In 10 years of conducting interviews with food entrepreneurs in Shreveport-Bossier, I don’t think I’ve ever laughed as much as I did while discussing the new May the Cheese Be With You food truck with co-owner Debbie Williamson. Williamson and her friend and business partner Donna Higgins bought the grilled cheese truck, which was an established business in East Texas, after noticing the popularity of food trucks during a visit to Canton Trade Days. They bought the entire package: truck, grilled cheese recipes, and colorful, Star Wars-themed branding.
Like May the Cheese Be With You on Facebook.
You may have assumed that owning a Star Wars-themed grilled cheese truck would mean that Debbie and Donna are enormous fans of the wildly popular Star Wars movie franchise. You would be wrong. In fact, Debbie and Donna have only seen a combined total of about two of the Star Wars movies. But that won’t stop them from serving sandwiches with names like “Cheesebacca”, “C3-Pepperoni-O” and “Ham Solo”. Seriously.
“We’re not big Star Wars people, but you say the name (Star Wars) and everybody loves it,” Williamson said. “I’m a realtor and Donna is an accountant. We’re doing it for fun. You know, we needed something to do, so we just jumped off the deep end.”
How do Star Wars fans react when they learn that the proprietors of a Star Wars-themed food truck…haven’t seen the movies? It’s been a hoot, according to Williamson. Or a wookie scream.
“Our very first day selling in Shreveport, someone asked me if I could make the Chewbacca sound, and I just had to say ‘No, no I cannot,'” Williamson said.
While I haven’t had the chance to sample the grilled cheese sandwiches from May the Cheese Be With You just yet, Williamson assures me that they are “the best in the galaxy.” May the Cheese Be With You will be popping up at the BHP Billiton YMCA, 3455 Knight Street, on Saturday, April 27, 2019 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Watch their Facebook page for updates.
Like this kind of writing about local food? Download the brand new, fourth edition of Eat Here: A Food Lover’s Guide to Shreveport-Bossier.
Enter to win an excellent prize package from the 318 Crawfish Crawl (entries accepted now through May 31).
Photos for this post provided courtesy of May the Cheese Be With You.
