy garlic aioli and thick Korean caramel soy sauce, served on a brioche bun with a side of kimchi cole slaw.
It is an amazing piece of work, with the sauces playing off each other to add sweetness, spice and depth, and the chicken itself is almost impossibly tender. For most people, it was the introduction to Aaron’s take on fusion cuisine, which has quickly achieved iconic status in the San Benito community.
As the business evolved over the years, brother Scott joined the team, working within the tight confines of the truck while father Steve held down the fort outside, greeting customers as they arrived.
“I knew that Aaron had the experience,” Steve said. “It helped us hit the ground running and be successful right from the start. Making all our sauces and food from scratch, along with the Asian fusion fried chicken concept, resonated with people.”
In a logically perfect full-circle metamorphosis, Aaron said he and the family are working on opening their own restaurant at 713 San Benito Street, next to Earl’s Corner Used Books, by the end of the year.
“I think having a fixed location,” he said, “allows us to do ordering apps and smaller catering. Right now, we have too much demand for what we can put out. So, as long as we have that problem, I think we’ll be fine.”
The amount of chicken the Hapa Bros need on hand to meet that demand has gone from 300 lbs a week to as much as 500.
“We kind of have it balanced right now,” Aaron said. “People see our schedule and joke with me, saying, ‘What’s it like working only three days a week?’ And I just laugh because I never stop. We’re constantly at it, every week.”
Steve said that with his background in high-tech, he had no idea of the truck’s potential and was surprised by the initial growth and the speed at which the business grew.
“I didn’t really have any specific expectations to level set on,” he said. “We just went into it with a good group, worked hard, and saw what happened. I knew we had a lot of potential because people told us from the start that the food was great.”
Though it took a year or so to make the adjustments, Aaron said the truck’s immediate success was useful in calculating its maximum capacity, determining the demand for any given dish and cutting waste.
“We kind of know exactly what to bring now,” he said. “Volume just has to be anticipated. Like the other night, I sold every piece of chicken on that trailer. And I sold every dumpling. It was pretty funny to see how closely we had it dialed in.”
“Dialing it in” was also essential with last year’s expansion into menu items centered on fresh fish and shrimp, for which Aaron said there is an “intense need” for freshness and turnaround.
“I buy fish whole every week,” he said, “I’m looking at the eyes and the outside of the animal. If it doesn’t look good, I make them take it back. I won’t serve anything that’s not fresh. And I am not afraid to sell out because then everything the next time is going to be fresh.”
The grilled salmon, served with seasonal vegetables and rice or Hawaiian mac salad on a bed of slaw, is the hands-down favorite seafood item and is Steve’s second favorite after the chicken sandwich. It is a dish that challenged Aaron as he developed it for the truck.
“I’m all about high heat when it comes to fish,” he said. “It’s pretty hard to achieve the level of sear at home that we can achieve with the grill on our truck. It creates a nice crust on the outside. And the caramel soy sauce is kind of what makes it for everybody.”
Aaron describes the shrimp as a “simple dish that’s become super popular. Using large shrimp, the dish features a mellow sauce made with garlic, lemon and white wine.
“I make a lot of garlic aioli,” he said, “and I tend to have a lot of leftover garlic. I cook it in fat, letting it simmer until it’s soft and spreadable. I knew, with the area we live in, I would have to make it pretty garlicky, but I think there is more of a roasted garlic flavor.”
The standout for me is the fish and chips, perhaps because I’ve spent a huge amount of time since childhood wandering San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf trying every version I could find. Aaron uses cod, which, for me, is always the best choice, and eschews the usual beer batter in favor of panko breadcrumbs.
The combination of mild, flaky fish and crunchy crust, which stands up nicely to the lemon juice I douse it with, makes it a standout, and the Hapa take on tartar sauce, he said, makes converts out of people who have never liked it before.
Aaron teases that his brick-and-mortar might expand the fish menu to include miso-marinated cod, but he also understands the challenges of opening his own place. Food and labor costs have made margins thinner, and customer volume still lags behind pre-COVID-19 levels,
But he said he shrugs off others’ concerns because of his confidence in his product and its proven track record.
“Everybody who’s told me not to open a restaurant?” he said. “Yeah, I wouldn’t have opened your restaurant either. I know we’re going to be fine. I’m in a food truck right now. We’ll park in the middle of nowhere and not put up the location, and we’ll still sell out.”
Aaron, who has faced the pressure of working in a Michelin-starred restaurant, said that the freedom of a food truck business has helped him avoid the burnout endemic to that environment.
“I go to work,” he said, “and I love seeing my customers. We take it seriously, but not too seriously. And I know that everybody loves the food, so it’s extremely rewarding. And we’re trending in the right direction. Which in turn makes it fun, right?”
The Hapa Bros. food truck can be found at Food Truck Tuesdays in Hollister on San Benito Street between Sixth and Seventh Streets from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., and it is a regular at the Hollister Farmers Market as well, starting on April 15.
The Hapas also have a Friday-night residency at Vertigo Coffee Shop starting at 4 p.m., located at 81 4th St. in San Juan Bautista. A schedule for other appearances is available on Facebook and Instagram.
Related articles:
Eat, Drink, Savor: The Hapa Bros. bring an Asian twist to food truck favorites
Eat, Drink, Savor: Hapa Bros continues to grow
Recommendations for future Eat, Drink, Savor articles can be emailed to roberteliason@benitolink.com.
BenitoLink thanks our underwriters, Hollister Super and Windmill Market, for helping expand the Eat, Drink, Savor series and for giving our readers the stories that interest them. Hollister Super (two stores in Hollister) and Windmill Market (in San Juan Bautista) support reporting on the inspired and creative people behind the many delicious food and drink products made in San Benito County. All editorial decisions are made by BenitoLink.
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