D300, Duke's BBQ To Flip Bus, Make Food Truck

EAST DUNDEE, IL — Talks are underway to turn a donated bus into a food truck, thanks to a partnership between Community Unit School District 300 and a popular BBQ restaurant in the Chicago area.

Duke's Blues-N-BBQ currently serves up southern comfort food out of a caboose stationed along the Fox River Trail in downtown East Dundee. The walk-up service at the caboose, opened by Duke Seward in 2016, became especially popular during COVID and has grown ever since, Seward told Patch Thursday.

The business, which has one traditional food truck used mainly to cater graduation parties and weddings, is now looking to add a second less-traditional option after the business received an old bus from Fox Valley Baptist Church in Dundee Township.

The bus had been used for about eight years to take children to youth programs, summer camps and other activities. But dwindling membership meant the bus wasn't needed as much anymore, Phil Zilinski, a pastor at Fox Valley Baptist Church, said.

In 2019, Zilinski knew he wanted to donate the bus and pass it on to a cause that could benefit the community. And he thought of Seward, who runs a non-profit, Taste The Love, with his wife, Rhiannon Seward. Taste The Love is focused on giving back to the community and, in particular, providing opportunities for children.

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"So I talked to him and I said, 'if you could use it, it's yours,'" Zilinski said Thursday. "So our church decided to pass it on to him so it could continue to be a blessing to the community."

Seward has had a bigger vision for the bus ever since. Not only did he want to turn it into a food truck, but he also wanted to be able to get the community, and, in particular, Dundee-Crown students, involved in the project.

He'd just started talking with Community Unit School District 300 about how students could help with the project — and how they could offer a type of internship or class focused on flipping the bus — when COVID hit.

"The kids weren't in school, so we had to shelf the idea," said Seward, who is a Dundee-Crown High School graduate.

But the wheels are finally turning again, and Seward met with Community Unit School District 300 officials Friday to talk next steps.

He's hoping students will not only help with the physical work, giving them that real-life experience on this unique project, but also help him draft up blueprints for the project. He is envisioning a food truck that will have an awning, with pop-up tables underneath.

"We are going to transfer the bus from an old bus to a food truck. We will be gutting it, putting in restaurant grade equipment," he said.

Zilinski said the bus, which was in excellent condition with a good engine and 144,000 miles, will be a good fit for Seward's project.

Seward has been working with an acquaintance, Jason Smith, a dean of students at Dundee-Crown High School, on his plan.

Smith says students in auto repair classes and drafting classes, where they teach aspects of design that could benefit the bus flip, as well as students enrolled in culinary classes and the school's business incubator program will be able to help with the project.

Talks, he said, are still in the beginning stages. But school officials are excited about the project.

"Kids will learn that it takes work, but this is something that is doable. The more you put things that are obtainable in a child's hand, they learn it's possible...they believe they can do it," Stevens said. "It's giving these kids this belief."

It's unclear if District 300 will offer the project as a type of internship, where students would work on it during school hours for credits; as an independent study, where students would work on it during lunch hour or in the morning for credits; or as a car club, in which students would likely work on it after-school for extra credit and the experience, Smith said.

Seward is hoping to have students working on his bus flip project during the 2023-2024 school year and to have it up and rolling in the Chicago area by next summer.

As for the type of food that will be served, he hopes to serve up a variety of sandwiches, including a BBQ sandwich with his macaroni and cheese on top, and other popular southern food. Seward grew up in Mississippi, has no professional culinary training and learned how to cook from his parents, Tanzy and Mary Seward. He has several aunts and uncles who run restaurants, including an uncle who was named to the Barbecue Hall of Fame.

The food truck is expected to travel to a variety of places across the Chicago area and also support Seward's catering business.