TRUCK FIRE – Firefighters knock down a fire in a Ford Explorer truck in Arrowhead Trailer Park in the 1200 block of Sawmill Creek Road Saturday evening. One person received fire-related injuries and was taken to the hospital, Sitka Fire Department Chief Craig Warren said, and the truck was considered a total loss. The cause of the fire is under investigation, Warren said. The fire hall received the call about the fire at 5:33 p.m., and one fire engine with eight firefighters and an ambulance were dispatched, he said. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)

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Food Trucks Follow the Lunch Crowd in Sitka

By ABIGAIL BLISS
Sentinel Staff Writer

The wave of food trucks and carts sweeping across the country washed up on Sitka’s shores 14 years ago, when Reindeer Redhots set up shop on the corner of Lincoln and Lake streets.

“We were the original,” said Carole Knuth, who bought the sausage stand with her husband, Peter Apathy, in 2005, after its first year of operation. The concept of a small, seasonal business appealed to Knuth, she said, because it presented a viable way to keep kids busy in the summer while simultaneously equipping young employees with valuable skills.

“For me, I was looking for something to do with young kids during the summer,” she said. “This was an opportunity to work with my children. They learned customer service, earned money... and we never did anything electronically, so they had to count money, give back change.”

In the years since Knuth and Apathy opened Reindeer Redhots, the trend of trucks peddling mobile meals has grown in Sitka, as a veritable fleet of culinary venues has taken to the streets and become a staple of the local summer food scene. The concept, which is an industry force countrywide, is simple – on-the-go food from portable venues – and the basis of several new or revamped businesses in town.

Though the trend has grown, the motor behind some of the food trucks in town mirrors Knuth’s original motivation. 

From left, Caribeth, 16, Gavin, 1, Hailey, 9 Jettarose, 6, and Sophia Kambak, 11, stand in front of the family's new ice cream truck. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)

Bernadette Kibby is bringing a new ice cream truck to Sitka this summer, inspired, in large part, by her five children, who range in age from 1 to 16.

“I felt like my kids were missing out on not having an ice cream truck, like missing out on childhood,” she said.

The name of the food truck, which is Kibby’s first foray into the food industry, pays homage to her four daughters and one sonchildren: Four Pinks and a Blue.

Kibby said Four Pinks and a Blue will roam around town this summer, heralded by the classic tune kids nationwide associate with summer and sweet treats.

“We have a speaker that has 32 different songs, but we’ll play the traditional ice cream truck song,” she said.

She hopes to have the business up and running sometime later this week, and expects its hours of operation to be noon to 6 p.m. or noon to 8, depending on weather.

Another kid-oriented business, a smoothie truck, sprang from Youth Advocates of Sitka’s desire to develop the community’s young workforce. The Smoothie Truck is opening for its second season on May 28, but may be better known to Sitkans under a different name: Latitude 57.

The original name, selected by local youths, caused confusion among customers during the truck’s inaugural season, said Matt Jackson, Youth Advocates of Sitka employment program business manager. He expressed hope that the second and more straightforward name will be better for business.

“We had students at Pacific High and in our YAS’s drop-in center vote on a name. Latitude 57, and a compass rose was selected as a logo,” he said. “Problem is, there is a Latitude 56 art shop in Wrangell, a Latitude 58 business in Juneau, and latitudes and compasses have nothing to do with our actual business, selling smoothies. Everybody was calling it ‘the smoothie truck,’ so this winter we decided to officially change the name to The Smoothie Truck, and update the logo to be more representative of our business.”

The second adjustment the YAS initiative is making in its sophomore season is location, Jackson told the Sentinel. Last year, three local teens ran the smoothie shop outside of AC Lakeside, but in 2018 the business will be sporting its new name in a new spot outside of the Coliseum Theatre on Lincoln Street. It will be open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays throughout the summer.

“We really appreciate the support Lakeside showed us in that first season, and looking forward we realized that we really needed the increased foot traffic that you can only find downtown,” Jackson said.

In anticipation of more customers, The Smoothie Truck is doubling its number of employees. Some six to eight kids will work at the truck this summer, Jackson said, and gain “basic job skills” such as “filling orders, interacting with customers, (and) taking care of yourself and planning ahead so you show up to work on time.”

The Sentinel caught up with some the new hires on their first day of training, and ran a few questions by the local kids as they filled out employment forms and made their first of what is sure to be many smoothies.

Juel Fowler, who will be a freshman at Sitka High in the fall, said she was hoping the job would teach her two main skills: “how to make a smoothie in a quick amount of time for my family and my friends” and “how to handle the stress of handling multiple people at once.”

She expressed optimism that this summer would serve as a springboard for further employment in the food industry. 

“I kind of want to do something with food, but, me being a little younger, I kind of want to start out small,” she explained.

Her coworker, Shawn Sullivan, 14, will also start at Sitka High this fall.

Sullivan said he learned about The Smoothie Truck through Jackson himself, and immediately thought it would be a productive way to spend his summer.

“Hey, I’m 14! I’m allowed to work,” he told himself when caught wind of the job. “This would be a great opportunity.”

While young employees start to build their skill sets at The Smoothie Truck this summer, the owner of another new truck in town will simply be adding another feather to her cap.

Chef Edith Johnson is a veteran food industry champ. She’s cooked for the professional sports teams, like the Seattle Seahawks during their Super Bowl win, gained a local following during her stint at the Sitka Hotel, and, in 2016, launched a catering business that won the Sitka Chamber of Commerce’s new business of the year award.

Now, she and her partner, Peter Furlong, have turned their attention to a new endeavor: Food Creep, a food cart serving up street tacos and other traditional Mexican dishes.

Johnson said she bought the cart three years ago, and since then the mobile business has made a few preliminary appearances at the Sitka Seafood Festival and the Baranof Brewing Island Company. This summer, however, will be Food Creep’s first full season; Furlong will be selling his Mexican delicacies in the alley beside the Cellar from the start of June until September.

Johnson said it would be challenging to identify the best place to start on the Food Creep menu, but ultimately landed on the blue corn tortilla fish tacos as her recommendation to new customers.

“All the tortillas are going to be made from scratch,” she said.

The accomplished chef said she was not surprised that food trucks and carts have taken off in Sitka, where locals often jump at the chance to sample new cuisine beyond the year-round selection of standbys.

“In general, especially during the winter, Sitkans only have a few options,” she said. “I think when summer comes, the locals, and the tourists, are just excited to try new cuisines.”

She believes so strongly in the model that she’s purchased the stalwart sausage truck from Knuth and Apathy. The sale, finalized earlier this week, transfers two hot dog carts to Johnson, with the summer season just weeks away. She said she plans to station one next to Food Creep,  with both businesses’ hours oriented around cruise ship schedules.

“We’re actually going to put it in the alley with the street tacos, and it’s going to be more of gourmet hot dogs,” she said.

Johnson plans to have different flavors and topping for the hot dogs, which will rotate on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.

The second sausage truck that she purchased from Knuth will be more “mobile,” Johnson said, traveling to community events and available for rent for birthdays, fundraisers, or festivals.

“I think Sitka deserves really good food,” Johnson said.

A third new food truck aims to present the staples of local cuisine, and the stories behind them, to tourists visiting town.

Captain Juju’s, the brainchild of Julie Stroemer, has only a few final permitting hurdles to clear before setting up shop on Cathedral Way, just off Lincoln Street.

Stroemer herself comes from a local fishing family: her husband is a troller, and all three of her sons started fishing in their early teens. She hopes to educate visitors to town about the industry and the story behind the fresh seafood presented on Captain Juju’s menu, eventually incorporating a weather-protected screen with an educational slide show into the cart’s design.

“We are hoping to sell seafood, especially salmon and halibut,” Stroemer said. “We want them to take away the knowledge of how the fish are caught.”

Stroemer explained the popularity of food trucks and carts in Sitka by pointing to the high price of commercial real estate in town, which might deter hopeful entrepreneurs.

“A building is so expensive,” she said. “It’s an opportunity for small businesses to start up where you don’t have to buy brick and mortar.”

She plans to open for the season in the first week of June, and remain open almost every day of the summer. She’s even considering keeping the seafood stand open year-round, she said, possibly with reduced hours.

 

“It’s awesome,” she said. “We’re so excited.”

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20 YEARS AGO

March 2004

Businesses using the Centennial Hall parking lot testified Tuesday against a proposal to charge them rent in addition to the $200 annual permit fee. City Administrator Hugh Bevan made the proposal in response to the Assembly’s direction to Centennial Hall manager Don Kluting to try to close the $340,000 gap between building revenues and operational costs.


50 YEARS AGO

March 1974

Alaska Native Brotherhood Grand President William S. Paul Sr. will be special guest and speaker at the local ANB, Alaska Native Sisterhood Founders Day program Monday at the ANB Hall.

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