A line forms at the Catch Me If You Can food truck at the 32nd annual East Texas Crisis Center car show. The popular food truck will soon be opening a brick and mortar.

Popular East Texas food truck Catch Me If You Can will soon be opening its anticipated brick and mortar located in Flint.

The food truck, which has been hitting the streets of East Texas for nearly four years, is owned by Amanda Longacre. Plans of expansion were announced in August.

Longacre said the idea for the food truck came after being laid off from a job.

“I was laid off and had $4,000 saved up,” she said. “My now-husband told me I should go for my dream, so I did.”

The popular Cajun cuisine started with just one crawfish boiler and two tents, and Longacre said it has been quite a journey ever since.

“I started with one crawfish boiler and two tents and had to get temp permits through the health department,” she said. “We got a bus which was a nightmare and ended up finding a crawfish trailer from a friend.”

“We used it through the season then we were stuck. After crawfish season what would I do,” Longacre said. “I found a food trailer, the one I have now in Longview, picked it up, cleaned it up, got permitted and here we are now.”

Longacre said she was elated when the building she had been eyeing as a potential restaurant came on the market.

“I’ve wanted that specific building since it was built years ago and it happened to come open a couple of months ago,” she said. “The man called and told me he was closing his doors and knew I wanted it. I’ve always wanted to have a small homey restaurant.

“The food truck life is hard,” Longacre added.

Longacre said although she will continue to take out the food truck that brought her so much success from time to time, she plans of focus on the restaurant.

“I will never get rid of my ‘big green’; she’s been through so much with us,” she said. “She’s what helped make me successful. We will take her out from time to time to smaller communities. We will still cater as well.”

Longacre is aware of the abundance of restaurants in the area but believes the restaurant will bring something extra to the community.

“I know there are already over 500 eating establishments here; some really wonderful places,” she said. “I just feel like we are a little outside of town and extremely family oriented. We plan to have some big name concerts out there, family events, car shows, bike shows, karaoke, just a lot of fun and different things.”

“We really want to bring back family fun things to do,” Longacre said.

Longacre, who works closely with the East Texas Crisis Center, has already met with the organization to start planning the annual 33rd East Texas Crisis Center car show.

Longacre said she hopes to open doors as early as next month and can’t wait to serve the community from her permanent location.

“We wouldn’t be where we are without the 17,000 plus followers we have. We have been supported by the community for so long,” she said. “They’ve begged us to get a place; I had to wait on God’s timing and here it is.”

Catch Me If You Can is located at 18950 Highway 155 South in Flint.

For more information, visit the Catch Me If You Can Facebook page.