Rolling Out the Daily Grub

On most college campuses, taco, Asian, or gourmet food trucks have been captivating the minds and stomachs of most students for years. And hungry crowds keep lining up around urban business centers, where the food truck frenzy has been sweeping cities in recent years.

On this frosty mid-morning, Patti Dole is firing up her two-burner stove, rechecking her soda supply, and gearing up for lunchtime patrons. But she’s out of the vortex of college or city life; she’s in the Moorestown Business Center on Marter Avenue. Dole's Patti Wagon—which in an earlier life was a bread truck—is roving the suburban landscape, while delivering newer and cheaper meal options.

Last year, Dole bought her food truck for $15,000 from another vendor in Kearny in Hudson County. Sinking another $15,000 into the truck, she and her husband, Dan, made some updates like adding new fryers and a Magic Chef refrigerator. Dole, 49, wheeled out her business last June.

“I had always worked for someone else,” she says about her various stints as a manager and waitress for Arthur Treacher’s Fish & Chips, Bennigan’s and T.G.I. Friday’s.

During the work week, Dole sells an assortment of cold cuts, soups, chili, and hot sandwiches—”People like my chicken Parmesan sandwich a lot,” Dole says—to a queue of customers on the other side of her pass-through window.

And she’ll accept orders via cell phones.

“If it's too cold, some people call me when they know I’m outside,” says Dole, who resides in Westampton, “and then run out and pick up the food.”

When she needs a hand, Dole's sister, Kelly Kerber, works the truck with her. Sometimes, one of Dole’s three kids—Chris, 18; Andy, 16; and Kim, 14—will also get behind the griddle.

“In these close quarters, I probably have more conversations with my kids because I get to trap them in the truck,” Dole says with a laugh.

To subsidize business, Dole has set up her truck at auctions and farmers' markets in Burlington County.  

“To compete with other trucks,” she says, “I usually come with a specialty for the day like fish and chips, clams or shrimp.”

She’s also embarking on catering private bashes.

Orsula Knowlton of Moorestown recently hired the Patti Wagon for a party for her daughter, Renna, who was turning 13. Parked outside the Knowlton home, a flock of teens flanked the truck ordering burgers, fries and chicken nuggets.

“Patti customized the menu for the party, and the kids loved the idea of being able to get their own food from the truck,” Knowlton says.

Most municipalities have specific laws governing vendors. Dole says Griffin Construction, the owner of the complex, allows her to do business on its property.

“Otherwise, I’d have to get a permit,” Dole says.

John Diodata, 60, owner of the Langhorne-based Morning Start Services, Inc., says he got into the food truck business after an epiphany in Atlantic City.

“My wife and I were at a casino, and we went to buy two hamburgers and a couple of drinks. It was going to cost me $40. Right there on the corner was a food truck selling the exact same thing for under $10," Diodata says. “You are eating freshly cooked foods, and the cook is handing it right to you. It doesn’t get any better than that.” 

After his trip to Atlantic City, Diodata found a food truck for sale at the Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, NY. Diodata, a principal in a food vending business, was accustomed to recipe planning and saw an easy foray into a new trend. To help get started, he worked with a Wharton graduate who “crunched numbers and put together a plan” for the food truck.

Diodata changed the truck's graphics, added some personal touches, and launched Dio’s Cafe Express last July in the industrial park occupied by Lincoln Technical Institute on West Route 38. Diodata’s daughter, Amanda, and Jenny, his niece, both work the truck with chef Antoine Wood during the week from breakfast through lunch.

When he talks about his newest novelty, Diodata sounds like a man who has seen the light.

“This has worked out so well that we are in the process of putting together another truck that would specialize in just french fries,” the Surf City resident boasts. 

Diodata estimates they serve close to 100 customers daily. 

Both Dole and Diodata agree the food truck enterprise can be hard work.

“But I love what I’m doing now,” Dole says about her transport venture. “I wouldn’t go back to another job.”

To hire the Patti Wagon for a party call 609-870-6786 or 609-267-7748.