Pensacola's popular Brown Bagger food truck opening 2nd Milton location

East Hill’s beloved Brown Bagger food truck is growing its footprint across Escambia and Santa Rosa counties with a second permanent location at Milton’s Gulf Coast Garage Patio Bar that is almost ready to roll.

The original location opened in January 2021 and has maintained a longstanding residency at Alga Beer Company, and the business has been winning over customers ever since with its fun-loving service and playful rotating burger specials. Now, co-owners Tim Thompson and Ellis O’Neal plan to debut their second truck in February.

While the Brown Bagger experience is intended to bring joy into locals’ lives, the co-owners have high standards for their product.

“We put love into everything we do. Our whole model is crafted around a really good burger,” Thompson said.

The co-owners birthed the idea for Brown Bagger over a game of disc golf, which is the same game that connected them to Gulf Coast Garage Patio Bar owner Austin Leek.

Leek believed in many of the community-minded ideals that Brown Bagger was built on, and Thompson said they were confident they could replicate the same environment in downtown Milton.

“From the very beginning, the goal was to build something that can grow,” Thompson said. “You get the gut feeling, we got to pull the trigger.”

Thompson said it will be “the same exact burger experience out there that Pensacola is already used to.”

“We rely on our core mission statement to keep us in line – serve great food consistently and have fun while doing it,” Thompson said.

Though expansion has been a goal the Brown Bagger team has been working toward, Thompson said he preceded cautiously, ensuring that they had their recipe and service down first.

“We’re about to be three years old now. We wanted to do it slow and methodically,” Thompson said of the businesses’ growth. “Location No. 2 can make or break you, so we just kind of sat tight. … A lot of people are excited, but it adds to the pressure.”

The Milton menu will be made up of the same tried-and-true favorites that made the Pensacola location famous, from the original Bagger Burger loaded up with a quarter pound Waygu beef, American cheese, grilled onions and topped with Bagger Sauce atop a potato bun, to the craveable sides, like the truffle parm fries and fried Brussels sprouts.

“To this day, the Bacon Gouda Burger is the one most people know us for,” Thompson said. “For me personally, I think one of the best things we’ve got is the bacon American cheeseburger, all the way.”

However, the menu expands beyond just the burgers, into different varieties of salads, wraps and sandwiches.

Even though they aren’t perfect, Thompson said they always make right by their mistakes, and the community has repaid them with their loyalty.

“We want to keep making them proud, really,” Thompson said. “You really have to show up every day. … I’m blown away by all of it. It’s nice to put the work in and see the reward. The people on the truck see it and feel it.”

He hopes to continue growing, maybe even to a brick-and-mortar one day.

“We’re really trying to create something that can be consistent across the board and build the foundation for a scalable brand,” Thompson said. “We wouldn’t even have the opportunity to have a location No. 2 without Alga giving us a shot over here."

For more updates and information closer to opening day, keep up with Brown Bagger on social media.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Brown Bagger coming to Milton’s Gulf Coast Garage Patio Bar