Bronx elementary school teacher Lorraine Castro retired in 2022 to help care for her baby granddaughter. Little did she know that would become just one of her part-time jobs in retirement.

In addition to babysitting the now 2-year-old, Castro spends her days diligently “cooking and shopping.” That’s because she is helping her daughter Liz Castro, a physical education teacher at DeWitt Clinton HS in the Bronx, realize her food truck dream.

“She said, ‘Mom, will you support me?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ The next thing I know, she said, ‘I found a truck and put a down payment on it,’” Lorraine Castro said.

After getting over her initial alarm, she helped fund the purchase, and “Flavor Bandits” was born.

Castro laughed as she recalled telling her daughter that the name of the business had “to be something with flavor, and she said ‘bandits.’ Bandits comes from stealing any good recipes that we see out there.”

Castro, who taught for 23 years before retiring from PS 68 in the Bronx, has traded lesson plans for shopping lists. “It’s been an adventure,” she said as she described the dizzying pace of her retirement.

This is the second full year that the Dutchess County-based mother-daughter duo is serving empanadas, smash burgers, wings, loaded potato tots and other comfort foods at Hudson Valley events including festivals, ball games, wineries, farmers markets and more.

Castro, who is Puerto Rican, said cooking has always been a passion of hers. When she visits with family, they like to cook together and learn from one another. “It’s in my family’s blood,” she said. “We enjoy cooking and entertaining.”

The mother-daughter team splits the work. Lorraine Castro goes shopping, cooks the meat for the empanadas, and washes, seasons and preps all the wings. Her daughter, a full-time educator, fills and seals the empanadas, cooks other dishes, schedules bookings and drives the truck.

“I don’t have the patience to sit and make the empanadas. I don’t mind doing it for family, but we’re talking about a lot of empanadas,” Lorraine Castro said, chuckling.

Inside Flavor Bandits, she runs the deep fryers, and her daughter, the grill. This is the first time they have worked together and “I keep calling her boss” because “she’s bossy,” Lorraine Castro said.

The retiree said she enjoys the social aspect of the business. “You get to meet a lot of fun people,” she said.

Working at an event can be exhausting, Castro acknowledged, and as the hours go by, she loses her ability to get everyone’s name 100% right for their order. Lindsey may become Linda and Kelsey may become Kelly.

“They start laughing,” she said of their customers. “They’re understanding that you must be tired.”