Pizza Today - March 2016 - 84

Thirty-five-year pizzeria
veteran Jim Sims consid-

ers the upbeat vibes of the
festivals his Texas-based
trailer ( J & R Pizza Concession) frequents to be another
perk of going mobile. He runs
an 8½- by 25-foot aluminum
trailer containing a four-deck
pizza oven, two eight-cubic
foot freezers and a 100-pound propane bottle, along with other kitchen
equipment, signage and miscellaneous
accessories needed to assemble a
makeshift kitchen.
Sims uses the freezers at his house
to store ingredients and assembles
them upon arrival at an event. For
shipping ingredients with ease, he
often orders ingredients in bulk for
delivery to his house or pizza trailer's
door.
In the Sacramento area, Scott
Thorson, owner of Bella Familia
Wood Fired Pizza, has been hauling
two wood-fired pizza trailers for the
past eight and a half years to events
like farmer's markets, weddings and
rehearsal dinners.
To store ingredients like flour and
cheese, shred mozzarella and prepare
items like dough and appetizers,
Thorson rents a commissary space in a
commercial kitchen. He procures most
vegetables from the farmer's market
the day of an event.
Thorson uses mainly cambros and
coolers for shipping and advises operators to stay aware of outdoor temperatures and adjust their use of ice packs
accordingly. He also recommends
packing only the items you're guaranteed to use, making them dual purpose
when possible. For instance, he uses
decorative boxes to carry napkins and
plates and then flips them over to
embellish tables.
To set prices, Thorson used trial and
error, along with researching the rates
of other local caterers with similar
businesses and decided to start at $18
a person for catered events.
Sims charges $5 per slice from a
15-inch pizza cut into four.
8 4 / P I Z Z AT O D AY. C O M / M A R C H 2 0 1 6

The price "is more than twice what I
used to get in my restaurant," comments Sims. "We run about an eightor nine-percent profit margin, which is
phenomenal."
On the other hand, determining
where to park mobile kitchens is
often not a smooth ride.

"Most towns and cities have nonfriendly food truck laws for day-today vending," cautions Rob Mitchell,
president of the Philadelphia Mobile
Food Association and Board Member
of the National Food Truck Association.
For instance, in Tulsa, the Andolini's
Pizzeria food truck must be parked
150 feet from the front door of any
brick and mortar restaurant. And in
many cities, lucrative areas require
extra licences or prohibit mobile
restaurants. Thorson is building a food
truck because new laws in some counties prohibit his pop-up tents from
setting up at breweries and wineries.
But mobile operators needn't
despair: These restrictions have
inspired a flourishing mobile event
scene and opportunities for catering
private events abound. Still, while
mobile kitchen proponents are lobbying for more ideal laws for vendors,
Mitchell recommends operators
research current laws in their area to
determine where they can set up shop.
For pizzeria operators with both a
storefront and mobile units, maintaining consistency between their mobile
and stationary locations also demands
consideration.
Mike Bausch, owner of three locations of Andolini's Pizzeria in the
Tulsa area, takes a comprehensive
approach. First, employees train at

a brick and mortar Andolini's
before stepping onto the food
truck. Cameras also ensure
product quality and the same
quality controls, cleaning list,
secret shoppers and recipes
at the Andolini's stationary
locations also apply at the food
truck.
When they're ready for business,
mobile operators market on the
road and the web.

J & R Pizza Concession uses a
variety of marketing avenues, including advertising in local papers and
joining sites that feature roaming
trucks and caterers.
In addition to social media marketing, Andolini's Pizzeria has found that
building a standalone food truck Web
site (linked to their brick and mortar
site) is a simple way for customers to
locate their food truck.
Social media-wise, Thorson mainly
uses Facebook, where he buys ads or
posts on his page. Both sides of his
trailers display their logo, company
name and phone number, along with
the phrase: "Catering & Events." And,
at the farmer's markets he attends
twice a week, he writes "We cater"
or "Ask about catering" on a chalk
menu and hands out business cards,
brochures and postcards to attendees.
However, it's seeing his mobile units in
person - with their unique woodfired trailers -- that produce the most
buzz.
"If I show you a picture of my trailer,
that's great," says Thorson. "But that's
just a two-dimensional image, whereas
at a farmer's market you get to take the
whole thing in." n
CARIMÉ LANE is

a freelance writer who
writes about health and the restaurant
business from Vancouver, B.C.

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