Filipino food truck Colorado’s first Whole Foods ‘culinary resident’

Filipino-owned and operated The Orange Crunch will serve empanadas at Whole Foods in Westminster, Colorado.

SAN FRANCISCO—Filipino-owned The Orange Crunch in Westminster, Colorado is the first in Colorado and among the first in the US to participate in Whole Foods’ “culinary residency” program.

The Orange Crunch owners Leshner and Sarah Del Rosario will occupy temporary vendor space at a new Whole Foods store in Westminster.

The initiative gives street-food entrepreneurs a chance to reach thousands of new customers and get out of the sweaty confines of the truck for a couple of weeks, reports the Denver Post. The store benefits by offering shoppers food outside of its standard prepared items.

The Del Rosarios’ signature item is an orange-tinged Filipino empanada, a fried turnover made with meat or vegetarian fillings. They learned to prepare them on the eve of their wedding in the Philippines, where Leshner was born.

On returning to the US, both were laid off from their financial-services jobs. Their dream of cooking Filipino food for a living went on overdrive. They used their savings, 401(k)s and wedding money gifts into the food truck.

A Whole Foods officer heard some buzz about The Orange Crunch food truck and tracked it down at the Cannonball Creek brewery in Golden.

The Orange Crunch will operate for two weeks at the grocer’s new Bradburn Village store at West 120th Avenue and Vrain Street. The Del Rosarios will use Whole Foods’ kitchen to prepare and cook food then serve it from a cart in the prepared foods section. The Orange Crunch and Whole Foods share the profits.