Hamilton's food truck giant Gorilla Cheese is rolling into its first storefront.

The purveyor of all things grilled cheese will take possession of 1218 King St. E. near Gage Park on April 1. Owner Graeme Smith says having a permanent home will help his mobile business.

"I've always wanted a storefront. It will be our base for our food truck," said Smith. "I'm very excited about it. Opportunity knocked and it would have been stupid to turn it down."

His new permanent space will give him a place to park his truck and more room and equipment for food preparation. That means he will expand his menu, though he says his focus will remain on hot, gooey sandwiches.

"We're going to build a grilled cheese empire," he said with a chuckle. Gorilla Cheese was the first grilled cheese truck in Canada and a pioneer of the booming food truck scene in Hamilton.

The biggest benefit of a storefront is dodging the weather, something Smith wishes he had been able to do this winter.

"All of the food trucks are suffering greatly with this winter. It's been absolutely brutal. Next year, I will still be able to send out the truck for limited functions but still have a revenue stream in a fixed location."

The shop, at the corner of Hilda, was once Queen's Subs II and then a pizza shop. Smith hopes to be operating there by the summer.

The news was celebrated on social media, where Gorilla Cheese has a wide following (13,834 followers on Twitter and 10,546 likes on its Facebook page).

"The almighty #cheesus is coming soon!!! @gorilla_cheese is opening a storefront location?!!? No way! #TooGoodToBeTrue #drooling," tweeted Joey @JoeEasy.

"Sweet cheeses! @gorilla_cheese shop opening down the street from my house. Welcome to the Gage Park/Crowne Point 'hood! #HamOnt," wrote LindseyJay @LindseyJay.

The day after he gets possession of his new home, Smith will make a pitch to CBC's Dragon's Den.

He says he decided at the last minute to attend recent Hamilton auditions for the show. He didn't have a pitch but intended to simply tell producers about his business. When he was told his wait would be an hour, he decided to race back to get his truck.

He parked it outside and made sandwiches for the producers.

The food didn't hurt, but Smith says he was told CBC staff were most impressed by his back story: how he pursued his dream of launching a grilled cheese food truck in 2011 after being laid off from U.S. Steel when he was close to 40.

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Smith is tossing around some ideas about what to ask from the panel of venture capitalists on Dragon's Den. Depending on how his pitch goes, his segment could be featured on the show.

One thing he knows: he'll get grilled more fiercely than any sandwich he's created.