Yum Yums for smash burgers
When it comes to the food truck on Laurier Street west of Bonavista Street, fries, burgers and poutine are a family business: drive up into the gravel parking lot at Yum Yums Chipwagon and you might see owner Shane Warner’s kids, Talia and Grayson, helping out during a busy weekend service.
The family element goes back a generation, according to Warner who has lived in Rockland for nearly a decade.
“I’ve always thought that I’d like to own a chip truck because of my grandma, Louise Whisselle,” Warner says. “It was her dream. She’s pretty happy to see it now.”
The dream became a reality when Warner left his job as a manager with an Ottawa-based food-service company, and that experience helped him with understanding the costs and logistics of his new venture.
Formerly Slap Shot Chipwagon, Yum Yums was introduced to world by Warner, who took over the business and opened under the new brand this past Good Friday.
He says he’s been busy ever since.
Although they are not always mobile, food trucks and chip wagons are popular go-to’s for burgers, fries and poutine – which, here in eastern Ontario, I’m learning to pronounce as “p’tin.”
The basic footprint of the food truck take-away shop is usually some empty space in which is parked a 18- or 20-foot step van converted by a small galley kitchen with its large silver aluminum exhaust system for the stoves poking out the top.
A service window is cut out of the side of the truck adjacent to a large menu board. The sliding door might be modified as a point-of-sale, and a shelf installed near the menu board on the truck’s side will be stocked with condiments, napkins and soft-drink selections.
There might also be a nice deck and canopy built for summer heat and inclement weather, and, if the property permits, you might find a few picnic tables to sit at.
There are frequently trucks scattered throughout towns and cities large and small. Several can be found in locations in Prescott and Russell, both urban and more rural, and often open only seasonally.
For instance, several blocks away on County Road 17 and Edwards Street, the popular Patate Express can be very busy. Don’t judge a book by its cover: the ramshackle place perhaps fits perfectly the description of a food hut located in what is essentially a parking lot.
A bit further afield in Clarence Creek, about ten minutes drive out of Rockland, Pelia Chips Plus, on Labonté Street, is a small venue sitting between two residences; it serves the basic fries, burgers, pogos and poutine with smoothies, flapjacks and crêpes denoting the “plus” of the menu selections.
For more, visit Andre Paquettes Editions.
