Peach Truck to deliver fresh taste of Georgia at 6 stops
In 2010, Stephen Rose moved to Nashville, Tenn., only to discover a dearth of the kind of peaches he grew up with — sweet Georgia peaches from Pearson Farm, which was near his childhood home in Fort Valley, Ga.
Mr. Rose and his wife, Jessica, saw a business opportunity.
They partnered with Pearson Farm to start The Peach Truck, which sells peaches in Nashville all season long and also trucks peaches to other cities on specified dates.
The Peach Truck is due in Pittsburgh on Sunday for six stops: 8 to 10 a.m. at Rollier Hardware in Mt. Lebanon; 9 to 11 a.m. at Bedner’s Farm & Greenhouse in McDonald; noon to 1:30 p.m. at Zone 28 in Harmar; 12:30 to 2 p.m. at Ambridge Do It Best; 2:30 to 4 p.m. at Tractor Supply in Natrona Heights; and 3:30 to 5 p.m. at Fun Fore All in Cranberry.
The Peach “Truck” is actually a fleet. Trucks continually run from the 1,800-acre farm to deliver fresh peaches to the two designated “Peach Truck” trucks that make stops in business parking lots, where consumers can gather to buy peaches.
Because peaches are continually delivered directly from the farm, The Peach Truck guarantees its peaches will be fresh and ripe, no more than a couple of days from the tree.
“The only way they would be fresher is if you picked them yourself on a farm,” Mr. Rose said.
The trucks also deliver to cities in Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio. The Pittsburgh area is the only part of Pennsylvania where The Peach Truck stops.
The Peach Truck doesn’t take preorders; customers should just show up at the scheduled time and place. Peaches are sold in 25-pound (half-bushel) boxes for $40. The Peach Truck has recipes at thepeachtruck.com to help customers figure out what to do with 25 pounds of peaches, along with freezing and canning instructions.
Only cling peaches are available from The Peach Truck this year; the freestone peaches popular for canning were damaged by the mild winter, ruining about 90 percent of the freestone crop. This also means a shortened peach season. Typically, Georgia’s peach season would run about 12 weeks, but this year’s is expected to be only eight weeks.
Mr. Rose expects to have plenty of peaches for the Pittsburgh stops. He said he plans carefully so that the trucks rarely run out of peaches. He also noted that although this year's quantity was affected by the mild winter, the quality was not.
This will be The Peach Truck’s second year in Pittsburgh after receiving “a good response during the first year,” Mr. Rose said.