Riverview’s Red Stone Eatery Hits The Road With a Food Truck
RIVERVIEW – Red Stone Eatery, a meal delivery and catering service out of Riverview, is expanding and taking its fresh food mobile with a food truck.
“Our original plan was to have a food truck. The catering and meal delivery service just kind of happened,” said co-owner Julie Chapman. “This food truck came along for sale in April and it was a good opportunity, so we grabbed it.”
Chapman owns Crimson Entertainment, and her business partner, Jason Nicholson, is a musician and a professional cook. They launched Red Stone Eatery last October, first delivering individual meals to people they know. They later launched an online ordering platform on their website.
With the food truck, the pair will be present at Moncton’s Festival Inspire, Folly Fest in Gagetown, Nashwaak Music Fest, and Cannabis Day in Moncton, among others.
“We go to a lot of music festivals and we didn’t like the choices there at the time. There are a couple of good food trucks now,” she said. “[The food truck menu] is going to be the same as our meal delivery service, which is fresh food, not processed, and from local suppliers when possible.”
Customers can also find the truck at the Medavie Blue Cross/CGI offices on Millennium Boulevard on Wednesdays, Pearson’s Corner Market in Sussex on Thursdays, and the Dieppe Market on Fridays. A full schedule and the menu of the day are posted on Red Stone Eatery’s social media pages and website.
The menu will change based on what’s in season and what event the food truck is serving. But some favourites may return.
“It’s almost like catering, only in a food truck. So the organizers can go through what they’d like to see and then we’ll come up with something,” Chapman said. “It’s always going to be geared to the event.”
Since taking on the food truck business, Chapman and Nicholson have hired a chef to help with the catering side. Now they’re also looking to hire one or two qualified chefs experienced with fast-paced kitchen environment for the food truck. More hiring could happen in the meal delivery side, too.
“If the meal delivery grows, of course, we’re going to need some helpers for that kitchen too.”
Customers can now pick up the meals they order from Red Stone Eatery at the Sequoia Natural & Organic stores on Trinity and on Highfield Street.
“Maybe you’re at work, or you don’t want to sit around all day waiting for me to show up [with the meals]. So I’ll deliver to Sequioa and you can pick it up whenever you like,” Chapman said.
Currently, the meals are still being cooked out of the Coverdale Centre’s kitchen in Riverview, which is shared with the town’s Boys and Girls’ Club and other activities. But growth may mean a new kitchen space.
“We love where we are now at the Coverdale Centre, but if the meal deliveries go the way I hope it will, then we’re going to need our own space for staff,” Chapman said. “That’s for the future, but right now we’re right where we want to be.”
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