Even when temperatures crest into the triple digits, Ardi Entezam is parked outside, working. His job demands it.
He’s the founder and owner of Ardi’s Eats and Sweets, a food truck that sells fancy burgers and fries at private functions or farmers markets, no matter how hot it gets outside.
“It’s survival, and you’re working, and you got to make money,” he said. “Sometimes it’s not about ‘Today I don’t feel like it, it’s too hot.’ Sometimes you got to go.”
Whatever the thermometer reading outside, it’s easily 10 degrees hotter in his trailer because of the giant grill radiating 380 degrees of heat into the cramped space.
With the cooktop fired up, even the air conditioning doesn’t help.
“The best is to get the windows open, the back door open — and I have a screen — and then just let air flow,” Entezam said.
He keeps a water bottle handy and relies on the “strong threshold for pain” he said he’s built up after living in Southern California for decades.
“This is part of the food truck game,” he said.
It’s not just a test of will and grit. Heat can be dangerous.
“If you’re working outside, you’re likely to be sweating more, which means releasing more energy,” said Dr. Kimberly Petrick of Kaiser Permanente in Santa Monica, California. “Your body’s working a little bit harder, and so your body needs more hydration and more time to be able to cool off.”
She said people who work in the heat sometimes get rushed in to see her with heat-related symptoms, including high heart rate, fast breathing, confusion or loss of consciousness. Those tend to show up after the initial symptoms like dizziness, cramping, headache and fatigue.
And if they don’t get medical attention, the results can be fatal.
The number of heat-related deaths is going up every year. The Department of Health and Human Services estimates it jumped from 1,600 people nationwide in 2021 to 2,300 last year.
“In years to come, the hazards for workers will only get worse,” said Renee Guerrero Deleon. She was one of the many advocates to recently testify in front of the state legislature in favor of heat protections for people who work inside.
The state already has protections for people working outside. In July, new standards for indoor workplaces went into effect. Now, once the inside temperature reaches 87 degrees (or 82 degrees if workers wear protective clothing), employers have to allow employees more breaks, provide cool-down areas and supply personal heat-protective equipment.
The rules are designed to prevent experiences like that of former line cook Colleen Koperek, who later became a restaurant industry reform advocate.
“You know the saying, ‘If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen?’ I had to. At my last job as a pastry chef, I suffered from heat illness due to extreme indoor heat. I was dry heaving in between taking rounds of pastries out of the oven, and I had to quit, effectively ending my career,” she said.
Food truck owner Entezam said he doesn’t always take the precautions the state requires for himself, but he makes sure his employees do. “I let them go outside, take a little breather, we order iced Frappuccinos for them. So, you do whatever you have to do, right?”
