New Fredericton Food Truck Savours the Flavours of the Sea
FREDERICTON — This summer, a new food truck is serving up Atlantic Canadian surf and turf on Hanwell Road.
“It’s fresh, it’s local,” said head chef of Maritime Food Truck, Brad Brown. “We get our ground beef from Peter’s Meat Market, our lobster is from the Bay of Fundy.”
The food truck serves classics like burgers and fries but Brown said it is all about the fish and chips right now. Brown gets his fish from Moncton.
“We are trying to help give back to the community,” said Brown. “The last year has affected everybody.”
Last March, two investors approached Brown about opening up a food truck while he was cooking in another restaurant. The change has been exciting but has required lots of learning and late nights.
“I’ve never done anything to do with a food truck or anything like that before…it’s the only thing that I haven’t done in a restaurant-type business,” said Brown.
About 80 percent of the employees at the food truck are students. Anyone new to the kitchen gets trained by Brown.
Unlike a traditional restaurant, business at the food truck is very dependent on the forecast. When the sun turns to rain as easily as it does in the Maritimes, Brown stays on his toes.
“It’s a lot of that stuff too when it comes to making a schedule and having staff being on call and being to adjust their schedule to kind of offset what’s going on with the food truck as well,” said Brown.
Brown said that business has been kicking up in the last few weeks. In July, they got a lot of industrial support from those working on Hanwell. Since word has been getting out, they are seeing more people come in from downtown or the northside.
Some breweries and campgrounds in the area have been interested in getting Maritime Food Truck to their business, but for now, they are happy staying where they are.
“As far as right now I think we are just content with staying at the location and doing well here,” said Brown.
For a few weeks this summer they had a second location on Regent Street but cut their losses after a lack of foot traffic. They are hoping to get a truck back downtown for Harvest Jazz and Blues this September.
“It’s been a real pleasure, and I’m very proud of what it’s turning into,” said Brown.
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Rachel Smith is a summer intern for Huddle. Send him story suggestions: [email protected].