Mobile Mavens

Mobile fun comes in many guises

What do three creative food industry co-workers do when given the opportunity to create fun on the run? Create a mobile family of vehicles with different concepts, of course.

Danielle Custer, Michelle Clair, and Toby Kremple are the mobile heads behind the curtain. Danielle is a familiar chef from Fuller's at the Sheraton Hotel and 727 Pine downtown, and as general manager/director of TASTE at the Seattle Art Museum. At SAM, she was part of the Bon Appétit Management Company, an on-site restaurant company that provides food-service management to museums, corporations, universities and specialty venues. They're known for making things from scratch: brining and braising meats; using fresh local produce, making stock for soup, and avoiding canned goods. While with Bon Appétit, she created the Monte Cristo truck which roamed Seattle with its grilled cheese sandwiches. A technology company in Portland eventually bought it for permanent use on its campus. Danielle has spearheaded this latest foray into the mobile arena and is its culinary consultant, while continuing her work overseeing and monitoring café growth at Amazon through Bon Appétit.

Left to right: Toby, Michelle, Danielle with POP UP

Michelle is a director at Bon Appétit who handles catering and events at Amazon. She is using her experience to oversee those aspects for Mobile Mavens. Because the vehicles are smaller than the usual food trucks, they can more easily get to places for private events, so she has a larger world to deal with as The Mobile Arranger.

Toby worked his way up at Bon Appétit from a catering attendant to catering assistant manager in Michelle's catering department at Amazon. However, it was his four plus years as a hot dog vendor with Dante's Inferno Dogs that got him on this mobile team in charge of operations. "I like the challenging pace of catering and didn't think I'd go back into the mobile world," he says. "But I really enjoyed the experience and am happy to be back doing something I loved." He's on top of all the parking rules, permitting, health inspections, scheduling, etc. "It's a rigorous process to get permitted. You have to get sign offs from multiple departments, and it's hard work. The joke within the food truck world is that it's 22, 22, 22. Twenty-two year olds working 22 hours a day making $22,000 a year."

Much work has gone into the food concepts as well as the mobile designs. The first to open was POP UP, an orange bicycle that pushes a freezer filled with sweetness: artisanal ice cream, gelato, sorbeto, popsicles, ice cream sandwiches. You can't help but visualize suit-wearing adults chasing it down a busy street to get their popsicles. POP UP debuted in June 2014 and they are planning a second bike to appear by June 2015. You'll find it around town, and it also gets booked for events throughout Washington. The bike folds in half, so as long as the freezer fits through the opening, POP UP can appear just about anywhere. "We took the bike up an elevator and rode around cubicles handing out treats to office staff," laughs Toby. "People don't expect to see that. Before we go anywhere, I visit the site to ensure whatever vehicle we're taking is going to fit. If we can't get down a narrow path to a house, we'll take platters and carry things in."

Biscuit Box opened next, in August 2014, in a tricked-out VW van. Warm biscuits get topped with various items: tomato jam, wildflower honey, ham and cheese, tarragon chicken, foraged mushroom and black pepper gravy, Chinese barbecue pork belly, shortcake with berries and cream. They also do seasonal items, so check their menu online.

Soon we'll be seeing new concepts from the team: Gai Box which Toby describes as a shout-out to a truck in Portland. They'll be doing simply poached chicken over rice with a choice of sauce. "In Chinese, 'gai' means chicken and in Japanese, it means 'outside,' so we think it works well for what we're doing." Picnic is also on its way, full of sandwich options. "That menu is nearly complete. We're using local ingredients for traditional and new sandwiches. Lil' Blu and Half Pint are a combination of a van and trailer. A beverage bar on the front of the trailer can do frosty lemonades and non-alcoholic drinks in public, and has a refrigerated beer box to do alcoholic beverages for private events." They're also working on scooter delivery.

"Food-wise, we try to make things efficient," explains Toby. "We use whole chickens for Gai Box and make stock from those for our biscuits. Condiments, dressings, aioli, and our mustard blend are all made in-house. Getting food to our customers quickly is our goal: fast and flavorful. By the time a customer pays, their food should be ready. We want to offer multiple food and beverage options; we're calling the whole collection The Trailer Park. During the week, they'll be on the streets and weekends they'll be at private events."

Ham and cheese biscuit

They're also looking at spaces now where they can set up the trailer park, do in-house parties, and have a walk-up window. "It's fun to be part of a new mobile undertaking," says Toby. "Each neighborhood and party are different and you get to see how the food is appreciated. We're on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, plus our website shows our schedule. We hope everyone will come out to meet us and get to know our schedule."

Mobile Mavens
www.mobilemavensseattle.com

Biscuit Box menu
Biscuit Box location calendar
facebook.com/biscuitboxsea
Instagram and Twitter: @biscuitboxsea

POP UP menu
facebook.com/popupbikepops
Instagram and Twitter: @popupbikepops

Mushroom biscuit

Connie Adams/March 2015