Winter Park Fish Co. of Winter Park, Fla., is joining in on the food truck trend sweeping the nation.
A year ago, the seafood restaurant’s owners grilled hand-held seafood items at a three-day event for bikers in the Orlando, Fla., area.
When they noticed that their makeshift food truck – a former seafood delivery and display truck — featured the longest lines of any other food stand, they decided to make a business out of it.
Gary Reed, owner of Gary’s Seafood, a wholesale-distributor in Orlando and co-owner of Winter Park Fish Co., along with the restaurant’s other owners, refashioned the truck. While it already included several feet of refrigerated cases and a sink, they added a cooktop, a smoker and a grill.
Now, the truck is called on for charity and school events, along with food events such as the recent “Taste of Winter Park” food and wine festival, where staff prepared lobster rolls and fish tacos with coleslaw. The truck goes out two or three times a week, primarily with seafood items that hold up well on food trucks, such as fish tacos, ahi tuna on a stick and grilled fish sandwiches.
“We tried fish and chips, but it becomes greasy, and people were waiting while we were frying it [to order],” said Phil Chimento, general manager of Winter Park Fish Co.
The restaurant is right in time to take advantage of the food truck trend in metropolitan Orlando, which has taken off primarily in the past year.
“I never thought it would take off in Orlando, but it has become very popular here, as it has in other metropolitan areas,” said Chimento. Because of city regulations stating that trucks cannot be parked on the street, a weekly food truck gathering is held on the property of downtown clubs and movie theaters, and locals can come try food from all the different trucks.
Winter Park Fish’s truck is primarily used for charity events, as a way to give back to the community, said Chimento. In May, the food truck — in partnership with the Second Harvest Food Bank — will visit area schools weekly, to talk to students about healthy food choices.
“We are going to utilize a fish taco, because it has flour, cabbage, and protein with the fish and cheese. We will feed kids for free and have a nutritionist on hand, so kids can go home and tell their parents about how they ate healthy food today,” said Chimento.
