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LiverDance wrote:My girlfriend read the article and is following you on twitter, she was telling me about it yesterday while brewing and I said "yeah, I was in that truck yesterday" hahaha she didn't realize that i knew you. We are both excited to try the food.

Food truck owners want to hit Halifax streets

A group of entrepreneurs are lobbying city council to ease the regulations on food trucks in Halifax.

"Street food culture can make a vibrant city," said Natalie Chavarie.

She's behind Food Wolf, an upcoming Korean-Mexican food stand.

Food trucks are small, mobile, and cater to hundreds of hungry people, but can't operate between 4 a.m. and 9 a.m. in the city.

Now food truck operators are asking council to relax the regulated hours to allow for breakfast trucks. They're also asking to share spots during the day.

Nick Horne is one the entrepreneurs lobbying council. His Nomad Gourmet will have a smoker and serve pulled pork sandwiches.

"The nature of the budding industry is for the trucks to move around and serve in several different spots during the day," he said.

Sherryl Campell, owner of Soups On the Move, is already set up, but she also wants the city to review its food truck regulations.

"It seems like Halifax stifles entrepreneurs. They don't want anything new, they don't want anything different, they don't want anything that doesn't conform. Food trucks aren't like that," she said.

Glenn Tait, owner of Bud the Spud, is happy with his location downtown, one of only six spots in the area.

Food truck owners have to bid on spots. Tait's spot and the neighbouring space has increased from $5,000 to $15,000 in the last few years.

He says he doesn't think more trucks would be any threat to the fry business.

"There's lots of business for everybody and if other trucks want to come and give it a shot, that's fine with me," said Tait.

Tait won't say how much he paid for his spot this year.

Food trucks are competing for dinner service with restaurants, but the Restaurant Association of Nova Scotia has been monitoring the food truck industry in other cities. It says food trucks work as long as council keeps a level playing field for all food vendors.

Coun. Jennifer Watts will ask staff to look into the food truck issue next week.

"I think it's really kind of inspiring. (There's) a new direction in food trucks in terms of what they offer, and I think it also adds something to the street life," she said.

Chevarie and Horne hope to have their trucks on the road in the upcoming months.

mr x wrote: A group of entrepreneurs are lobbying city council to ease the regulations on food trucks in Halifax.

"Street food culture can make a vibrant city," said Natalie Chavarie.

She's behind Food Wolf, an upcoming Korean-Mexican food stand.

Now food truck operators are asking council to relax the regulated hours to allow for breakfast trucks.

[Bud the Spud] says he doesn't think more trucks would be any threat to the fry business.

Local-fare food trucks roll into Halifax

Wait no more, Halifax. The gourmet food truck scene has finally arrived—though some would rather not call it ‘gourmet.’

This month two new mobile food experiments—Food Wolf and Nomad Gourmet—will open on the peninsula, and unlike the fish and chips or burger and fries grease traps currently found streetside downtown, the new mobile eateries will be using fresh, local ingredients in chow like Mexican and Korean tacos, and pulled-pork sandwiches.

Although some argue Haligonians just haven’t been ready for gourmet food trucks, an explanation for the slow uptake could be the city’s by-law governing “mobile canteens,” which tie a vendor to a specific site (making the word “mobile” in the by-law an oxymoron).

But Councillor Jennifer Watts will soon be asking council to vote on getting a staff report on by-law C-500, Metro reports. She wants staff to look at whether food trucks could set up before 9 a.m. (and serve breakfast), or sell from shared spots.

Watts has surely heard from the owners of Food Wolf and Nomad Gourmet, the two burgeoning food truck operations who have been lobbying the city to amend the by-law.

If they get their way food trucks—such as Food Wolf’s 1968 GMC step van—could move around the city and maybe even have communal spots.
Food Wolf (@thefoodwolf)

Food Wolf's ownersOwners Eric Gunnells, Natalie Chavarie and Virgil Muir (pictured in that order) are keeping Food Wolf’s location a secret for now. But when they open in mid-August somewhere in the North End, their goal is to be accessible.

“We’re really much more connected to the concept of comfort food,” says Natalie. “We find that the term ‘gourmet’ is somewhat related to inaccessibility.”

Some of that comfort food, priced in the $5 to $12 range, will include Vietnamese dishes and tacos fused with Korean and Mexican flavours. Virgil and Eric—the chefs and friends behind Food Wolf who’ve cooked together at The Good Food Emporium—admit that the full menu is still a moving target.

“The idea with the food truck is that we don’t necessarily have to have a fixed menu,” says Eric.

“And even more so because we’re working with local produce and local meats as much as possible,” adds Natalie, “so you’re working with seasonable availability.”

When Natalie and Virgil travelled to South Korea in 2009 and Mexico in 2010, they discovered vibrant street-side food cultures. In Mexico, they also came across backyard eating groups, which motivated them to start Young & Dublin Open Air Eating, a popular North End supper club that operated last summer and acted as a kind of test kitchen for Food Wolf.

When Food Wolf opens later this month, Eric, Natalie and Virgil hope to add even more nourishment to the north end’s growing culinary landscape. “But really,” says Natalie, “we’re just looking forward to being part of the culture that makes Halifax’s North End what it is.”
Nomad Gourmet (@nomadgourmet )

“I’m a foodie at heart,” says Nick Horne, the mechanic-turned-Nomad-gourmet. “I grew up in a home where we had a garden that I helped with and where my mum always made everything from scratch. She just rubbed off on me.”

Nick, a proud Brewnoser, will open his truck in mid-August on Argyle Street across from the World Trade & Convention Centre. It’ll be just him and another chef (who isn’t his mum).

“‘Nomad’ is a term that means you’re going to move around, so the menu will change. But to open, we’ll be serving up southwest and Mexican fusion tacos, some pulled pork sandwiches, cold salads and soups of the day.”

It hasn’t been easy getting his business going. One of his biggest hurdles to jump was getting third-party inspectors to certify his truck.

“The gas inspector, for example, doesn’t want to do one catering truck,” he says. “He wants to do a factory with natural gas heating. There’s just not a whole lot of money in it for him.”

Another difficulty came when he tried to buy a truck. Before appliances can be used, they have to be approved by the Canadian Standards Association (CSA), an international organization that tests and certifies electrical products to meet standards for safety and energy efficiency. None of the 30 trucks Nick first looked at in Los Angeles had CSA-approved appliances.

“If I had bought one of the other trucks that I had my heart set on, I would have had to tear them apart and spend $20,000 on new appliances.”

The truck he went with is a 1977 Chevy Step Van that has a prep fridge, another small meat fridge, a 36-inch flat-top griddle, a two-burner range and a steam table.

Nick is also installing a smoker that can hold about 100 pounds of meat.

He’ll be putting that kitchen to work from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday to Friday, on food that will average $10 or under, and unlike the grease-centric trucks currently found around the city, he won’t be deep-frying anything.

“I won’t have fryers,” he says. “My truck is focused on healthier food.”

“Mind you, if you eat four hundred pulled pork tacos, you’re going to get fat.”