How Food Trucks Endured and Succeeded During the Pandemic Owning the Future May 24, 2021 FacebookTwitterEmail General atmosphere of food trucks at the American Express event with Off The Grid on March 11, 2016 in San Francisco, California. Steve Jennings/ Getty Images The COVID pandemic hit California hard. It has seen well over 3.5 million cases and over 60,000 deaths. Scores of businesses have closed. But for Ana Jimenez, the owner of Tacos El Jerry, a small fleet of food trucks in Santa Cruz County, it provided an opportunity to bring her business into the 21st century. Jimenez’s four trucks began taking orders through an app and a website, delivering directly to customers, and cultivating a customer base through a new social media presence. All of that added up to a significant increase in sales.