Big Dogs food truck barking up the right tree

The Big Dogs good truck has been serving up hand dipped corn dogs for the last decade.

“I just like to sling corn dogs and make people happy I guess," Big Dogs owner Paul Sutton-Jones said with a laugh.

Sutton-Jones has worked in the food industry since he was a teenager. When he's not bust with his food truck, he has fun working on meals at home.

“I've always enjoyed cooking,” Sutton-Jones said. “I'm constantly cooking at the house and trying new things.”

Sutton-Jones said that his food truck is the only one he knows of that offers hand dipped corn dogs in the Mat-Su Valley. He said it feels good having a niche in such a competitive market.

“It's not as easy as everyone thinks it is," Sutton-Jones said. “It's pretty fulfilling when you get happy customers.”

Big Dogs serves three sizes of all beef corn dogs. They also offer Alaska reindeer sausage corn dogs, bacon wrapped corn dogs and seasoned fries that are hand pressed with locally sourced potatoes. He said that he likes to keep it simple and highlight what they do best.

“It makes money and people love our product," Sutton-Jones said. “That's what has worked for us.”

Big Dogs was one of many food trucks that participated in the 2024 Alaska Scottish Highland Games.

“The Highland Games were awesome," Sutton-Jones said.

Big Dogs has had a presence at the Highland Games for a decade. Sutton Jones said it’s one of his favorite events to be part of, and receiving a ribbon for being a long-time vendor was a pleasant surprise.

“It was pretty cool. It was definitely a surprise. I was pretty proud,” Sutton-Jones said.

Traveling is often seen as one of the big perks of being a food truck driver. Sutton-Jones said that he's taken a lot of joy from that aspect and been able to explore many places across the state.

“It's nice because you can mix a little bit of business and pleasure," Sutton-Jones said. “You definitely get to see AK as a whole. It's nice to travel. That's something I've always liked doing.”

While Big Dogs doesn't have a primary location to set up, it does frequently appear at places such as the Friday Fling in Palmer marketplace and Fisher's Fuel Inc. in Big Lake. Sutton-Jones said that going from place to place is a normal part of running a food truck.

“We're very nomadic. We're everywhere. It's all about going where the people are going to be,” Sutton-Jones said.

Looking forward, Sutton-Jones has ambitious plans to establish a small fleet of Big Dogs food trucks to cover more ground.

“There are a handful of places in the summer where being two places at once would be really good,” Sutton-Jones said.

Sutton-Jones said it's been an enjoyable adventure being a food truck vendor and he plans to stick with it.

“I'd like to run this thing my entire life," Sutton-Jones said. “It's be nice to bring this into a semi-retirement age.”

For more information about the Big Dogs food truck, visit the official Facebook page.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com