The Wheels on the Blue Sparrow Food Bus Go Round and Round

Photo by Mollie Serbin

Founded in 2016, Blue Sparrow is a food truck fleet that serves global street food with local ingredients. From baking their own bread to pickling and fermenting their own vegetables, everything that Blue Sparrow serves is made from scratch. The menu ranges from Asian fusion items, like their Korean BBQ Burrito and Ramen Burger, to street food dishes, such as banh mi and Cuban sandwiches.

Owner Luke Cypher previously ran kitchens around Pittsburgh for many years. Inspired to launch his own culinary concept, Luke bought an old box truck on Craigslist and revamped it into the first Blue Sparrow food truck. 

Since hitting the road, Blue Sparrow has achieved much critical success and built strong collaborations with local coffee shops and breweries, including Commonplace Coffee Northside, Dancing Gnome, and Eleventh Hour Brewing. 

The Road Not Taken

Two years in, Blue Sparrow was at a crossroads in their growth journey. As the food truck consistently sold out at larger events, it was clear to Luke that he needed a bigger rig while staying true to Blue Sparrow’s unique charm.

“Healthy growth is really hard,” Luke admits. “There’s this fine line between making more money and making money in a healthy way. For me, the two aspects of growth are how happy my team is and how happy my customers are.”

Luke was considering taking Blue Sparrow in very different directions: “The question was, do we make a second truck that looks like the current truck we have? Do we open up a restaurant that does similar types of food? Or do we try and grow the unique thing that we’re currently doing?”