Hidden gem Kent food truck's journey from COVID beginnings to critical acclaim

As Kent’s food scene continues to grow and grow, one local hidden gem food truck has been on an incredible journey. T’s Tacos has now been in business for four years and has proven that you don’t need to spend months waiting for a reservation at a swanky restaurant to enjoy some top shelf grub.

The brainchild of 25-year-old Callum Tyndall from the village of Lenham, the business owes its creation to a number of important factors, including an adventure around the world. When Callum was in Year 6, his parents made the life-changing decision to leave their jobs behind and travel the globe with their two children for 10 months.

“While we were there, we’d always do cooking classes in pretty much every country we’d go to and that’s how I first really honed in on my enjoyment for cooking,” Callum explained. “We spent a lot of time in Central America and Asia, getting stuck into the real street food culture.

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“Those real barebones, pop-up businesses in a little shack or van somewhere, serving the most mad food you’ve ever had. It was all proper, authentic stuff we were never seeing where we were from.”

A few years later, the Tyndall family embarked on another adventure, this time hiring a motorhome and journeying from San Diego to Baja California in Mexico and back. Callum points to this as another key moment in his developing love of food, and it was the flavours he encountered here that would go on to inspire T’s Tacos.

Jump ahead to 2020, COVID has landed in the UK and Callum is now studying criminology with the idea to one day join the Metropolitan Police. He continued: “At the time, I really wasn’t sure if I was enjoying it. I hadn’t really done any proper foodie stuff at that point, only a few catering things for family.

“Literally one night, at about 4am, I couldn’t sleep and I just decided to send out a load of emails to local pubs that were open at that time during COVID in the period when no one was allowed to sit inside. I explained I run a food business, but I hadn’t actually done anything at the time, I was sort of just testing the waters.”

His efforts were a success and Callum now had some venues where he could trade. After getting together all the equipment he needed, sourcing authentic ingredients and designing his Mexican-inspired menu and recipes, Callum was finally ready to make the dream a reality.

Having enlisted the help of his dad Thomas, Callum spread the word of their new business online and the two headed out with a repurposed burger trailer to bring the tastes of Baja California to Kent. “I remember setting up one of the first times, I didn’t really know what to expect but we just got absolutely swarmed by loads of locals coming down,” Callum said.

“They were saying ‘oh my god, these tacos are amazing, we’ve been seeing them all over Facebook, this is great’. Right away it was just really well received and then gradually, we built it up and built it up." The business' varied menu includes award-winning tacos, chilli, nachos, burritos, churros and more.

Callum added: “One of my main motivations, me and my dad would always talk about how much the area needed something like this down here in Lenham because there’s nothing like it. It’s the kind of area that’s got your typical Chinese restaurant, Indian restaurant, fish and chips, maybe get the odd woodfire pizza and that’s it.

“You look at London, and Margate and Canterbury now, where you’ve got all types of cuisines, which is great, people want choice and diversity. So we were really well received.” From their iconic trailer, which has been hand painted by local artist Tim Smithen (better known as Prisonstyle), T’s Tacos has only gone from strength to strength and has fast become an established part of the Kent food scene.

Now with the added help of Callum’s partner Sophie, their food is a regular feature of trendy microbar Unit 1 in West Hythe. This summer, T's Tacos will be partnering with Margate's iconic Dreamland to bring the tastes of Mexico down to the Kent coast.

Callum went on: “It’s great to sit back and watch, and reflect on where we came from, laugh and joke about memories of funny things that happened. I remember when I’d first sell someone a taco and think ‘oh my god, you want to give me your money for my food’ and that was incredible. You’d be happy with just making £20 to grab a couple cans of beer on the way home and treat your dad to a takeaway.

“I love working with and meeting people, the comradery that comes with that, you’re all in it together. Plus, just grinding and always working to improve, streamline and make the business better than last time, and the results that hard work brings.

“Going forward, still enjoying it and having fun are our two main priorities but the possibilities of what we can try and do are endless.” You can keep up to date with where T’s Tacos will be next on their Instagram and Facebook pages.

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