BILLINGS — It takes a certain kind of person to run a food truck.
"Food truck life is not for the faint of heart, for sure,” said Cindy Sahli, who runs I'm Cravin' Bar-B-Que.
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For her family, the food truck grind is more than a job—it is a way of life, and arguably, part of their DNA.
Owning three mobile businesses, the family has created a fleet of flavors. What they are really serving, however, is something deeper: a work ethic that spans generations.
“Our kids were seven, six, and twelve when they started working in the truck with us," said Ryan Sahli, Cindy's husband.
One of these trucks has a more unique history than the others.
The Sweet Tooth Ice Cream Bus design does not evoke the usual dinged-up, white mystery-van energy. This truck is polished and colorful. It is the realization of a high school project pitched by Teagan Sahli, now a mechanical engineering major at Yale University.
“I think the biggest thing is definitely the design,” said Teagan. “It was my platinum project, and yeah – I don’t know. I just kind of feel lucky whenever I’m here, especially, like, back from college. It’s definitely something I miss a lot when I’m gone.”
Teagan built the idea into a four-year-long school assignment. That inspiration became the family’s newest truck—and a backdrop to the summers that would later shape her future.
“It’s very much associated with summer for me," said Teagan. "I think about it a lot when I’m at school.”
The truck, it turns out, played a surprising role in her acceptance to Yale.
“When I got to Yale, actually, I read my admissions file, and one of the things that they noted was this ice cream truck and that they had never seen someone with an ice cream truck before," said Teagan.
She earned a full-ride scholarship through the QuestBridge program. Her college essay, centered on those summers with her parents, helped make the case.
“I just walk around and I'm like, ‘I'm so lucky to be here,’” said Teagan. Learning how to be hard working, especially learning from my parents. They’re two of the most hardest-working people I’ve ever met.”
Some families pass down eye color or curly hair. In the Sahlis, it is drive—the kind that comes on wheels, wrapped in vinyl, and scoops of double servings of love.
“I got so incredibly lucky with my parents,” said Teagan. “I think about it all the time.”
As she navigates her Ivy League education, her parents continue to serve ice cream and smiles back home.
