At 11 p.m. every weekend, a line of customers forms in front of the black-and-white striped food stand parked outside The Blind Pig on South 1st Street in downtown Ann Arbor. The aroma of sizzling hot dogs marks the start of the night for brothers Aaron Biggs and Matthew Biggs, owners of the food stand EJ’s! Gourmet Street Cuisine, which specializes in hot dogs, Kielbasa, mac and cheese and a serve-yourself style topping bar.
Since opening in February 2013 in Ann Arbor, the food truck has traveled across Michigan — from Detroit to Grand Rapids to the Upper Peninsula. Now in downtown Ann Arbor from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. on weekends, the brothers have cemented themselves in the city’s food scene.
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Aaron Biggs said the food truck’s hours help them catch as many customers as possible.
“It’s just really mainlining the business,” Aaron Biggs said. “(Our hours) are right to the point. Nine o’clock is too early; people just finished with dinner. At 11 o’clock, people had a couple drinks in them; maybe they didn’t have dinner, maybe they’re going home, but the traffic seems to work.”
The business began during Aaron Biggs’s unemployment, when he decided to use his previous service industry experience to start his own hot dog business.
“We’ve been restaurant guys our entire lives,” Aaron Biggs said. “Instead of chilling out on unemployment, I was like ‘Why don’t I put some of my working knowledge towards doing something that I know how to do? I had another friend that was talking to me about a hot dog stand and just kind of clicked up.”
Matthew Biggs told The Daily it was Aaron Biggs’ influence that encouraged him to join the business.
“I’d say (Aaron Biggs) is the one that brought me in after the people he was working with weren’t pulling their weight,” Matthew Biggs said. “I was trying to work for myself, but the thought of not having to go to a job was the most intriguing part. And I had a ton of experience in the service industry. We’re both lifelong restaurant guys.”
When first starting EJ’s! Gourmet Street Cuisine, one of the biggest challenges Aaron Biggs and Matthew Biggs faced was keeping the truck staffed. However, Aaron Biggs noted the food truck has continued to see an increase in customers.
“There’s too many people who quit too soon,” Aaron Biggs said. “Even when we thought we were at the top of the game, say the first year or two that we started, it was constantly molding there. We’re more popular than we ever have been in our entire existence 12 years later.”
LSA freshman Abigail Lee said she was drawn to EJ’s! Gourmet Street Cuisine because of its friendly staff and convenient location.
“My favorite part about EJ’s! is the people who work there,” Lee said. “They’re super friendly, and there’s always a ton of people waiting in line, but they are super fast and efficient. Especially when it gets cold — I don’t want to walk too far for a quick bite. I like the fact that it’s right there, so after a night out I can eat really quickly and go home.”
Aaron Biggs believes the truck’s consistency and low prices have allowed the business to be successful.
“Consistency is the biggest part,” Aaron Biggs said. “If you’ve gone out anywhere, especially after the pandemic, everything has been quite mediocre. You pay a big price for something that people would consider mid. We’re keeping our prices low. We figured, if we keep our prices as low as humanly possible, we’ll have twice as many customers.”
Once the brothers retire, Matthew Biggs is considering selling the business to someone who will carry on the legacy.
“We want to make sure if we sell the business, it’s to somebody that can actually make it happen, not to somebody that has no experience and thinks that what we do is easy,” Matthew Biggs said. “We want to give it to some others that have food experience … so they can continue the legacy.”
Daily News Contributor Sarayu Bongale can be contacted at sarayub@umich.edu.
