No fair would be complete without food.
The steaming stromboli, vinegar-sodden fries and sugar-topped funnel cakes are the usual favorites. But the Scarlet, Gray and Green Fair turned the fair food notion on its head as it celebrated Earth Day on April 22.
The Get Stuffed Solar-Powered Mobile Eatery was one of the trucks on site to help sate the appetites of hungry Earth Day revelers. As the only solar powered truck at the event, it perfectly exemplified the reason for the celebration.
Owners Faith McNutt and Brian Hill have been working on their dream for years. When I was growing up in grade school I always wanted to be the lunch lady, McNutt said. I have worked in fast food, restaurants, even nursing home dietary management, and it was just never what I quite wanted it to be. As she worked her way through each of those jobs, she came to the conclusion that mobile food would be her niche. She added that Hill also owns Great Lakes Food Truck Builders in Rittman and has been working in the food service industry for 20 years selling restaurant equipment.
With McNutts dream and Hills knowledge, the pair were able to custom build their food cart, which runs cleanly on solar power.
McNutt said despite the challenge of converting the equipment to solar power, Hill flawlessly pulled off the change to a low-volt DC drive. Instead of the usual high-wattage electrical system, the solar power meets the electrical needs of the mobile kitchen for 26 hours using only four hours of collected sunlight. And surprisingly the battery is only slightly bigger than a car battery, Hill said.
Our biggest challenge going solar powered was probably during the design stage. The calculations and variables that we used to design and build were key to getting the end result just right, McNutt said. Now this may sound easy, but as of now Brian has been the only one that we can find that commercially has custom modified commercial restaurant grade equipment.
Despite difficulties during the design phase, Hill and McNutt havent had a single problem with power since the cart was built. (The system) runs flawlessly, McNutt said.
They also keep their cart running clean by using 100 percent biodegradable flatware and utensils.
Since the cart runs on solar power, one of the biggest customizations is the size. Get Stuffed is much smaller than a regular food truck. Brian wanted something totally different since we use it for a working sales model scaled to show our skills in the creative art of building mobile food vending vehicles, McNutt said. The cart itself is less than half the size of a normal truck.
A small cooking and stock space doesnt stop McNutt and Hill from having great food. Instead of buying in bulk, they build their menu off of local ingredients that can be bought fresh daily. Buying local means getting lots of varied food options, so as a result Get Stuffed keeps their menu simple. Food shouldnt be complicated, McNutt said. It should just look good, smell good and taste good. Anything added to the menu is due to happy accidents, according to McNutt.
Not only does buying fresh cut down on wasted space and supplies, it suits their unpredictable schedule. There is no normal, so it never gets boring, McNutt said.
