It was 8:00 am on a Tuesday in early June as I pulled my car up to the loading dock at my commercial kitchen in Hampton, NH.  The air was still cool, and the food truck was covered with a fine layer of morning dew.  I am the first person to arrive today. Tuesday is a busy day because we don’t take the truck out on Monday, the produce and food order gets delivered, and there are generally more things to do.  

            Now that I’ve turned on the lights, oven, and dish machine and relieved my bladder, I plug the extension cord in and run it out the door and onto the dock.  I open the back doors of the truck and I climb into the drivers’ seat to start it.  It’s a diesel, so it doesn’t like to be cold, I hold my breath but it starts on the first try.  I back the truck up to the dock and leave it running to warm up.  I take the extension cord and plug in both refrigerators on the truck.  It’s now 8:15. Today we will be heading to the military base where we serve lunch from 10:30-12:30.  I begin loading the slow-roasted pork I cooked and pulled yesterday, into the oven to warm to holding temperature.   The slow-roasted pork takes several hours to cook, cool, and pull, so I can’t do it before lunch.  I also begin to mix some Thai Peanut Chicken and make some coleslaw dressing. I turn the truck engine off. 

            The first of my employees arrive at 8:20, Haley, she has been with me for a couple of seasons now and she knows what to do without me having to tell her.  She grabs the checklist and begins cleaning sauce bottles, filling new ones, and generally checking all the supplies and food we need to take with us.  The produce arrives and I put it away.  At 8:30 Kara arrives and starts filling the cooler with drinks for today.  Coleslaw is mixed. The coleslaw and the Thai Peanut Chicken are “cater” wrapped for travel, plastic wrap is used to completely wrap the container ensuring that if it falls or is dropped it will not spill.  My large food order arrives.  I quickly try to pull the frozen foods we need today before they get buried by the new delivery because I may not have time to properly rotate and stock the freezer before it’s time to leave.  I also take some pork butts that have just come with the order, prep them, and put them into the oven to cook while we are gone at lunch service.

            The cooler now prepared with ice and drinks and loaded on the truck, Kara is checking all the tools and paper products needed for today’s service.  Napkins, paper boat trays, plastic forks, plastic wrap, towels, aprons, trash bags, gloves, order tickets, etc., are all refilled in the truck, as well as cooking and serving utensils.  Next, all the cold and frozen food are loaded onto carts and put into the refrigerators on the truck. While this is all being done, we are talking about our Monday, and Kara, who always has something funny and usually inappropriate to say, is making us laugh. 

            It’s now 9:30 and I announce that we are almost ready to leave. Everyone takes one last bathroom trip.  The hot food gets loaded from oven to truck, the truck is started again, unplugged, and we all climb in to head out, it’s 9:45.

As we are leaving, Renee my oldest employee, both in age and length of time she has worked for me, arrives to begin opening the small café I run out of this same kitchen.  I greet her, give her a couple bits of information for the day and we are off.

            We arrive at the base, go through security, park in our assigned spot, and begin set up.  Everyone knows what to do and begins right away.  I turn on the propane, start the generator, light the pilots, fire up the fryer and flat top grill, and set up the Square register system for service.  The table is set up outside with napkins, forks, hot sauce, etc.  Food is unwrapped, utensils allocated, paper boat trays set out where they are needed, and the menu is put out. 

            Today we are finished setting up at 10:25 and probably have about 5-10 minutes before people start showing up for lunch.  I check for emailed pre-orders for the café while Haley makes herself a cheese quesadilla and eats it quickly.  Kara then makes herself tacos and eats.  We eat one at a time in case customers come.  While they eat, I am building some Panini’s ahead of time and put them into the steam table pan.  I’m also frying some Haddock ahead.  This is necessary because we serve 40-100 people in about 1.5 hours here and they are only given 30 minutes for lunch. Panini and Haddock tacos require the most cooking time at about 6 minutes each.  Having some fish cooked ahead and some paninis that just need to be browned is crucial to the fast service required here.  When Kara finishes her taco, she takes over for me and I make a fish quesadilla for myself.  I take the first bite and then we have a line, it’s 10:45.  I put my food down, never to be eaten as is typical, and we begin to take orders and put out food as fast as we can. 

            Haley takes the orders and the money and hands the ticket over to Kara calling it out at the same time.  “Two fish tacos and avocado fries,” she says, followed quickly by “Two Panini one with French fries”.  Then “French fries”, “Two Buffalo chicken wraps, one with fries one by itself”, etc., etc…  “Three fries and one order avocado all day”, I yell out for Kara who is on the fryer and putting fish/meat in taco shells.  She and I both work on paninis, and I dress tacos and make the cold wraps.  In 20 minutes, we have a line and 20 tickets on the board to be made.  This goes on until 12:15 when everyone has been served and it ends in the same way it started, abruptly.   

Now that it’s over, there’s cheese, paper, dropped fries, and various other casualties of service on the floor and surfaces.  I return to my abandoned lunch and quickly dismiss it as inedible.  I cram a couple of leftover fries and a leftover piece of haddock in my mouth.  We all refill our drinks, tease each other, and Kara and I have a small sing-along dance party while Haley looks at us and rolls her eyes. When no one else comes for about 15 minutes, and it is now 12:30, I declare “let’s go”.  Haley goes out and breaks down the table, garbage, menu signs, I close the frozen foods, and turn off the equipment, Kara wraps the containers for transport again. We all double-check the fryer cover has been put on before we leave to head back to the kitchen at 12:45.

In my first year of running the food truck, I forgot to cover the fryer when leaving an event. It took only 30 seconds, and 50 feet before hot oil was on the floor and rolling up to the cab of the truck.  What a mess!!!!! This is a mistake we try to never repeat.

On our short drive back, Haley reaches into her purse and pulls out an entire 12” chicken finger sub which she begins to eat. This is cause for much good-natured ribbing, as she’s been known to magically produce all sorts of items from her seemingly bottomless purse.  

            When we arrive back at the kitchen. Kara jumps out of the truck to open the back doors and allow me to back up to the dock where we will unload and clean the truck.  All food is unloaded first, and the cold food is put away. Next, all the dirty dishes are taken to the dish room.  Haley transfers leftover pork into new clean pans where it will be cooled down to the proper temperature in the proper amount of time. She begins washing dishes.  Kara and I clean the truck together; clean and sanitize the cold station, sinks, counters, steam table area, the fryer is strained, the flat top grill is cleaned, the floor is swept, and mopped, and trash is removed.  Some non-food items are re-loaded so we don’t forget, and all money and the Square system are taken off the truck. After this, the now clean and dry dishes are put away, food that has been cooled down is wrapped and put away, and Renee and I share what our lunch services were like.  I am informed that the toaster isn’t working.  

            Dishes done and everything put away for the day, Haley, Kara, and I put on 3 pairs of gloves each and begin pulling the 30# of hot pork that cooked while we were gone, (it was briefly put into the freezer to cool down some), while we listen to music and banter with one another. Renee finishes closing the café and breaks down the boxes from the food order, it’s now 2:15.  

            Pork now pulled and panned up, Kara and Haley leave for the day.  Renee takes the pork pan to wash it and I label, wrap, and put away the now pulled pork.  I then attempt to fix the toaster, which works at another outlet, so I reset the breaker.  I pull some frozen items needed for tomorrow, re-organize the freezer that I didn’t have time to do earlier, and do a quick inventory on my produce.  I check over the non-food items on the order and put them away.  Renee is now finished with her work and asks me if there is anything else I would like her to do, I tell her there isn’t and wish her a nice evening. 

            Alone now, I finally sit down for a few minutes to check my emails, voice mail, and go over the next few days in my head.  I make a prep list for Saturday’s catered event and hang them up in the kitchen.  I remember that we need some more chipotle aioli for tomorrow, so I make some and put it away. I wipe down the counters and toss my dirty apron and towel into the laundry bag. I use the restroom, shut everything off, and grab the trash and broken-down boxes on my way out. It’s 4:20. 

            I still need to answer a couple of email inquiries, call in a produce order, and type up a quote for someone, but I decide to go down the street to Smuttynose and have a beer before heading home to do that. 

How the rest of the week looks:

Wednesday 8:15 start

Lunch service at the base, unload, clean, etc.

Make chicken soup for café

Make cranberry walnut chicken salad for café & truck

Schedule truck hood inspection

Thursday 8:30 start

Lunch service at the base

Return, clean, and reload truck, re-write chalkboard 

menu for dinner service at Congdon’s 

after dark in Wells from 4:30-9 (unload & 

clean before going home for the day)

Friday 8:00 start

Take the truck to fill propane

Lunch service at the base

Unload, clean, etc.

Refill condiment bottles for tomorrow

Make more of whatever we need for the festival tomorrow &

pan up more pork to go in the oven

Saturday 7:45 start

Festival in Nashua, need to be there by 10:30

Festival from 12-6 (unload & clean before going

home for the day)

Sunday

Write and send invoices, pay bills, make prep lists for Monday,

start USFood order, send quotes, call in produce order

Monday

Inventory, US food order, prep food truck food,  

fill the truck with gas and propane, go to the bank, make some 

Soup for the cafe, write menu and checklist for lunch at the base

Lunch menu for this week:

Tacos!!  (2 per order, mix if you’d like)                           2 for $9

Slow Roasted Pork taco with cheese,                          3 for $12

chipotle aioli, scallions & fresh salsa

Avocado Fry taco with cheese, 

chipotle aioli, scallions & fresh salsa

Beer Battered Haddock taco with slaw, 

chipotle aioli and scallions

 (*sour cream upon request)    

In Flour tortillas or in a basket without tortilla

BBQ Pork Panini                                                             $9

With a blend of cheeses (ask for Chipotle Aioli)

Buffalo Ranch Chicken Panini                                              $9

With Grilled diced chicken, a blend of cheeses, Ranch, 

buffalo sauce. **Bleu Cheese avail. on the side

 

**Can also be made as a cold wrap with slaw instead of cheese

**Above come with chips or add fries for $4

Nacho Fries                                                            $7

Cheese, salsa, Chipotle Aioli, Sour cream

Avocado Fries                                                         $7

with Chipotle Aioli on the side        

French Fries                                                           $6

Drinks or Cookies                                                      $2

Water, Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Orange Soda, Seltzer, Arnold Palmer

**Prices include tax**