Laguna Beach restaurant turns parking lot into food truck drive-thru

LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. (KABC) -- The empty parking lot at Mozambique Restaurant in Laguna Beach has turned into a food truck drive-thru offering burgers, Mexican food and Greek Mediterranean.

Restaurant owner Ivan Spiers came up with the idea after he was forced to shut down his wood-fired kitchen.

"I have an empty parking lot, so why don't we let the people of Laguna and visitors have something they can just drive through and eat in the compliant way as we all live six feet away," said Spiers.

COVID-19 precautions are maintained throughout the unique experience.

"The menus that we give them, they keep them so they're not reused. So there's basically no contact. They order at the car, tickets are rung up in the truck, and the food is picked up and delivered to the cars," he said.

Customers can order items from each of the three trucks and it's all on one bill. As creative as it is, Ivan's main focus was his 85 employees who are without an income.

"Mostly helping out the employees. It's giving them some work," he said. "A lot of them worked here for 10, 12, 15, 16 years."

The food-truck drive-thru allows up to 10 of his employees to work each day handing out menus, taking orders and running food from the trucks to the cars. It's rotated so they each have an even chance to work.

"This is something a little different, but I felt it was something unique and putting people back to work."

Ivan says they'll keep the food trucks out there as long as the closures are in place.

For more information on hours and offerings, go to MozambiqueOC.com.