Friendship leads to 1Up Food Truck

1Up Food Truck & Catering is co-owned by two men who met while working for Cape Girardeau's Dalhousie Golf Club, found they had complementary abilities and later launched a business together that grew out of friendship.

Nick Carreras, a 2006 graduate of Perryville's St. Vincent dePaul High School, and Jackson's Pedro Minakata launched their mobile unit together in February 2021 and got their startup seed money in a novel way.

"There was an opportunity several years ago in Wisconsin to go cook for Afghan refugees. The gig paid pretty well and we spent six months working 90 hours a week at a military base cooking. The money we made there allowed us to come home and buy a food truck and hit the ground running," said Carreras, who is also an alumnus of Southeast Missouri State University.

As for the partnership's "1Up" name, Carreras said there's a personal twist.

"1Up is a challenge between the two of us to constantly be figuring out how we can be better today compared to yesterday. 1Up is a focus on being the best we can be," he explained.

The food truck's No. 1 seller, the Smash Burger, got its name from how the food is prepared.

"We smash the meat patty real thin (and) it cooks real fast on the grill, and we do two patties on bun. You get cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, pickles and onions," said Carreras, who added Facebook is the best way to discover where 1Up's food truck will be on any particular day.

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