POCATELLO — Homefire Comfort Foods is one of the newest eateries to enter the Pocatello food truck scene, opening for business at the end of February. 

Josh Andrus, owner and cook for Homefire Comfort Foods, wanted to make his dreams of owning a restaurant a reality, and a barbecue food truck was just the way to do it. 

"It's always been a dream of mine to have my own kitchen and my own restaurant," Andrus said before the food truck's grand opening. "This was just the way to obtain it. ... I hope to expand this and maybe have a brick-and-mortar and go from there."

Maintaining a barbecue-focused food truck is time consuming, according to Andrus. He recalls one Saturday in March when they sold out of 200 pounds of meat in two hours. 

"We opened at 11 and I was closed by 1:22," Andrus said. "It's not that I don't cook enough food, because I do, (but) the people keep coming."

To prepare for a typical day at Homefire Comfort Foods, Andrus has to smoke the meat, which takes 10 to 12 hours. This doesn't include making all of the sides the truck offers. 

"It's a lot, but I enjoy it because it's fun," Andrus said. "My daughter helps out a lot. I just have random friends that help me. I've got a pretty good support group." 

For being a new food truck, Andrus isn't sure what "busy" constitutes yet, but when they first sold out he believes a couple hundred people stopped by for food. 

One issue any food truck faces is finding permission to park according to Andrus, but he is optimistic with his situation. 

"I've got a pretty good network of people so I haven't had that problem thus far," Andrus said. "I've got various places that I'll be parking throughout town."

Customers can stay up to date on when and where the truck is open through its Facebook page.

On top of the food truck, Andrus also does catering for a variety of events. He does barbecue but can cater to other menu requests. 

"I love this, I love feeding people," Andrus said. "I was in the food business when I was young and I liked cooking for people and the reaction they got from what I did. ... It's always been a passion." 

Andrus says up until now he's primarily cooked as a hobby until friends and family encouraged him to pursue it further. 

"Who doesn't want to do what they love?" Andrus said. 

Nicholas Kurtz, Andrus' longtime deer and elk hunting buddy, says they both have a love for cooking barbecue.

"I get to kind of piggyback off his fame and live vicariously through him," Kurtz said. "He's the one who took the leap to open the business." 

Kurtz has helped Andrus prep, cook, cater and set up his social media platforms.

"It started out as just a hobby but it's something that over the years he's really perfected his skill set with barbecue," Kurtz said. "He has a passion for cooking really good food and a desire to provide a quality product for people in the community."

Kurtz emphasized that he sees Andrus' business growing significantly. Despite how busy a barbecue business is, Kurtz admires his ability to be a family man and run multiple businesses. 

"He's waking up at midnight or 1 a.m. and putting meat on the smoker," Kurtz said. "The customer doesn't see that and that's okay, but somebody who cooks barbecue knows what it takes and I think in between all the different (irons) he's got in the fire he's still a guy that'll help someone out when they ask for it."  

More information about Homefire Comfort Foods can be found at homefirefoods.com.