Retired vehicle now pumps out pizza, beer
By Katie Warchut
Published in TheDay.com 10/10/2008
Mystic- When Christopher Owens saw the shiny red firetruck for sale in front of the Noank Fire House, the little kid in him took over.
”Oh, man, I gotta buy that firetruck,” he thought.
But the adult in him quickly butted in: “What will you do with it? Where will you put it?”
Owens' thoughts drifted to a flatbed truck he'd heard of that sells pizza in New Haven. So he envisioned an oven inside the firetruck that was beckoning to him and saw himself selling pizza from his Mystic restaurant, Pizzetta, out of the truck.
Noank fire officials, however, had a little trouble sharing Owens' vision.
”My first reaction was, 'How credible is this person?' “ said Frank Socha, the fire district chairman.
The Noank department normally sells its older trucks to small departments in places like Maine that can't afford to buy new vehicles, Socha said, but there had been little interest in the 25-year-old that was up for sale this summer.
But Socha soon discovered that Owens was quite serious about buying the truck. Officials' concerns that a pizza truck could “disparage the fire service” were allayed and Socha came around on Owens' plan.
Owens paid the district $18,000 and created “Company 77,” a mobile pizza catering company. He was going to leave the truck's fire pump in place until someone told him: “No way - you need to serve beer!”
Owens took out the pump and replaced it with a small refrigerator to hold half-kegs of beer. Beer now runs through insulated lines that once pumped water to the front of the truck and comes out of two taps. They can do the same for wine and fountain soda.
Owens took out the 800-gallon water tank and put a gas-fired stone oven on top of the truck. With the push of a button, a hydraulic ladder comes down and turns into a bar table on the side of the truck. There's a 50-pound propane tank and a 3,000-watt generator on each side of the truck, plus a water heater and sinks, all approved by the Ledge Light Health District. A boat cover can provide shelter for the caterers.
It was important to Owens to keep as much of the truck intact as possible. That meant installing a smaller water tank to power a water cannon for kids' appeal. On one side, kids can pretend to be real firefighters and push levers and buttons. They can also sit in the open jump seats and strap into retired air packs.
”Usually you're allowed to look but not touch,” Owens said. “Here, everything is accessible.”
Owens, who also restores lighthouses, did most of the work himself, with the help of a few friends. He hopes the idea could become a franchise, recreating the model elsewhere.
Owens hopes to do birthday parties, parades, wedding rehearsals, nonprofit events and more. Tonight, Noank residents will be able to see their transformed truck at an event at Carson's Store, and Sunday it will be in the Westerly/Pawcatuck Columbus Day Parade.
Though this firetruck is unique, other catering companies have gotten creative for their mobile businesses. Chefs in Chester and Deep River recently created Dinners at the Farm, which features locally grown produce cooked on the back of a vintage cherry-red 1955 Ford F-600 flatbed retrofitted into a portable mini-kitchen. And a New Haven catering company, Douglas Coffin Inc. Catering, uses an antique truck, which has sides that lift off to become tables and a chimney that attaches to the roof.
”I hope he's successful with it,” Socha said of Owens. “It's an interesting new life for an old piece of equipment.”