Taylor Swift fans need to eat, too: Toronto food truck owner wins "lottery" after being chosen to serve outside Rogers Centre

Toronto is in its “Lover” era with Taylor Swift. The pop sensation has sold out six shows in the city over two weekends. Local businesses around Rogers Centre have to capitalized on their proximity – and a Scarborough, Ont. restaurant is living out its wildest dreams after being selected to serve its food truck favourites in a hotspot for concert-goers.

“We’re right between the Rogers Centre and CN Tower. I don’t know what to expect, but with a larger crowd, it will be busy,” said Bilal M., the owner of Slider Station, a restaurant and food truck based out of Scarborough.

Months ago, Bilal applied through a little-known City of Toronto application to offer food truck service for more than 500,000 people expected to be in Toronto for the stretch of Swift’s concerts. While only half of those fans may attend the concerts, others will simply hang outside the Rogers Centre, waiting to listen to the music and take in the experience.

The online application process was meticulous, asking for the specific type of food offered and unique menu offerings to ensure it would be mass appealing. Bilal believes Slider Station’s halal-meat offering provided his business with an advantage, while being able to curate a menu that he knew would be of mass appeal to the biggest Swifties.

When he finally received the approval notice from the City of Toronto, Bilal said it felt like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for exposure.

During this whole application process, it felt like you bought a lottery ticket. The chances of winning are not good; you don’t feel like you’ll win, but then you do. It’s a massive opportunity.Bilal M., owner and operator of Slider Station

From accommodating her with a presidential-like convoy from the airport to creating drinks and food in her honour, to hosting the Taylgate so her fans could experience the joy of being a ‘Swiftie’ outside concert hours – Bilal was aware of the fandom, but never expected it to at this scale.

“I’ve heard her music. It’s good, trendy, and whatnot, but at the same time, we didn’t know what to expect. I did not expect this level of anticipation, this fandom,” he said.

To his knowledge, Bilal says Slider Station is one of four food trucks approved in that area – allowing him minimal competition and a lot of exposure. He added that for a food truck owner, location is truly everything, and at festivals and other significant venues, you’re usually on the edge of a crowd. Still, throughout these six nights, he’ll be at the centre of the action.

“We did site visits leading up to the shows, and people are standing outside, taking it in. You can feel that the energy is special,” he said.

In order to remain competitive, Slider Station had to spend weeks preparing for six days of shows. One move they made was to create a menu small enough that they could feed hungry Swifties, while maintaining ingredients and food preparation to their high standards.

“The prep is kind of crazy. We needed to limit our menu because of how long each item takes to prep. I’ve had to order in bulk and store it in our fridge and freezers,” he said.

The “Bad Blood” Tenders on the Slider Station menu are an homage to Taylor Swift’s hit song, and hometown Tennessee flavours.

The menu, which they’ve cleverly dubbed “Taylor’s Version”, will feature chicken tenders called ‘Tender Love Story,’ ‘Treacherous’ cheeseburger sliders, ‘Enchanted’ fried chicken sliders, and one more special item honouring Swift’s Tennessee roots.

“We added an item to connect with her,” Bilal said. “Because she grew up in Tennessee, we decided to do a Tennessee hot chicken tender. It will be exclusive for the concert,” he said.

He added that he’s getting an opportunity to add to his menu, try something different, and, if it goes well, bring it back to his brick-and-mortar location in Scarborough. More than anything, Bilal is grateful for the opportunity to represent his style of street-food to a huge audience.

Slider Station offers a unique “Taylor’s version” menu for Swifties

“To be representing the city in terms of our food and our quality, there’s going to be people from outside the city, people are going to come from her hometown…and we can show them what Toronto is about,” he said.

While he has been a vendor at other significant events, including OVOfest, Bilal noted that this opportunity feels significantly larger given the sheer amount of traffic in and around the Rogers Centre.

From the cost of items to following regulations and rules to securing a location, the job of the food truck owner is as much playing a chef as running the whole business operation. In this case, the prep has been underway for weeks, and the only decision he’ll have is if he wants to spend the entire ten days around the locatoin, or just concert days.

“It’s one of those things where you do want to be be a part of… it is once in a lifetime.”

The owner’s desire to be operate in the Toronto core doesn’t end after November 24th, when Swift and company will pack up and leave the city. He’s been trying to get in the space and offer more food to residents, but making inroads into the city takes time and correct marketing. With this opportunity, Bilal hopes Torontonians and others will appreciate the food he’s creating and want him to come back regularly.

“Hopefully, we can kind of take this and grow into the downtown market a little bit more…expand a little bit more from here.“ This is just like a stepping stone to get into the city. We’re trying to make an imprint, and this allows us to tap into the community,” he said.