More food trucks dishing out meals across P.E.I. as popularity rises

MARSHFIELD, P.E.I. — Brandon Condon at all times dreamed of opening a restaurant of his personal.

Having grown up round cooks and kitchens, Condon developed a love for meals, particularly the standard meals served throughout P.E.I. – burgers, fish and chips and lobster.

“I by no means truly took culinary college or something like that,” mentioned Condon.

“My mother labored at a bar, and I used to hang around with the cooks out again. I at all times thought it was cool and I acquired to eat good meals. I wasn’t a thin child both, I beloved to eat.”

Final yr, when a meals truck belonging to a household good friend got here up on the market, Condon knew it was his probability to show his love of meals and cooking right into a enterprise.

On Might 12, Condon opened Ol’ Boys Eatery, a meals truck arrange within the parking zone of Jewell’s Nation Market in Marshfield that makes a speciality of burgers, poutine, fish and chips and lobster.

Since opening, Condon mentioned the meals truck has turn into successful for these within the space, which has saved the truck’s workers busy most days.

“It has been a extremely good begin to the summer time,” he mentioned.

“The response has been spot-on, and we’ve gotten a number of good opinions on-line to date. The group help has been implausible, I can’t say a single unhealthy factor concerning the group out right here.”

Whereas the present arrange isn’t a full-blown restaurant, like he had dreamed of opening, Condon mentioned there are facets of a meals truck that have been interesting to him, resembling the price.

“The meals business is a tough business to get into, so I feel meals vans are a very good stepping-stone into seeing if being a restaurateur is one thing you possibly can work your means in direction of,” he mentioned.

“The pricing of it, you’re looking at an enormous hole from having a complete property, 100-seat restaurant or no matter, to simply having a meals truck like this you possibly can transfer round.”

Condon mentioned he has doubtless saved a number of hundred thousand {dollars} by choosing a meals truck as an alternative of a brick-and-mortar restaurant.

He additionally mentioned the mobility of meals vans gives alternatives a typical restaurant proprietor doesn’t have, resembling with the ability to simply relocate and attending festivals and occasions.

Condon isn’t the one one to see the advantages of beginning a meals truck over a typical eat-in institution. A rising variety of meals vans exists in P.E.I., from long-established distributors like Ken’s Fries and Da Mama’s Kitchen to latest up-and-comers like The Pizza Box and Big Guy Burger and Fry, amongst others.

Tina Dickieson, government director of Neighborhood Enterprise Improvement Company Central P.E.I., mentioned the curiosity in meals vans and cell distributors is, and has been, on the rise in P.E.I.

“We completely have seen a rise (in new meals vans opening),” mentioned Dickieson.

“I took over this place in 2019, and through that point, there wasn’t very a lot exercise. Since then, it exploded.”

Dickieson mentioned she notices numerous new meals vans open annually throughout Prince Edward Island, noting the elevated recognition is probably going as a result of flexibility meals vans provide these moving into enterprise, resembling through the pandemic.

“Throughout COVID, when eating places have been closed, meals vans didn’t want to fret about the identical restrictions as others, in order that they have been a fantastic reduction for folks in numerous areas the place eating places had closed,” she mentioned.

“For meals vans that journey, it offers them the flexibility to go to their clients and produce that meals to them. That’s one thing particular and other people will plan for that, particularly if it is introduced beforehand on Fb. Folks will make a day of it.”

Dickieson additionally mentioned meals vans are usually much less dangerous for first-time enterprise homeowners, which may add to their recognition.

“It is completely much less of a danger as a result of you possibly can pack it up and go. You possibly can take it with you,” she mentioned.

“You additionally don’t have the brick-and-mortar prices that you’ve got in a restaurant. A restaurant could possibly be seasonal, however you continue to need to warmth it and do various things, so the pipes don’t burst. There’s upkeep that does not go away all yr.”

With new initiatives to help meals vans on P.E.I., such because the meals truck village in Summerside that’s within the works, Dickieson mentioned enterprise curiosity in meals vans will solely go up.

Condon agreed and mentioned extra tasks just like the meals truck village are wanted throughout the Island.

“I’ve spent a little bit of outing in Alberta and Vancouver and went to some locations the place they’ve a complete road of meals vans. It is so cool and all of the vans to actually effectively,” he mentioned.

“Summerside is taking the initiative on that, and I hope the remainder of the Island does one thing related. If it is accomplished proper, it would do very effectively.”

As for Ol’ Boys Eatery, Condon is banking on his meals’s high quality and the experience of his staff, shut good friend Ian Campbell, head prepare dinner Nathan Eldershaw and his mom, Mary Condon, who fills in when wanted, to make the meals truck stand out towards many others additionally following their culinary ardour.

“I grew up in P.E.I. and labored in a number of completely different Island eating places and having tremendous good fish and chips and actually good coleslaw are issues rising up I at all times heard Islanders be involved about,” he mentioned.

“Having good beef, too, so we’ve acquired good, native beef, native lobster. We’ve acquired all that. We’re actually simply involved with staying as native and as recent as we will.”

Cody McEachern is a enterprise reporter with the SaltWire Community in Prince Edward Island. @CodyInHiFi