The food truck craze is coming to York.
A multi-truck evening of varied fare will take place at the Lobster in the Rough starting June 19, when Food Truck Wednesday gets underway and continues each Wednesday through the summer season.
Rough co-owner Sean Mitchell said his friends have been going to Congdon’s After Dark, a food truck park at Congdon’s Doughnuts in Wells, and reporting back it’s a great evening out.
“They have a huge following, and there’s a big buzz about it,” Mitchell said. While the Rough has scheduled events like bands, trivia night and karaoke night the other days of the week, Wednesdays were free. Why not, he said, try food trucks?
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He already has applications from five different trucks and expects more as word gets out that Food Truck Wednesday is underway. He’d like to have about eight trucks.
“It’s a good way to draw people to the Rough who have never been here before, too,” he said.
And hopefully, he said, people will be drawn to amenities like the bocce ball court and horseshoe pitch.
The food trucks will be in the parking lot. To date, trucks include Baker Bobby Wood Fired Pizza, Coppa Magica, Burrito Betty’s, Clyde’s Cupcakes and Gotta be Frank. Customers can also buy food at the counter inside the Rough. Picnic tables will be set up, and people will be allowed to buy alcohol at the bar and drink it with their meal.
Margie Genereux and her husband, Tom, operate the Gotta be Frank truck, which sells gourmet hot dogs. She said she is excited about adding the Rough to their busy schedule of stops. The Sanford couple has an arrangement with the owners of SoMe Brewing and York Beach Beer Co. in York, and are also at Congdon’s.
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Asked what the allure is, she said, “It’s an experience. It brings people back to their childhoods, of going to fairs or carnivals. One gentleman walked into Congdon’s last night and said, ‘Oh my gosh, it smells like Fenway Park in here.’ I said, yes, but not as expensive.”
She said the food truckers also support each other. “We all like each other and we promote one another. We’re in our own little world. It’s very nice,” she said.
Kathryn Kelley owns the Coppa Magica food truck, which just started vending food in May. The gelato maker has shops in York and Dover, but “for me I had to change up my business model. York is very seasonal, and it’s hard to make a living on two busy months a year. This way with the truck, I can cater and go around to different festivals not just in the summer.”
She said food trucks are “definitely the trend right now.”
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Mitchell also owns the Bagel Basket in York Village and recently cleared a gravel parking lot next to the eatery. He said he wants to get Food Truck Wednesday established first, but he’d like to bring trucks to the Bagel Basket lot as well this summer.
“I’ll see what night is free for them, and hopefully bring it to the Village, too,” he said.
Food Truck Wednesday will take place at the Rough on Route 1 in York from 5 to 8 p.m. each Wednesday from June 19 to Aug. 28. Vendors interested in setting up a truck can email Mitchell at theroughyork@gmail.com.
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