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Meet Jackie Long of Mama Jim’s Gluten Free Kitchen in North Central Phoenix

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Jackie Long.

Jackie, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Six years ago Mama Jim was instructed by his doctor to eliminate gluten from his diet due to health reasons. While it was an adjustment to our family of four, Mama Jim made sure that our newly Gluten Free household would still enjoy our family favorites minus the gluten. As time went by, we discovered that our daughter, Jamison, had a gluten intolerance too. We found it difficult to eat out because “gluten friendly” didn’t always mean without gluten.

Since Mama Jim has always had a passion for cooking and he was able to make our family’s transition into being gluten-free so seamless, we decided that other people with Celiac Disease and other gluten issues should be able to enjoy food as much as we were in our home. In 2016, we took a giant leap and opened a Gluten Free food truck specializing in 100% Gluten Free comfort food. Unfortunately, Mama Jim was involved in a motor vehicle accident in early 2017, which caused us to close down our food truck until September 2018. Mama Jim sustained some permanent nerve injuries to his left arm/shoulder and was forced to step away from the rigorous life of food trucking. After watching everything that my husband had gone through following the accident, I decided to close down our licensed in-home childcare/PreK we ran for over ten years in order to revive Mama Jim’s dream. In August 2018, we closed Cupcakes West Child Care and in September 2018 Mama Jim’s Gluten Free Kitchen returned to the streets! While the workload and manual labor portion of the business can be intense at times for me, I’m glad that people get to experience Mama Jim’s Gluten Free tasty goodness again!

Has it been a smooth road?
The road in the food trucking industry is never smooth, but you learn quickly to adapt to adversity. We have been fortunate to have created a niche as being Arizona’s only dedicated Gluten Free food truck. However, crossing over to people without gluten issues have been a bit more tricky. Thankfully, Mama Jim’s food speaks for itself and handing out food samples has opened the eyes of many naysayers.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
I think our concept is unique because it has allowed people to enjoy foods that they haven’t been able to eat for years or ever. We often have parents of children with Celiac or other gluten issues thanking us for letting their kids enjoy a food truck festival for the first time. That makes what we do so worthwhile! Since we not a food truck with a traditional food concept such as Mexican, American, Asian, etc. we are able to continue to create new menu options for our clientele. We recently rolled out our GF version of the Corn Dog, we call it the Cornballers. We also have our Sunshine Cinnamon Churro Balls and Jimithing Mozzarella Wedges which are a favorite among the GF & non-GF community.

What have been some of the most important lessons you’ve learned over the course of your career?
Honestly, I wouldn’t trade anything for the experiences we’ve had on this crazy four-year ride! Well, I would obviously minus the accident Mama Jim was in Jan 2017.

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