Mike Smith
Artesia Daily Press
msmith@currentargus.com

Working in the oil fields for 14 years and a passion for cooking gave Laramie Rollins an idea to create a different kind of food truck business in Artesia.

“We live in a small town, so it gives us different opportunities,” he said.

Since January, Rollins and his wife Marie serve up breakfast items to commuters and oil field workers at the Rise and Dine food truck located at 808 South First Street.

Planning for the business started in September of 2024 as both filled out paperwork to form a limited liability company along with government paperwork pertaining to taxes and food handling.

Laramie said he and Marie then looked at trailers making sure everything was set for the specifications to open Rise and Dine on Jan. 10.

Laramie and Marie are a two-person operation, and the food truck was more convenient than finding property for a restaurant.

“We both worked in the restaurant industry a long time ago when we were young waitressing and working in the kitchen when we were super young,” she said.

Laramie added with the food truck the couple does not have to worry about employees, building or maintenance.

“Maintenance on this is tires, maybe a water pump here and there,” he said.

Marie said all menu items are made from scratch in the food truck and Laramie said both arrive an hour before opening to prepare for the day.

“Nothing is frozen, we cut our own potatoes, we peel our own potatoes, and we cook them fresh,” she said.

Before opening Rise and Dine, Marie said she and her husband ate at various food trucks and wanted to offer something different to the community.

“Kind of offer something that people don’t see here often like the corn beef hash,” she said.

“The yogurt parfait is pretty popular. We actually make our own stovetop granola; we make it here in house and I try to offer as many flavors as I can.”

Marie said biscuits and gravy are another popular item on the menu and is only offered on Saturday’s.

“We don’t have an oven in here (the trailer) and we use a commercial roaster to make it and it takes up a whole lot of room,” she said.

“We eat a lot of biscuits and gravy at home, and we wanted to offer that.”

Breakfast burritos, breakfast sandwiches and breakfast sandwich plates are also part of the menu.

“We actually were not going to offer burritos; we actually didn’t have it on the menu when we started. But we’ve had so many people come and ask. So, we just decided to go ahead and add it on there. A lot of guys going out to the oil field need something to go, and they can’t eat the plate, so we just decided to give the customer something a little more convenient and we just decided to add that on there,” Marie said.

May 1 hours were expanded from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. to 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday to accommodate a lunch time crowd.

A Philly cheesesteak sandwich with chips is part of the lunch menu, according to Laramie.

He said a green chile melt was part of the lunchtime addition and lunch is served starting at 10 a.m.

“Which is corn beef brisket with green chile (and) cheese on Texas toast,” Laramie said.

“When we set this up, we didn’t come into it to make money we wanted to provide a service to the local community. On a Saturday on any given week, there’s not a lot of opportunity to eat breakfast. That’s where we kind of said, ‘OK let’s breakfast, but let’s be fair.’ We don’t want to get the point where we are charging $25 for an egg sandwich.”

Marie said everything served at Rise and Dine is something the couple would eat at home.

“We ask our customers a lot of questions when they come in. We get a lot of feedback from the community just to make sure (the proper items are being served),” she said.

Mike Smith can be reached at 575-308-8734 or follow on X @mikesmithartesianm.