As Brookline’s restaurant industry tentatively returns to operation, local businesses are using all kinds of methods to keep customers safe and comfortable. Some are constructing new outdoor spaces; others are opting to stick with takeout for the time being. For About Fresh, a company dedicated to increasing access to healthy foods, the COVID-19 pandemic has been an opportunity to lean into one of their safest distribution resources: the food truck.
About Fresh has run the Fresh Truck since well before the pandemic, stopping every week in communities like Brookline Village to sell fresh produce from their retrofitted school bus. The system is slightly different from a traditional food truck in that they are selling produce rather than full meals, and visitors have more of a shopping experience than a takeout one.
When customers could no longer safely board the bus to shop due to the public health emergency, it was a smooth pivot to make the Fresh Truck an open-air market. Now customers complete their whole transaction, from picking a pre-selected bag of produce to completing a payment outside the truck. The truck has become a space for workers to transport and organize the food. Initially, Fresh Truck reduced their hours to feel out the safety situation. But, as they’ve gone back to their original schedule, Huang says some areas are seeing an increase in overall customers.
“Based on what we know about COVID transition, it’s likely that that format is a little bit safer than doing the shopping inside,” says Megan Huang, the program director of the Fresh Truck. “I think that’s one of the benefits of our format versus other formats is that when customers come to us, they’re in the open air the entire time, the entire process takes place outside.”
Despite the safety upsides to operating a food truck or similar model, it’s not a viable option for everyone. Toirm Miller, one of the founders of Stoked Wood Fired Pizza Co. on Beacon Street, told BrooklineHub in an e-mail that it wasn’t economically viable for them to send their food truck out at the moment.
With many people continuing to stay home, there are concerns about a food truck that isn’t on a set schedule like Fresh Truck, making ends meet. It’s typically large outdoor events that provide an ideal food truck audience, and those have been canceled. “We have talked to other trucks who are seeing 5% of their usual sales,” wrote Miller. “We are keeping an eye on everything and will make a decision to run again when it becomes more viable.” Never fear, Stoked is still offering takeout and delivery from their brick-and-mortar Brookline location.
Huang says Fresh Truck will operate similarly, remaining nimble as the virus information develops and colder weather appears in the fall. Despite the uncertainty, she remains positive, saying, “We’re all in this together, we’re a community, and we’re more resilient than coronavirus has proven.”