La Empanada Food Truck

A growing trend around Fresno is the many food trucks. Ray Kord has been the owner of La Empanada Buen Provecho at Fresno and Ashlan since August. He says his main objective is to serve his customers yummy and unique empanadas that he cooks fresh daily.

Kord did a lot of traveling and immersed himself in many Hispanic traditions including the preparation and eating of empanadas. The inspiration for the recipe he uses came after many trial and error runs until he got the final product that people love.

The variety of empanadas include Carne Molida (ground beef), chicken, pizza, veggie, and dessert empanadas. Kord’s passion for cooking stemmed from working as a car salesman where he made more money but wasn’t happy. Now, he says he not only feels happier cooking at his food truck, but he also loves seeing his customers happy when they leave with their empanada dinner.

Something that sets Kord’s truck apart from the others is his desire to give back to the community.

“I believe that I don’t deserve these tips,” Kord says. “My customers all deserve excellent service without me expecting a tip.”

He has filled his current tip jar and will give it to the We Are Not Invisible Organization to help the homeless in Fresno. Kord decided on this charity after following Desiree “Dez” Martinez closely on social media. He plans on surprising her with the tip jar at the end of December.

In the future, he says he will continue to give his tips away and plans to choose a different local charity each time.