El Paso Burrito Lady

shop deals on amazon
Shop deals on ebay
Advertise with us
Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum

Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Meat Puppet

Meat Puppet

Lead Service Attendant
Joined
Apr 14, 2009
Messages
342
I really enjoy the El Paso burritos as a nice break from the train food, but I was wondering how she gets away with it. If I tried to sell on my local Amtrak platform without a sanitary inspection permit, vendor license and tax stamp I would probably be arrested. Amtrak complains about food and beverage losses yet the employees actually annouce on the car pa system that burritos are available for sale outside on the platform. Can anyone explain this?
 
What exactly is she "getting away with?"

So far as I can tell she's not poisoning anyone or selling anything that's unsafe or inedible. In fact the food is so good that her reputation precedes her. The various companies who have sold us unsafe tomatoes, spinach, lettuce, peanut butter, toothpaste, and pet food over the years were all fully licensed and accredited. A lot of good that any of that does us when the budgets for inspectors running actual inspections have been hacked and slashed into obscurity. Worrying about the little lady selling burritos by the side of the train is silly by comparison. I'd be surprised if you were arrested for selling food next to the train once every few days like she does. Of course that assumes you're not trying to get away with anything.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Too bad the Burrito lady can't bring her wares onto the Sunset and sell them in the lounge car! My wife was not hungry at dinner after being unable to resist buying one in El Paso and savoring it for the next 100 miles or so. I was allowed only a couple bites. Now that's the type food that Amtrak needs on the NEC cafe cars rather than those soggy nuked sandwiches.
 
We hit ELP one time when I was in the Diner and the LSA had no trouble at all with me bailing for a few moments to grab a couple Burritos to rathole for a late afternoon snack; he even said bring them back into the Diner so I didn't have to run all over the train stashing them in the Sleeper and letting my Lunch go cold. Needless to say one of the Diner Crew came with me and took a supply back to the Kitchen :)
 
How many do you think she sells per train stop? Does she sell anything else in addition to the burritos? How much are they?
 
Palmland said:
Too bad the Burrito lady can't bring her wares onto the Sunset and sell them in the lounge car! My wife was not hungry at dinner after being unable to resist buying one in El Paso and savoring it for the next 100 miles or so. I was allowed only a couple bites. Now that's the type food that Amtrak needs on the NEC cafe cars rather than those soggy nuked sandwiches.
Click to expand...
This actually brings an idea to mind: It is too bad that Amtrak couldn't work out some limited agreements with local vendors at a few "big stops" on the western LD trains (DEN, ABQ, ELP, SAS, MSP, etc.) to buy a batch of food that would be offered for sale. Doing this would allow a limited restocking of food at a given stop (remember, food storage is an issue, and it is not uncommon to see food supplies get more than a little thin on the back end of a trip) and add a variation to the menu.
 
MrFSS said:
How many do you think she sells per train stop? Does she sell anything else in addition to the burritos? How much are they?
Click to expand...
She usually goes through 2 Coleman-type Ice Chests. Last time I was through a couple years ago they were $2 and she had Bean & Cheese, Bean and Beef and one other kind I cannot recall. They are decent size, each wrapped in foil.
 
MrFSS said:
How many do you think she sells per train stop? Does she sell anything else in addition to the burritos? How much are they?
Click to expand...
Last time I ate the Burritos (Two are a Meal unto themselves) was a couple of years ago and she charged $4 for 2 then! Every Time I've gone through El Paso she has a Large Group from the Train buying them (mostly Coach Passengers) and she sells out fairly quickly, if I had to guess Id say she might make 40-50 @ the most!(She has them in Ice Chests) I've not seen any other items for sale, just the Delicious Burritos!(they are Picante, (Spicy,) but not Killer Hot for those with Delicate Stomachs! The El Paso Station also has Coke Products in the Vending Machines inside the Station! :)

Amtrak doesn't own the El Paso Station, it belongs to the local Transit Company (Bus) who has their Offices in the Station so whatever kind of deal she has is with them! The Amtrak Crew that tell the passengers about this are just giving their Passengers good info, I've seen the Crew eat them too and they get Free Meals in the Diner!! Most Border Cities along the Mexico/US Border tend to have Vendors selling Food,Drinks,Raspas (Snow Cones) Clothing, Balloons, Souviners etc. on the Streets. Whether or not they have Permits, Health Certificate etc. is a 50/50 thing but things are Very Lax along the Border compared to non-border cities! I've never heard of anyone getting sick from eating her Food, either in ABQ or ELP!!

Also, as has been discussed on another thread, the Crew announces what's for Sale in the Store @ the Grand Junction, Colorado Stop and lots of Passengers purchase Food, Drink and Souvenirs during the Stop! The Owner is a Member of AU and they are Very Nice Folks!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Meat Puppet said:
I really enjoy the El Paso burritos as a nice break from the train food, but I was wondering how she gets away with it. If I tried to sell on my local Amtrak platform without a sanitary inspection permit, vendor license and tax stamp I would probably be arrested. Amtrak complains about food and beverage losses yet the employees actually annouce on the car pa system that burritos are available for sale outside on the platform. Can anyone explain this?
Click to expand...
Remember Texas is train dumb. So she shows up and sells... someone calls the health inspector... the inspector shows up the next day and guess what? NO TRAIN, NO BURRITOS. The day after...
 
Palmland said:
Can someone describe how to post a picture. I tried the image button above, copied the BB code from Flickr of a photo and all I got was a funny looking symbol.
Click to expand...
The easiest way is to simply copy the web address at Flicker (not the BB code). Then, when posting here (using the WYSIWYG mode), click the image button (looks like a picture frame). A pop-up will open, Paste in the photo web address. Click OK. That should do the trick.
 
You know it wouldn't be that difficult to set up a cart-system at some of the larger stops. Allow for one or two food vendor carts to be available within a reasonable distance from the train (doesn't have to be on the platform). Rent the 'space' out to the vendors & it ends up being a little bit of income. I'm thinking like the road side hot dog -style carts you see on the streets in big cities, they could be almost anything really, not just hot dogs.

In the olden days it wasn't uncommon for food to be sold to passengers track-side at stations (it's still done in a lot of third world countries). However I don't think it would replace cafe cars, only supplement them.

peter
 
I know if you have never tried them, they are worth making sure you are one of the first people off the train when you get to El Paso and quickly make your way to where she is set up. If you dilly-dally, you will miss out and die from the smell watching others eat them. Been there, done that. Now I make sure I am one of the first ones in the hall to get out. Great fresh burritos, yup, I am nuts. Thanks for asking.
 
Devil's Advocate said:
What exactly is she "getting away with?"

So far as I can tell she's not poisoning anyone or selling anything that's unsafe or inedible. In fact the food is so good that her reputation precedes her. The various companies who have sold us unsafe tomatoes, spinach, lettuce, peanut butter, toothpaste, and pet food over the years were all fully licensed and accredited. A lot of good that any of that does us when the budgets for inspectors running actual inspections have been hacked and slashed into obscurity. Worrying about the little lady selling burritos by the side of the train is silly by comparison. I'd be surprised if you were arrested for selling food next to the train once every few days like she does. Of course that assumes you're not trying to get away with anything.
Click to expand...
I'm not worried, I guess my question is can anyone sell food items trainside? Or is station/amtrak approval needed? Its 1200 a month rent to run a popcorn kisock in NYP so I'm just curious as to what fee's are involved.
 
It's not a bad idea to have food vendors at various stops (crew changes, for the most part, because of the extra time allowed for stops) along the routes of western LDs. It would all be subject to local health codes and whoever owns the station could charge a franchise fee. Seems like a win-win for everybody. It probably wouldn't work for the eastern LDs since the trips are shorter and largely at night.
 
No different than the hot dog guy at the Fort Worth station. Except, I would much prefer a burrito, to a hot dog! Just like a food truck, all it takes is a license, and agreement to use the property. I've eaten at food stalls/street vendors literally all over the world. Only time I ever got food poisoning, was at a major name upscale hotel restaraunt in Honduras. Go figure. If it looks good, and smells good, I'm in.
 
MikefromCrete said:
It's not a bad idea to have food vendors at various stops (crew changes, for the most part, because of the extra time allowed for stops) along the routes of western LDs. It would all be subject to local health codes and whoever owns the station could charge a franchise fee. Seems like a win-win for everybody. It probably wouldn't work for the eastern LDs since the trips are shorter and largely at night.
Click to expand...
The stops in question aren't "just" crew changes. I know that at ABQ, they also water the train. A few of these stops are for that, refueling the engines, etc. Some are also very heavily padded (HOS is like this).
 
Meat Puppet said:
I'm not worried, I guess my question is can anyone sell food items trainside? Or is station/amtrak approval needed? Its 1200 a month rent to run a popcorn kisock in NYP so I'm just curious as to what fee's are involved.
Click to expand...
This must surely vary from station to station as there is not a uniform system of station ownership/management across the Amtrak system. Frankly given the amount of foot traffic in NYP, $1200/month sounds like a bargain. You probably have more passengers in a typical hour at NYP than you have all month at ELP. So the fee would certainly need to reflect local demand.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top