A smashing good time: Mac Shack brings the smashburger and taco together through a new area mobile dining option
Published 7:15 pm Tuesday, May 6, 2025
Mac Nelson, right, and Foster Achenbach serve up the smashburger tacos from Mac Shack Good Eats, a new food truck option created by Nelson. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
The smashburger taco brings two favorite foods together. Photo provided
Foster Achenbach, left, and Mac Nelson serve up a smashburger taco to a customer during a pop-up recently in Lyle. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
The smashburger taco brings together a pair of favorites into one offering at the Mac Shack Good Eats. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
Established in 2024, Mac Shack Good Eats is in its first full year of serving smashburger tacos that can come with loaded tots. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
Mac Nelson, right, and Foster Achenbach, work to get an order together during a set-up last week in Lyle of the Mac Shack Good Eats, a new food truck offering smashburger tacos. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
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It’s hard to turn down a good smashburger. It’s equally difficult to turn down a good taco.
Mac Nelson thought it would be almost impossible to turn down a food option that included both and from that idea came the smashburger taco and the vehicle that’s bringing that to public is the Mac Shack Good Eats.
“I have always found it interesting,” said Nelson, who with help from his cousin Foster Achenbach, opened the Mac Shack just this year. “I love to cook. It’s something I’ve basically done my whole life, really. I always found the idea of a food truck intriguing and something that was always in the back of my head.”
“Really, I just wanted to go for it,” he added. “I just wanted to do it and go all in and see where it takes me.”
Where it’s taken him and Achenbach is throughout the region delivering their unique and combined take on area food staples found at events and fairs throughout the area.
While the Mac Shack has been delivering the smashburger taco for just a couple months now, the idea has been with Nelson for quite some time. Just a couple years removed from Lyle Public Schools, Nelson has enjoyed being in the kitchen and creating his own dishes and helping his mom in creating meals for the family.
That pastime found an uptick during the COVID-19 pandemic and through the kitchen he considered taking his love for cooking to a new level.
“I wanted to go to culinary school after high school, but I also thought it was out of the picture to be honest,” Nelson said. “I did want to use it at some point in my life with the food truck.”
Instead, followed what he believed to be the “smart move” for a semester by pursuing welding through Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Nelson admitted that welding will indeed come in handy through work on the family farm in rural Lyle, but it wasn’t what he wanted to do.
“I love to make something and just serve it,” he said. “I wanted to make something that people like. Something that’s simple, but tastes really good and I think we have that with our smashburger tacos.”
Achenbach said he wasn’t surprised when Nelson called to tell him he was moving forward with The Mac Shack.
“We were just hanging out one day and he was like, ‘we should start a food truck,’” Achenbach said, who admitted he likes to be in the kitchen, just not to the level as Nelson. “I like to eat food. I always like to cook at home, but he’s better at it.”
It certainly wasn’t easy to get The Mac Shack rolling. From getting the loan to get the business underway and through the paperwork, Nelson said the process could be daunting at times.
But he also understood it was a part of the territory.
“A whole lot of stuff that you don’t want to do, but you have to,” he said. “At the start there were times to start with I was like, “do I even want to do this?’ When you take a step back and look at it all, it needs to be done and I’m glad I went through on it.”
Then came the effort to create their menu, which started with just smashburgers and some taco opportunities, all based on something simple that people would buy into, but while playing around with ideas Nelson struck on the idea of combining the two.
Coming to the conclusion that he had something, Nelson continued forward with the idea, taking advantage of a period of time when the mobile dining option was popular not just during a fair, but throughout the year.
Their first opportunity to unveil the Mac Shack to the public came during a soft opening on the family farm for friends and relatives. From there, they opened to the public for the first time in Lyle.
“Excited but nervous,” Nelson said. “You always hear first days are complete chaos. I was ready for that to happen, but it wasn’t complete chaos.”
That first public go-round, Nelson was by himself and even though it was hectic at times, it was a one-of-a-kind opportunity.
“There were nerves, excitement — a little bit of everything, but it was a good first day. Everyone loved it. Everyone had great feedback,” Nelson said.
Since the unveiling of the Mac Shack, Nelson said he’s gotten good reactions from most every stop and combined with the popularity of food trucks in the area, he feels like it’s a good time to be launching the smashburger taco.
“I think we’re in a really good area,” he said. “There’s a lot of breweries, a lot of places just looking for food trucks. There’s no shortage of people reaching out.”
It’s a good environment to be pushing forward in as Nelson and Achenbach look forward to more stops throughout the area as well as broader events including area fairs.
“I always had the mindset to just keep going. It’s what I want to do,” Nelson said. “I have a passion for it and I just have to drive to keep going.”
The Mac Shack will be on the move throughout the spring and summer, and this weekend they will be at Sylvan Brewing in Lanesboro as the brewery unveils a new beer. They will be serving smashburger tacos from noon to 8 p.m.
