Food Trucks of New Brunswick: Country Fried Wontons
FREDERICTON–Mark Betts has had his food truck, Country Fried Wontons, parked on King Street for less than a month. We stopped by to check out how things are going so far and to see what all the fuss was about his family recipe-inspired deep fried wontons.
How did this get started?
I started four years ago at the Northside Market just in a booth and then I built a small trailer that I ran last summer a little bit and then I sold that and started this on June 20th. Less than a month old.
What got you into it? What were you doing before this?
I was a needs assessor at the Department of Social Development. I just left on June 1 to do this full time, work for myself. I grew up in the customer service industry. I started working at the Hilltop on my 19th birthday, back when it was one of the more popular places in Fredericton to go. Customer service is just kind of in my blood. It’s just what I do.
I do wontons and that comes from a family tradition that my mom always did wontons at Christmastime, pork wontons. I went to a work party with some and came home with $700 worth of orders for more wontons for Christmas. I just ran with it, decided I couldn’t just do one thing so I decided to do five different wontons and six different poutines now, curly fries. I hit big events, stuff like that.
So the idea came from your mom’s wontons then?
I’ve attended the Boyce Farmers Market here in town and the Northside Market before I started there and I always said I wanted to do it but I just didn’t have the product and then my mom’s wontons kind of came through for me.
It seems places like these are becoming bigger and bigger here.
Yeah, people come to markets for food now. The crafts and stuff like that, people like that but they really come for food.
Why did you choose a food truck?
I guess it’s just a step in the road. I went from the market and branched out so now I have two locations, I have the market and then this. A food truck gives you a lot of options. I can go anywhere. I can cater a wedding in the middle of nowhere and there are people that get married in the middle of nowhere. It’s the new thing, it’s the new fad. I’ve always liked them. I watch all the shows on TV. It’s a high you get in there just by working here.
Do you find people respond to it well in this area?
I feel like the city is behind obviously. The city is behind Moncton and Saint John. What they’re doing is allotting places where food trucks can go and pay a fee that’s comparable to the tax. Fredericton doesn’t have that yet.
What are your plans for the future?
I’d love to have a brick and mortar. I would love to get established enough to set up my own restaurant and run it but now it’s just to grow this. I’m only a month old and I have six weddings this fall to do and hopefully just get my name out there and make a go of it. I have a wife and three kids to support. I left a full-time job with full benefits with government and I’m going to make it work.