Food trucks and pop up kiosks getting creative without events

Maria Carlo, owner of Boriken Mart, creates an empanada while at the Rothschild Farmers Market.(WSAW Emily Davies)

ROTHSCHILD, Wis. (WSAW) - There are several seasonal businesses, especially ones like food trucks, that rely on events to get in contact with customers. Since events are not happening much this season because of COVID-19, they are working to find other ways to connect with community members.

“Before the pandemic hit, we usually had events booked out for months in advance,” Chumpot Ratanawong, the owner of Hanuman Express food truck said. “We usually did the Concerts on the Square in Wausau, the concerts in Pfiffner Park with Levitt AMP, plus other events that have been going on as well. The majority of those have been canceled.”

“Our whole premise was to bring people into the area and now all of a sudden, you can’t do that,” Gary Olsen, Rothchild’s village administrator sighed. “It’s been discouraging.”

As businesses find ways to open and operate safely, these event-reliant vendors are getting creative.

“We’ve partnered up with a lot of breweries, farmers markets, and other businesses that, you know, want us to come out for like an employee lunch or something.”

This was Rothschild’s first year hosting a farmers market, which was planned before the pandemic, but it has offered a place for these vendors to get connected to customers who are looking to get local goods safely. It is held at the Cedar Creek Mall, which Olsen said allows people to be outside and inside at the same time.

“It brings people to the area and you can still open it up so you’ve got the outside feel and people aren’t right on top of each other and you can still social distance,” he said.

Maria Calo owns Borikén Mart Caribbean Cuisine, a pop-up kiosk. She started her business last year after other Puerto Rican and Caribbean natives who live in central Wisconsin had a hard time finding their home comfort food locally.

This year, she said getting some of the produce has been more challenging and because her business is a pop-up instead of a food truck, she has found different ways to get people food from afar.

“We have a delivery service with Door Dash that we do and we also have our own free delivery service with a minimum of a $10 charge,” she said, adding people can also order online and pick up wherever they are located for the day, and see how many orders are ahead of them.

To keep track of your favorite vendors, they recommend checking their website or finding them on Facebook to see their updated location.