More than three years since the COVID-19 pandemic vastly changed the way people think about going out to eat, food truck owners say they are still operating in a turbulent environment.
In Belfast, operators say low margins, volatile costs and bad weather are putting a strain on food trucks, jeopardizing business and making some rethink their business model.
“Everything has gone up in price, and you try to find that fine line of offering good, local food homemade, as cheaply as possible, but it’s hard,” said Jennifer Steward, who runs JC’s On-A-Roll by the Belfast Marina on Front Street.
She opened last summer, staffing the food truck with just her and her husband. Now, she’s got two additional staff members, but high prices and rainy weather are having a negative impact on business this year. She also feels like people are more comfortable returning to indoor dining spaces this summer, so that’s cut down on the number of customers as well, she said.
“Food trucks are a great business … but it’s certainly not for the faint of heart,” Stewart said. “There’s a lot of work behind the scenes.”
The Moody Dog on Main Street is experiencing pressure, too.
“The pandemic shifted a lot of things, including the cost of living, the cost of everything,” said the hot dog joint’s owner, Raymelle Moody.
Just since last year, three of Belfast’s six food trucks have shifted how they operate or left the city. The Jamaican Grille closed. The Stone Fox Creamery ice cream truck moved to the Searsport public pier. Must Be Nice Lobster shifted last summer into a permanent space on Cross Street.
Volatility has always been a fact of life in the local food truck scene, Moody said. She’s been in business since 2014, and for the past few years she’s kept her hot dog stand up and running year-round.
Even so, the recent increase in operating expenses due to inflation has meant that despite tourism numbers bouncing back, money’s still tight, Moody said.
“It’s just been an exponential increase in cost and inability to get things that you need,” she said.
That’s the same struggle Eldon Loblein faced when he opened the Jamaican Grille out of a side window at the Front Street Pub in the middle of 2021.
Business that year was good, he said. But in the summer of 2022, razor thin margins, inflation and staffing issues created a precarious balance for his operation.
The Jamaican Grille has closed. Loblein is presently living in England with his family, but he’s still looking to strike a perfect balance — that means searching outside of Belfast, and moving beyond the seasonal food truck model.
When Loblein comes back to Maine, he said it’ll probably be to set up shop in Portland. Despite being a more competitive area for restaurants, he feels the benefits — a larger population and more consistent patronage — outweigh the risk.
He’s still thinking about whether a smaller set-up, combined with the increased stability from a permanent restaurant, could work in Belfast seasonally, because he doesn’t want to lose the connection to the area.
“Until the economy changes, until something changes there’s gonna be a lot of turnover, not just in terms of workforce, but in terms of the restaurants themselves,” Loblein said.
While some owners still want to make it work, Loblein thinks to be a sustainable business, the Jamaican Grille will have to keep the plates coming year-round.
“It needs to be a permanent location and run year-round,” Loblein said. “And for that, we need a bigger city, because Belfast is kind of dead in the winter.”
