By admin 
Trading a state paycheck for a sidewalk food cart is practically unheard of. To do so means leaving behind a life that job-seekers spend months, if not years, navigating administrative hurdles to attain.
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Yet, here’s a California state worker who walked away from his pension track for a life full of hot dogs.
Drew Schmidt, 45, left the stability of his California Department of Transportation gig to launch his Sacramento-based hot dog venture, Between the Buns 916, earlier this summer. He made a choice between long absences from home or being present with his wife.
“The thing that tipped the decision for me to do this and leave Caltrans was being away from home,” Schmidt said.
Caltrans and food
After working in catering during the height of the pandemic, Schmidt shifted gears to be a highway maintenance worker for Caltrans. He began to do highway landscaping out of Merced, taking a roughly two-hour daily commute from Sacramento for this new endeavor.
When winter arrived, Caltrans dispatched him east to Caples Lake in the Sierra Nevada mountains to work as a chain controller — part of an annual seasonal draw from valley yards to keep heavy mountain passes operational.
The deployment came with a place to stay and three meals a day. He liked the job but missed cooking in the kitchen.
Schmidt eventually began making his own menus.
A food service supervisor position at the Caples Lake facility opened after his first season, and Schmidt jumped at the opportunity.
Each winter, he headed east to the mountains to unwrap the equipment sealed away the previous spring and take charge of the kitchen. Channeling lessons from his experience catering with Sacramento-based Chef Mike Harris at The Chew, where he worked during the pandemic, Schmidt managed staff, forecasted inventory and built custom weekly menus for the Caples Lake crew.
“I would meet with the crew every day and ask if there were things they wanted,” Schmidt said. “Meatloaf was a big one. They loved that.”
Far from home
The supervisory role brought his culinary training full circle, but the winter rotations carried a personal cost. Schmidt’s wife was in Sacramento while he spent his winters at Caples Lake.
Their first holiday season as a married couple was marked by health challenges and subsequent winters were spent miles apart.
“One element was to be home,” Schmidt said of his decision to leave civil service. “My wife is my best friend.”
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Back in Sacramento, his wife, Marina, would often visit a hot dog stand near her office. One day when buying lunch last year, the operator told her he was retiring and selling the stand.
That’s when she had an idea.
“She calls me, and she’s like, ‘Hey, I want you to talk to (him). He’s going to sell the hot dog cart,’” Schmidt said. “She knows I’ve always wanted to do a food truck or something like that.”
Between the Buns 916 is born
After meeting with his now-predecessor over Jimboy’s Tacos, Schmidt purchased the food cart — which typically costs between $3,000 and $5,000 — in November and officially launched Between the Buns 916 in mid-June.
Schmidt finds similarities between his new venture and feeding highway crews in the Sierra. He spends his shifts slinging fast lunches, chatting with customers and testing out new menu items.
Those weekly specials rotate constantly, including grilled chicken sandwiches, meatball subs and Philly cheesesteaks. The core menu at Between the Buns 916 is anchored by an $8 classic hot dog, an $8 Polish dog and an $8 spicy hot link — coupled with chips, soda and water for $1.50.
Combo meals include two hot dogs, chips and a drink for $11; a hot link, chips and a beverage for $10 and a polish dog, chips and a drink also for $10. Drink options vary from Coke to iced tea while chip options include Doritos, Lays potato chips and Funyuns.
Schmidt sets up shop from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Metro Center office complex, at 2710 Gateway Oaks Drive just off Interstate 5. On Wednesdays and Thursdays, Between the Buns 916 shifts locations to the intersection of Richards Boulevard and North 10th Street from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., serving lunch crowds just a few blocks from the California Highway Patrol headquarters.
Added value
Leif Dubois, who helps manage the Metro Center complex, approached Schmidt after seeing him on Richard Boulevard. Similar to Schmidt’s wife, Dubois ordered hot dogs from the cart’s previous owner and always wanted the cart at the complex to bolster its tenant amenities.
When companies consider office space, Dubois said, amenities like a gym, lounge and food options are often on prospective tenants’ list.
“We try to go above and beyond for tenants and sometimes it just marks a box if someone’s looking for a place to lease,” Dubois said. “We’ll get someone from out east looking to open up a new spot in Sacramento … that might just check the box on a corporate level.”
It also brings a level of excitement for those working nearby.
“They look forward to what’s going to be the next (weekly special) because you can only eat a Jack in the Box so many times,” Dubois said.
And for Schmidt, he’s happy to be surrounded by people, giving him a glimpse at chatting with the crew at Caples Lake.
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“‘I’m out here on the ground with people having a great time,” he said.