Over the past year, Special Eats has been empowering the community one crispy, gooey grilled cheese at a time.
Now they’re taking the next step: putting an extra S in desert.
Next year, Special Eats will open a second food truck and their first brick-and-mortar, both dedicated to serving sweet treats as well as other fun goodies.
Special Eats co-owner Tamara Varga said they decided to open a sweets shop after seeing the need for dessert trucks. Special Eats Sweets will not only be a truck, but a retail space will also open in midtown to house their bakery.
Special Eats Sweets will serve desserts such as cookies, brownies, milkshakes and snow cones.
Special Eats’ yellow food truck made its first appearance in Tucson in 2022. Varga’s teenage son had expressed his desire for a job, but they weren’t able to find one that was willing to work with him or train him because he has special needs. Varga decided to take matters into her own hands.
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, some employers can pay less than the federal minimum wage to “workers who have disabilities for the work being performed.” Some states have passed legislation to eliminate that.
“A lot of people lost their jobs because a business would rather pay someone else minimum wage than someone with special needs. So, I really saw the need for people with special needs to work,” Varga said.
When inspiration struck, Varga called her friend and now business partner, William Harman, and told him her idea. Harman, who also has a daughter with special needs and has been in the food industry for years, put in his two-week notice at his job and helped get Special Eats up and running.
Special Eats employs 35 people who help out on the truck, cook the food, make jewelry and decorate the to-go bags.
After doing extensive research, the two decided to specialize in gourmet grilled cheese, offering the cheesy sandwiches with ingredients like chicken with green chile, candied bacon with jalapeños and beef with grilled onions.
“People love our grilled cheese,” Varga said. “There's been people where I'm walking by and they don't know that I'm associated with the truck and I hear them saying this is the best grilled cheese they’ve ever had.”
Along with the food, Special Eats also offers homemade gift baskets, jewelry and merchandise, all made by their staff. One of the employees, Ben, is in charge of the art, creating one-of-a-kind drawings on each of the to-go bags.
“He tells me, I can't believe I get paid to do my passion and art,” Varga said. “He just does amazing work.”
Despite only being in business for a year, Special Eats decided to take a big leap forward and try something new: desserts. They were able to find the perfect building, located near Fifth Street and Rosemont Boulevard, where they plan to sell sweet treats such as snow cones, ice cream, cookies, milkshakes and brownies.
Their new building will also house their new art program, which means jewelry and gift baskets will also be featured at the new digs.
When it came to preparing Special Eats Sweets, Varga said it has been a real team effort, tackling everything step by step.
“They really are getting an education on what it's like to open up their own business, to be included and to see the fruits of all of their hard work,” Varga said.
Varga said they are aiming to open their new dessert ventures in January. In the meantime, you can stop by the yellow truck for a tasty grilled cheese.
“Our mission is to employ and empower individuals with special needs and that's really what we're doing,” Varga said. “They get up every day with a purpose, they feel part of this community and they get a paycheck, which most of them have never had a paycheck ... The special needs community continues to grow at a really fast pace. We need to have something for them to do and a place for them to work.”
