Big Boss wakes up Northern Meadows with hot links

Northern Meadows began in the early 2000s with no restaurants or businesses popping up with the development.

About 20 years later, there still isn't a restaurant with the closest food place being McDonald's at Northern and Unser boulevards.

Big Boss Hot Links owner James Wilkinson saw this problem and decided to do something about it with his food truck.

"I consider this a food desert. There's no food out here," he said while serving breakfast at Zia Park July 23.

Wilkinson wanted to have a brick and mortar in that community but having a spot developed was too expensive.

"I talked to the city about putting a restaurant out here, but the infrastructure costs were way out of my realm. Where I wanted to be at there's no water, sewer, there's nothing," he explained.

He went on to say franchises would have an easier time building in the area, but for mom-and-pop restaurants and shops, it just isn't affordable.

"The food trucks seem to be the better option," Wilkinson said.

He decided to park the food truck at Zia Park on King Road because it is the access point to the neighborhood. So far, though, Wilkinson notices people don't make time to stop for breakfast.

"A lot of times people leave for work right at the time they need to leave for work. That's why you see a lot of accidents in the morning because people are rushing trying to get to where they need to go. So they don't leave enough time to stop somewhere. So I see a lot of people just driving by because they're in that rush," he said.

Another problem is people expect the hot links to be like local hot links.

"A lot of folks down here have eaten the local hot links, and they taste like spicy hot dogs, so they don't want them in burritos or tacos or nachos because nobody wants a hot dog on everything like that. Mine are actually spicy sausages, and that's what I put on the menu as well," he added.

But his hot links aren't made locally. "I actually get them imported from Seattle," Wilkinson said.

While that may seem expensive, Wilkinson says the cost really comes in with shipping, but since he has an account with Southwest Airlines Cargo, it is not really a concern for him.

His goal is to get more traction in the neighborhood and be a source of food for people in that "food desert."

"I hope to gain traction just by being here every day," Wilkinson said.

If Big Boss isn't in Northern Meadows, it's running concessions out at Suika Circuit, formerly known as Sandia Speedway.

"It's going great. Every weekend we're out there doing something," Wilkinson said.

The track puts on several racing events throughout the year in both the pit and the dirt track.

For a schedule of where Big Boss will be, visit their Facebook page.