This year marked the 28th year that Chandee Baumgardner has sold Indian Tacos at the Choteau County Fair. I spoke with Chandee while she was cooking flatbread in the deep fryer. It was obvious that she has prepped 3 decades worth of the local favorite, while she answered my questions and engaged customers at the counter. She explained that she could mix and cook the bread in her sleep at this point. When I pointed out that the first time I had ever eaten Indian Tacos, they were from her kitchen, she immediately replied: "You'll never want a different one!" To be fair, she wasn't wrong. I, like most folks in the area look forward to opportunities to enjoy her cooking, especially (for me at least) dessert flatbreads.
Chandee has been catering for 32 years. I asked her how she got her start in the business and she surprised me with her answer: "I actually owned a restaurant when I was 18. I worked at a restaurant and a relative came in and asked me if I wanted to be a partner in a restaurant. Within two weeks of me starting, my new business partner left, and I ended up running it for two years. It went well, there was a lot that I learned. Mostly I learned that I never wanted to have another restaurant."
One particularly important development that came from her restaurant years was a recipe she acquired at work: "I was actually given the (flatbread) recipe by a guy when I had my restaurant, and I've kinda just tweaked it over the years as we've learned different stuff."
Chandee didn't ever go back to the restaurant business, opting for catering instead. "With catering, I go to the 300 people, rather than waiting for the 300 people to come to my door. I can pick and choose." However, as time goes by she has begun to move toward another iteration of the business: "In the last few years, we started the freezer meal business. That's going very well. Now we're starting to lean into doing more just of that and less catering."
When I asked her favorite aspect of the catering and food truck business, without hesitation she replied: "I think I just enjoy the people. Especially the people who love to come back and come just for the Indian Tacos." The people include quite a few repeat customers and friends: "I definitely have some groupies, and then I have people who I know they might want a fry bread light. I just love the people."
The main reason for moving toward supplying freezer meals to customers is a desire for some change and because she is looking forward to spending more time with her family, especially her grandkids.
For fans of her food truck, Chandee offers a bit of reassurance that she will not be discontinuing the food truck business altogether: "I have really just gotten down to the Summer Celebrations, as far as the vending and the fair. And Virgelle. I'll probably keep those ones. Then occasionally at the brewery, at the Brewfest. As far as catering and all that, I'm probably gonna cut back on that and strictly do the freezer meals so I can have my weekends free to be with the family...grandbabies and all that."
As far as her freezer meal business, Chandee has found a solid niche market. "We have four different varieties of freezer meal customers. We have older people people who don't want to cook anymore. We have families that are just busy. And we have married couples with no kids. We do a lot of harvest meals. There's a lot of women in the field these days, because they can't get help. They're busy. I kind of supplement their meals."
Chandee was adamant about the importance of her family in the business over the years: "My family has been a really big part. My husband & I really
: couldn't do it without all of their help." She explained that her kids are always willing to pitch in and help whenever she needs it.
In her free time, Chandee still enjoys cooking for fun: "I love to cook for fun." She explained that she also enjoys experimenting with recipes and even does recipies for a couple of magazines: Signature Montana and Farm 406. She particularly enjoys the magazine work. Both periodicals are available online.
