Follow the Lunch Wagon!

Cincinnati is well known for its chili. Rather than the bean-laden, Texas version, the Queen City’s concoction is simply a beef and pork mixture with a consistency somewhat like meaty spaghetti and a somewhat tangy flavor. Each restaurant’s recipe is a closely guarded secret, but cinnamon and a tiny pinch of cocoa are reputed to be ingredients. There’s little middle ground: Cincinnati natives and visitors alike usually either savor or loathe the flavor.

Gold Star, one of Cincinnati’s three major chili chains (Skyline and Dixie Chili are the others) sought to differentiate itself from the competition by unveiling its Chilimobile, a customized delivery truck that patrols downtown Cincinnati and other chili-starved neighborhoods during lunchtime and special events. Using its Twitter handle, Gold Star will inform followers of the Chilimobile’s whereabouts between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on weekdays. The company will also donate the vehicle as an auction item for non-profit and charitable organizations; successful bidders will gain “Cincinnati-Style Block Parties” with the Chilimobile and requisite coneys and “three-ways” (in Cincinnati parlance, that’s chili, spaghetti and cheese).

To outfit the truck with imagery and Gold Star’s signature, red, orange and gold hues, the chain hired Advertising Vehicles, a Cincinnati-based, vehicle-wrap provider that plies much of its trade in larger vehicles. Jesse Kramer, the shop’s operations manager, said that, although Gold Star has always used its delivery trucks as rolling billboards, this truck was upgraded with the company’s new rebranding slogan: “The Flavor of Cincinnati.”

The shop began the 490-sq.-ft. wrap by prepping the truck’s surface with a denatured-alcohol and Windex wipedown. Advertising Vehicles decorated the truck with 3M’s 180C with Comply air-egress film and perforated window media, which it output on its HP Scitex TurboJet 8300 printer. To protect the finished product, the shop used 3M’s 8519 luster-finish overlaminate.