Nashville’s mobile food scene grew into one of the South’s most active street-food markets after the city’s 2011 mobile vendor ordinance opened public right-of-way and private-lot service. The three operators below each cleared more than a decade of street time, hold a current Metro Nashville Department of Health mobile food service permit, pass quarterly health inspections, and work out of a licensed commissary kitchen as required under Tennessee Code Annotated mobile food vendor regulations. All three carry Nashville Food Truck Association membership, run festival and corporate catering programs, and have drawn national press coverage in Food Network, Cooking Channel, Eater Nashville, and Nashville Scene Best of Nashville voting.
Quick Comparison #
| Firm | Credentials | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| The Grilled Cheeserie | Metro Nashville Health Department mobile food service permit, Food Network Diners Drive-Ins and Dives feature, Daily Meal Top 7 of 101 Best Food Trucks in America 2015 | Le Cordon Bleu-trained chef-driven gourmet grilled cheese rotation including Pimento Mac and Chee with farm-to-truck Tennessee dairy and Benton's bacon sourcing |
| Smoke Et Al | Metro Nashville Health Department mobile food service permit, 2014 Travel Channel Chow Masters Golden Skillet $10,000 winner, Nashville Food Truck Association member | Memphis-style real-wood pork ribs, brisket tacos on hand-pressed local tortillas, and ServSafe-compliant wood-smoke program |
| Hoss' Loaded Burgers | Metro Nashville Health Department mobile food service permit, Nashville Scene Best of Nashville 2018, Cooking Channel Eat St. and Thrillist feature coverage | Minneapolis-style Juicy Lucy cheese-stuffed burger trucks with full-bar catering and corporate-park festival service |
1. The Grilled Cheeserie #
The Grilled Cheeserie first rolled in May 2010 as a Nashville food truck founded by husband-and-wife team Joseph Bogan and Crystal De Luna-Bogan, a Le Cordon Bleu-trained chef. The truck became the city’s first nationally televised mobile gourmet grilled cheese concept and later opened a Hillsboro Village shop in 2017, followed by a second East Nashville counter at Hunters Station. The mobile unit remains in active rotation for festivals, private events, and weekly public pours.
Founders and farm-to-truck sourcing #
The Bogans built the menu around seasonally rotating, locally sourced cheese, bread, and produce, with longstanding partnerships across Tennessee dairies and Middle Tennessee growers. The truck handles its prep out of a permitted commissary kitchen, an arrangement that satisfies the Metro Health mobile food rule prohibiting raw home prep and that keeps inspections aligned with brick-and-mortar standards. The operation has held Nashville Food Truck Association standing across multiple seasons.
Signature melts and press record #
The signature Pimento Mac and Chee, a melt of house pimento cheese, sharp cheddar, macaroni, and Benton’s bacon on country white bread, drew Guy Fieri to the truck for a Food Network Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives segment. Other rotation staples include the Meatball Melt on parmesan-crusted rosemary garlic bread and the seasonally rotating Harvest Melt. The truck also picked up a Cooking Channel Eat St. feature and earned Nashville Scene Best of Nashville Food Truck voting honors across ten consecutive years. The Daily Meal placed the operation at number seven on its 101 Best Food Trucks in America list in 2015.
Catering, schedule, and contact #
The truck books private catering, wedding rentals, and corporate-park lunch service through [email protected], with weekly public stops posted on the business’s social channels. Hillsboro Village shop address: 2003 Belcourt Avenue, Nashville, TN 37212. East Nashville counter: 975 Main Street, Nashville, TN 37206 inside Hunters Station. Phone: (615) 203-0351.
https://www.grilledcheeserie.com/
2. Smoke Et Al #
Smoke Et Al is a Nashville barbecue truck launched by chef-owner Shane Autrey, with documented street service dating to early 2012 under the Nashville mobile food permit. The business has stayed mobile-first throughout its run, an uncommon discipline in a market where most longstanding trucks add a brick-and-mortar location after five to seven years. The truck pulls real-wood smoke through an on-board firebox and pairs Memphis-style ribs with a Southern-modern menu built around scratch sides and house tortillas.
Chef Shane Autrey and the Chow Masters win #
Autrey took the 2014 Golden Skillet on Travel Channel’s Chow Masters, a competition format that pitted regional barbecue operators against a panel of national pitmaster judges. The win brought a $10,000 prize and placed the business on the short list of Nashville trucks with a televised competition title. The truck has also drawn coverage from Eat St. on Cooking Channel and from local press at Nashville Scene and Mobile Food News.
Signature plates and Memphis-style program #
The menu rotates around Memphis-style pork ribs, brisket tacos with Noble feta and smoked salsa verde on hand-pressed local corn or flour tortillas, pulled pork sandwiches, and a smoked-vegetable taco for non-meat eaters. House sides include fried pickled okra and fiddler’s biscuits, and the wood-smoke program covers brisket, pork shoulder, and rib runs cooked to internal-temperature targets that meet ServSafe and Metro Health hot-holding requirements.
Booking, locations, and contact #
The truck books private and corporate catering, weddings, festival pours, and brewery-lot service through the Nashville Food Truck Association booking portal and through direct contact at [email protected]. Weekly stops have included recurring Friday-night pours at Yazoo Taproom and at Jackalope’s Wedgewood-Houston campus. The business operates as a Nashville-based mobile vendor without a fixed retail address; commissary location and current schedule are listed on the truck’s website.
3. Hoss’ Loaded Burgers #
Hoss’ Loaded Burgers opened in 2011 under founder Dallas Shaw as Nashville’s first dedicated Juicy Lucy-style cheese-stuffed burger truck. The business operated a Nolensville burger shop from February 2019 through November 2023 and has since refocused on the mobile truck plus a full-service catering program. The truck remains a regular on the Nashville Food Truck Association booking calendar and a fixture at brewery taprooms, corporate parks, and private events.
Founder Dallas Shaw and the Juicy Lucy format #
Shaw built the menu around a Minneapolis-style stuffed burger in which the cheese sits inside the patty rather than on top, producing a molten center on the first bite. The kitchen runs out of a permitted commissary, and the truck holds an active Metro Health mobile food permit with regular inspection records. The catering side handles full-bar setups, set head-count menus, and scaled high-volume options for festival service.
Signature burgers and press record #
The signature roster includes The Comeback Kid (American cheese, Hoss Sauce, onion crispers, dill pickle), The Professor (tomato, bacon jam, spicy pimento cheese), The Hoss (American, BBQ sauce, onion crispers, bacon, cilantro), and The Old Timer (American, lettuce, tomato, red onion, ketchup, mustard). Press coverage spans Nashville Scene Best of Nashville 2018, Cooking Channel’s Eat St., Thrillist’s “Things to Eat in Nashville Before You Die” ranking, Eater Nashville, The Guardian, and multiple top-three finishes in Nashville Lifestyles Battle of the Burger.
Schedule, catering, and contact #
The truck publishes a weekly schedule on hossburgers.com and books catering directly through the website’s catering inquiry form. Standard truck service runs Wednesday through Saturday with 11:00 a.m. opens at booked stops. Phone: (615) 628-7437. Email: [email protected].
Choosing among the three #
All three trucks hold current Metro Nashville Department of Health mobile food permits, operate from licensed commissary kitchens under Tennessee Code Annotated mobile food vendor rules, and carry Nashville Food Truck Association membership. The Grilled Cheeserie brings the longest unbroken truck record, a Food Network Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives segment, and a ten-year Nashville Scene Best of Nashville voting run, plus two brick-and-mortar counters for fixed-location dining. Smoke Et Al stays mobile-first with a 2014 Travel Channel Chow Masters title, real-wood smoke, and a Memphis-style rib program paired with house-pressed tortillas. Hoss’ Loaded Burgers runs the city’s signature Juicy Lucy stuffed-burger format with Cooking Channel and Thrillist coverage and a catering desk built around variable head-count formats. Event planners and lunch-stop diners can route all three through the NFTA booking portal or contact each business directly.
Selection Methodology #
Food trucks in Davidson County run under Metro Public Health Department mobile food service permits with a licensed commissary kitchen address on file and quarterly health inspection records on the Metro inspection portal. The filter for the three trucks above started with the Metro permit register and the published commissary location, then worked through Nashville Food Truck Association membership, ten-plus years of continuous operation under the same chef-owner, Food Network or Travel Channel feature recognition where claimed, Nashville Scene Best of Nashville voting history, published rotation schedule across documented Davidson County stops, and a Nashville-based contact desk reachable for booking. Operations running without a current Metro mobile food permit and unpermitted commissary kitchens were excluded.
Frequently Asked Questions #
Q: How do I find where each truck is parked on a given day?
A: Food trucks rotate through scheduled stops (corporate parks, breweries, public events) and publish the week’s calendar on their own website or social channels. The Grilled Cheeserie, Smoke Et Al, and Hoss’ Loaded Burgers each post a weekly schedule. Following the truck on Instagram is the most reliable real-time tracker on the day of service.
Q: Can I book one of these trucks for a private event or office lunch?
A: All three operate catering desks for corporate parks, weddings, festivals, and private parties. Booking lead time typically runs two to four weeks for weekend slots and longer for peak-season events. Head counts, menu options, and on-site power or commissary access shape the quote, which is built through the catering form on each truck’s website.
Q: Are any of the three trucks paid placements?
A: No. The three profiles above are editorial selections drawn from publicly verifiable sources. No firm sponsored placement.
Q: How are mobile food permits and commissary kitchens verified?
A: Metro Nashville Public Health Department issues mobile food service permits with a licensed commissary kitchen address on file and runs quarterly inspections published on the Metro inspection portal. The three trucks above each hold an active Metro mobile food permit and a registered commissary kitchen, which separates a regulated truck from an unpermitted pop-up.
Editorial Note #
This guide was published on 2026-05-11 and reflects research current as of that date. Verify licenses, phone numbers, and current business status before engaging any firm.