Food truck heaven W
hen the coronavirus hit, Robert Currier of Woodfellas Pizza & Wings had to endure an onslaught of canceled catering events and weddings that hit his food-truck and restaurant business hard.
“I had a big season coming up,” he said. “Then everything was canceled.”
But Currier, who currently operates his restaurant business with reduced hours out of the Velvet Mill in Stonington and sets up his food truck at Electric Boat through lunchtime and in the evenings, had been around the block a time or two. He immediately thought of a spot in New London where he could park his food truck, then called his friend and fellow restaurant owner Angelina Gardner of Uncle D’s Blazin’ BBQ in Norwich to see if she would join him.
And that’s how Food Trucks on Colman was born.
The food-truck lot, the first of its kind in the city, operates on Colman Street in the front of the Dollar General parking lot. While regularly scheduled food trucks were banished from stopping downtown eight years ago after brick-and-mortar restaurateurs complained, the Colman Street operation is on private property previously run as New London Motors and doesn’t require a permit, said owner Philip Antupit.
“They’re really doing it right,” Antupit, of Old Lyme, said. “They’re busy. It worked out well.”
It’s a great location as well, Antupit said, pointing to all the other fast-food places on Colman Street. Plus, it’s an easy walk for the many employees at close-by car dealerships and other businesses in the area. Both Currier and Gardner were hoping to expand their market to the New London area, and this place fit the bill.
PHOTOS BY SARAH GORDON | THE DAY
The lot opened in April, and there are usually at least two to three trucks on site at any one time (including the Savage Spatula), with hours varying widely from day to day but generally covering lunch except for Sunday and dinner Thursday through Saturday. In the summer, the lot hopes to bring in an ice cream truck as well.
“We are trying to feature different trucks at the lot every month,” said publicist Kayla Simon in an email.
Food Trucks on Colman has its own Facebook page, and food truck operators can email foodtrucksoncolman@gmail. com for information. The food stop will be operating at least through the summer and likely into the fall as well, if all goes well, Simon said.
Each truck has its own generator, and business has been steady, the owners said. Gardner, who owns her barbecue business with husband Dewayne (Uncle D), estimated she averages about 70 orders a day, while Currier, facing stiffer competition in the pizza business, said he is averaging about 30 orders daily.
“They love it,” Currier said of his customers. “People are tired of fast food and drive-ins.”
Gardner, who has been operating a food truck for the last decade, also has a restaurant of the same name in Norwich, which she and her husband have operated for five years. But the restaurant’s traffic is now down 60%, she said, and the food truck is helping fill the gap.
“It’s keeping our restaurant afloat,” she said. “Normally this is our season. We’re raking it in.”
Complicating the situation for Uncle D’s is the fact that meat is currently in short supply as factories affected by COVID-19 are being shut down across the country. Ribs, the restaurant’s biggest seller, are particularly hard to come by, and suppliers have started rationing the meat, Gardner added.
At the lot last week, customers wearing masks were generally staying six feet apart as they awaited their meals after ordering. Many have started ordering by text, just needing a few seconds to pick up and pay for what Currier jokingly dubs his “pizza valet service.” People can wait in their cars or outside, but there are six-foot barriers in front of the trucks and the owners enforce a strict no-gathering policy.
“We wave people in when they’re ready,” Currier said, wearing a mask himself.
“Everyone likes the food trucks here,” said property owner Antupit, who leases the lot. “With COVID, this just makes all kinds of sense. Everyone is doing pickup anyway.”