BY DIRK PERREFORT
Hearst Connecticut Media
Entrepreneurs throughout the region with a dollar and a dream have been jumping into the latest craze that”™s been sweeping the area: gourmet food trucks selling everything from organic ice cream, crepes and coffee to meatballs and California-style burritos.
And while those with restaurant experience or looking to make a new career have been joining the industry ”” a business model that requires relatively low overhead and startup costs in the order of $1,000 to $10,000 and up ”” it”™s far from the golden ticket.
Some operators have been able to earn a living through the work, but it comes with long hours, sweat and an effective marketing plan to win customers.
Some are luckier and more successful than others.
- Leonardo Almonte, left, and Freddy Avames fill an order in Almonte’s food truck, Meat the Press, on White Street in Danbury. Photo by H. John Voorhees III
In just their first season, the operators of The Natural Scoop, a Ridgefield-based food truck that offers organic and chemical-free frozen treats, is already getting franchise requests from around the country.
Carin Crook, who started the business late last year with her partner, Kirstin Cerulli, said they hope to recoup their startup costs by the end of the season. The pair began thinking about the idea years ago after becoming frustrated that ice cream trucks didn”™t offer treats with ingredients people could pronounce.
“It”™s amazing that by the end of the season we”™ll have already broken even,” she said. “Our goal right now, however, isn”™t to make as much money as we can but to show that the idea has legs so that we can replicate it in other cities. We”™ve already had more than a dozen people from as far as California contact us about franchise opportunities.”
Paul Mannion, the owner of the Green Grunion based out of Danbury, started his business about two years ago and has one employee on the books.
“You can definitely make a living,” he said. “But don’t get me wrong ”” at this point, I don”™t have a wife or kids to support. That makes a big difference. I”™m not making a killing, but it”™s growing.”
Mannion sells San Diego-style burritos that he learned to make while working in the restaurant business in California.
“There are certainly places around here where people can get a burrito,” he said. “But I wanted to show them something that is more true to authentic border-town food.”
Apparently his customers enjoy the offering.
“I probably come by at least once a week,” said Robert Lavoie of Danbury. “They just make a damn good burrito. There isn”™t anything else like it around.”
Six figures
With a lot of hard work, those in the industry say food truck operators can gross up to $200,000 a year. And at summer festivals, like the Gathering of the Vibes in Bridgeport, operators can bring in as much as $60,000 in a day, according to Robert Forti, principal of Three60 Events, an event planning business with offices in Stamford and Fairfield.
- Paul Mannion, the owner of the Green Grunion based out of Danbury. Hearst Connecticut Media file photo
“A lot of these guys aren”™t just subsidizing their income, for them it”™s a full-time job,” he said. “How much someone can make really depends on their marketing and how much they hustle.”
For the past two years, Forti has organized a food truck festival at the Mill River Park in Stamford. He is holding another event, Rolling on the River, that will be held at the park Aug. 22 from 3 to 7 p.m. It”™s been such a success, he said, that officials from other towns, including Westport, Redding and Stratford, have also inquired about holding similar events in their own communities.
Of course, some festivals will charge either a flat fee for vendors to participate or a percentage that could reach 30 percent of sales, according to Mike DiStassio, a former marketing professional who started The Local Meatball based out of Fairfield a couple of years ago.
“I”™ve launched a lot of brands over the years that weren”™t my own, and I always had the ambition to have my own brand,” he said. “And meatballs is the only thing I”™ve ever really been passionate about.”
DiStassio spends most of his time catering corporate functions but also hits the festival scene on occasion.
Linda Almonte, who started Meat the Press in Danbury earlier this summer with her husband, Leonardo Almonte, said they’ve yet to make a profit, but they have high hopes. Her husband, who has a history in the restaurant business, always had a passion for food, she said, and for years has been trying out different recipes. The truck specializes in food with a Latin and Asian influence.
Almonte, a mother of two, continues to work as a registered nurse in the hopes that someday the business can support the family.
Most operators said it can take up to six months and lots of legwork to get the operation up and going. Besides fine-tuning your product and gearing up a truck, there are also licenses and health permits needed from each municipality where the truck works.
“The biggest thing is execution,” DiStassio said. “You want to make sure that you have the motivation to do it, have a good product and have a marketing plan in place. I see a lot of trucks out there that could use a little help when it comes to brand identity.”
While DiStassio said he expected the amount of trucks to fall off after the craze first began about two years ago, more trucks are showing up every day.
“It just keeps growing and growing,” he said.
Scott Leroy, health director for Danbury, said annual applications for food truck permits have recently more than doubled to 50 a year from about 20, and most of them have a gourmet specialty including brick oven pizza and cupcakes.
“It’s one of the biggest trends out there,” he said.
Hearst Connecticut Media includes four daily newspapers: Connecticut Post, Greenwich Time, The Advocate (Stamford) and The News-Times (Danbury). See newstimes.com for more from this reporter.
