Taste of Love – The Loan Fund

Albuquerque

Kayla Vallejos has been cooking since she was 13 so it was only a matter of time when she would own her food operation.

Vallejos, proud owner of Albuquerque-based Taste of Love food truck that started business this spring, got her start working at Burger King and then moved on to waitressing and bartending. She really wanted to work in the kitchen but didn’t have any formal experience until a husband and wife team allowed her cook in their restaurant in her home state of New Jersey.

“A lot of places wouldn’t hire me because I was a woman and I didn’t have a formal background in cooking,” Vallejos said before she joined the husband and wife team. “That’s where I learned mostly everything, especially making homemade stuff.”

And it’s that home cooking she creates at Taste of Love – from the Jersey Smash Burger made with Taylor Ham, a thick sliced pork roll, to green chile alfredo fries to handmade pastas fused with Southwest flavor, including fried carne adovada and cheddar ravioli.

Taste of Love is one of several food trucks that The Loan Fund has financed in recent years. Stay in Your Lane, a truck specializing in breakfast and lunch, and Smokin’ Good Bistro & Deli have both obtained loans for truck purchases and working capital.