Warning: If you read this you may have to run out of the office to grab a pulled pork sandwich with slaw and homemade aioli or a chorizo and feta-stuffed burger from This Little Piggy and immediately devour it. Do not read if you are operating heavy equipment or if you are on deadline and it's almost lunchtime.
Coquitlam's first mobile food truck - launched as part of new a new program to place street food vendors throughout the city - has made its home in front of the David Lam campus at Douglas College.
And This Little Piggy, owned by James and Katie Coutu, is attracting a lot of attention.
It could be the cute, pink billboard announcing that they are open or the smells of Portuguese-Inspired cooking.
What ever the attraction, the Coutus are grateful for the interest as they launch the city's first mobile food truck under new rules to enhance mobile vending in the city.
"People really love good food," is James' explanation for the interest, since the truck set up shop on PInetree Way, with the full sanction of the city and Fraser Health.
The food truck is one of several the city hopes to see operating this year. Currently, applications from interested mobile food businesses are being accepted for 10 different locations.
While Vancouver has established a vibrant mobile food vendor culture and Port Moody has been experimenting with its own program and is seeking vendors for its Summer Sundays Concert Series at Rocky Point Park, Coquitlam is just now launching this venture after passing a bylaw last year.
But the Coutus think their relentless pursuit of establishing a mobile food truck in the city may be behind the initiative.
"It was way before it all started to take off," James said of his initial interest five years ago.
The two Coquitlam residents are avid watchers of the Food Network, especially Eat St., and while Katie knows mobile food vending from her work in the film industry, James has been operating a catering business for several years.
His mom, Alice, is from Portugal and many of the recipes are hers, with additions by James, such as crunchy warm bean sprout and carrot slaw on the shaved pork sandwich and burgers stuffed with feta and chorizo.
James said he purchased the GMC step van a few years ago and has been working to convert it for mobile food vending for some time.
Last year, the couple sold food at various local festivals, and plans to do so again, and is considering doing catering on the side.
The truck will also be camped outside of Douglas College from Tuesday to Friday, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. throughout the summer and into the fall, and, starting in June, will serve breakfast sandwiches, pulled pork sandwiches, burgers and chicken tacos outside the Coquitlam Station bus loop in the mornings and late afternoons.
