Hayden’s Home Grown Brings Farm Flavor on Wheels

Bobby Hayden and his wife, Jessica, along with their children, Colton, Kennedy, Jillian and Ryder, raise cattle and operate Hayden’s Home Grown Food Truck in Hebron. Photo credit: Nathan Lambrecht

Photo credit: Nathan Lambrecht

A few years ago, Bobby Hayden went to an auction at a pumpkin patch that was closing. He was in search of odds and ends that might be useful for a farm-themed summer camp his sister, preschool teacher Jamie Hayden, was operating at their family’s Eagle Rock Farm in Hebron. But instead of educational items for the camp, the Haydens ended up leaving with the keys to a new business opportunity on wheels: a food truck.

“A stone quarry had just opened south of our farm,” Bobby Hayden says. “So, I thought, well, if we had a food truck, maybe we could make a little money from all the trucks going up and down that road all day.”

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The family decided on a culinary concept that connected directly to their farming lifestyle – a homestyle, grilled menu anchored with fresh, high-quality hamburgers featuring beef from Eagle Rock Farm’s herd of Miniature Hereford cattle. They dubbed the new venture Hayden’s Home Grown.

After making a few changes to the truck’s interior and wrapping the exterior with a rustic wooden barn-plank look, the Hereford logo and the business name, they were ready to hit the road.

Although the stone quarry didn’t prove as profitable a location as he had hoped, Hayden’s Home Grown began serving at events such as church picnics and open houses in its early days during the COVID-19 pandemic. More recently, the food truck has settled into a roster of larger events taking place mostly in the summer, such as community festivals and fairs, including the Lake County Fair, Jasper County Fair and Lowell Labor Day Festival.

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Bobby Hayden and his mother, Susie, prepare a burger inside the Hayden’s Home Grown food truck. Photo credit: Nathan Lambrecht

A Driving Force

Along with Jamie, Hayden’s parents Jerry and Susie, his wife Jessica, and in-laws Bob and Jill Dowdy help keep Hayden’s Home Grown rolling and dishing out farm-fresh fare.

The family always tries to use ground beef sourced from their herd for the burgers. When that’s not possible, they keep their sourcing close to home by purchasing local meat in nearby Thayer from Hanford Packing Co., which is owned by family members Mike and Nicole Hayden.

With father-in-law Bob Dowdy in charge of the Hayden’s Home Grown grill, customers can choose from burgers, cheeseburgers and bacon cheeseburgers, as well as specialties like smothered ribeye sandwiches, pork chop sandwiches, pulled pork, hot dogs and bratwursts. Hayden says one of the most popular menu items, besides the burgers, is the loaded nachos.

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Photo credit: Nathan Lambrecht

Balancing Act

Even with so many helping hands, Hayden’s Home Grown requires a lot of extra work and energy for the already busy farming family. Hayden and his older brother, Matt, operate Eagle Rock Farm, which their parents established in the 1970s. Along with the small herd of miniature Herefords that inspired the food truck’s menu, the brothers cultivate 5,000 acres of corn, soybeans and wheat.

Photo credit: Nathan Lambrecht

Hayden, Matt and their mother are also very active as leaders in the Lake County Farm Bureau. Hayden is co-chair of the Young Farmers & Ag Professionals Committee, and Matt served as county president for several years and is still on the board of directors. Susie is a longtime board member and Women’s Leadership Committee member.

On top of that, Hayden and Jessica are parents to four children: Colton, Ryder, Kennedy and Jillian. With three kids involved in sports and many food truck events happening on weekends when competitions take place, scheduling can be a challenge.

“It gets a little hectic at times,” Hayden says.

But despite the challenges, the Haydens are sticking with their homegrown side business, at least for now.

“Every year we say we’re going to sell it, then we give it one more year,” Hayden says. “We always say that if we could find someone to run it and still have the name and be able to be there when we could, that’s what we’d like to do.”

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