Photo by Tracy Clayton.

The life of a food truck operator isn’t an easy one. There’s only a limited amount of space to operate in — and the name of the game is producing food in bulk and with expedience. Unfortunately, that combination can lead to injuries like the ones suffered by Pedro and Vinny’s cart owner John Rider.

Rider — one of the nicest guys in D.C.’s food scene — was preparing rice inside his Columbia Pike cart on Saturday when he found himself on the bad end of a cooking mishap.

“I was cooking rice on the oven, and the water came to a boil,” Rider told us over the phone from his hospital bed this afternoon. “I went to move it to the grill next to it…and it slipped.” As a result, Rider suffered severe burns, which required skin grafts.

Never a businessman to let down his dedicated clientele, Rider’s daughter, who usually runs the Arlington cart where Rider was injured, is currently handling the operation at the corner of 15th and K Streets NW and service hasn’t skipped a beat. “Thank god a couple years ago, I trained her,” Rider said.

Tomorrow, Rider says, doctors will take off his bandages, and he could be out of the hospital by Sunday. But it could be a little while before Rider is able to once again fling his popular burritos, as his left hand is “pretty burnt.”

“I miss making the burritos and I miss the customers,” said Rider. “Hopefully, things will be back to normal soon.”