Mobile Marando's Cafe coffee truck rolls into Wooster
Marando's Cafe owner Carla Stoll, kneeling, with her family in front of her mobile coffee truck.
“I truly could not have done this without so many incredible people in my life,” she said. “Their support and guidance is the only reason this truck has become a reality.”
In November of last year, a new coffee truck rolled into town when Marando’s Cafe made a first public appearance at Window Wonderland. The truck is the culmination of the dream of owner Carla Stoll, a Wooster native. Marando’s Cafe is available for any and all events and occasions, and Stoll is looking for a regular parking spot.
Growing up, Stoll was greatly influenced by her Italian grandmother, whose maiden name was Marando. It wasn’t about coffee back then — it was about being open and welcoming to everyone and connecting with people.
“My grandmother was the most welcoming person I have ever known,” Stoll said. “She always knew how to make people feel at home. I admired how she treated everyone exactly the same. No matter who they were, she welcomed them with kindness and compassion.
“Not only did she pass along rich Italian traditions in our family household, she was also my role model. Her presence made me feel so loved and so warm. She really knew how to bring even the most different people together and make everyone feel included.”
In seeking out a life’s work that could allow Stoll to carry on and honor her grandmother’s philosophy and example, she fell in love with the coffee business. Stoll decided the way her grandmother welcomed and brought people together was exactly the feeling and experience she wanted to give to people through coffee.
Stoll graduated from Ohio State in spring 2020. Due to the pandemic, her plan to teach English in Spain was no longer viable, but she still wanted to do something outside Ohio. After a great seasonal summer job working at a whitewater rafting company in Colorado, she found herself working as a barista, something she’d always wanted to try. She spent two years learning the business of coffee.
“What’s intriguing,” Stoll said, “is at the end of the day, coffee is coffee, but the experience that is created around the cup of coffee is completely unique depending on where you go. It’s a true reflection of the area you’re in, the culture you’re surrounded by or the character of the small coffee shop you might have decided to randomly stop in one day. I love to see the different experiences that are curated around a cup of coffee.”
In her two years at the coffee shop in Colorado, Stoll realized how often and in how many different ways people come together to share a cup of java and do exactly what her grandmother loved so much — they connect.
“Think about it,” Stoll said. “If you’re home for the holidays and want to catch up with a friend, what do you ask them? ‘Hey, want to go grab a cup of coffee and catch up?’ Or say you have some big news to tell someone — ‘I’d love to share with you over a cup of coffee.’”
Marando’s Cafe began to come to life when Stoll found the perfect mini truck online. Why a truck and not a brick and mortar?
“I didn’t have the first clue about how to run my own business and figured starting and learning on a smaller scaled operation would be the best way to go,” she said. “Marando’s Cafe is a mini coffee truck.”
The entrepreneur knew she wanted the support and assistance of her family and hometown friends to bring her dream to life, so she moved back to Ohio and began the renovations to turn the truck into her cafe on wheels.
“I really learned a lot throughout the process of building out the truck,” Stoll said. “I learned to be patient, to trust the process and to only focus on the things that I could control.”
Marando’s Cafe serves a variety of drip coffee, espresso-based drinks and a few noncoffee items. Additionally, Marando’s Cafe offers a selection of two or three baked goods. Everything at Marando’s is locally sourced. Coffee beans come from Goldberry Roasting Company in Ashland, and baked goods are created by Wooster’s FM Bakery.
Eventually, the ultimate dream is for Marando’s Cafe to have a brick and mortar location along with the mini truck. For now Stoll said her plan is to have fun making coffee. “I believe the rest will come,” she said.
Find Marando’s Cafe online at www.marandoscafe.com/ and on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.
Marando’s Cafe can be emailed at cmstoll24@gmail.com, messaged on social media pages or through the “contact me” page on the Marando’s Cafe website.
“I truly could not have done this without so many incredible people in my life,” Stoll said. “Their support and guidance is the only reason this truck has become a reality.”
For the new business owner, coffee is ultimately about bringing people together.
“What I absolutely love most about coffee are the connections that are created around it. Grabbing a cup of coffee is more than just sipping on something to drink,” Stoll said. “It’s a gesture of connection. So many things can be solved, figured out, created over a cup of coffee.”