When the national food truck trend rolled into Wilmington three years ago, lots of cooks stepped on the gas -- and then hit the brakes. One independent, however, kept rolling and recently gained a coveted late-night spot downtown.
Poor Piggy’s BBQ & Catering moves into the corner parking lot at Dock and Front streets each Friday and Saturday night starting Easter weekend, Poor Piggy’s owner Ed Coulbourn said.
“We’re glad to be down there,” Coulbourn said of the established food truck spot previously occupied by popular burger truck The Patty Wagon. That truck’s owner, James Smith, is flipping his operation into a brick-and-mortar restaurant, The Fork ’n’ Cork, set to open in April at 122 Market St.
From about 10:30 or 11 p.m. to 3 a.m., Coulbourn will serve pork barbecue sandwiches, brisket sandwiches, fried chicken tenders, fries, hushpuppies and soft drinks, as he did for Poor Piggy’s first night downtown on March 15.
“We’ll do it through the summer, and we’ll kind of see how it goes,” Coulbourn said.
Poor Piggy’s was among several trucks that launched operations in 2011. It and one other, Tacos El Nene, appear to be the area’s only remaining independent food trucks.
Many early trucks here folded, including The Cheesy Banker, Ms. Cheesy, Umami, Sweet Bliss, Webo’s and Bollywood.
Bollywood was part of Wilmington’s India Mahal restaurant. Although Bollywood no longer runs, some of the area’s most successful food trucks are tied to restaurants, including Flaming Amy’s Sacred Burrito Bus, Catch the Food Truck from Catch restaurant and P.T.’s Olde Fashioned Grille’s truck.
Like The Patty Wagon, the Mexican food truck La Bella Airosa’s owners developed a restaurant, but they were planning to continue running the food truck.
City regulations governing where and how food truck may operate make the businesses difficult to maintain, Coulbourn said. To be lucrative, trucks here acquire steady catering business plus walk-up traffic at regular stop-and-park locations, of which there are few, he said.
“All of the food trucks are gone that were ‘really’ food trucks,” Coulbourn said of independent operators like himself.
Poor Piggy’s shows up at festivals; public events; private, catered events; and locations around the city, Coulbourn said. The truck has become well-known, thanks in part to numerous awards for its food, including the first-place people’s choice award at the 2013 Inaugural Port City at Battleship Park in Wilmington.
Besides the downtown spot, find Poor Piggy’s Monday, Tuesday and Thursday near Fisher Student Center on the University of North Carolina Wilmington campus while school is in session, Coulbourn said, adding that other weekdays, Poor Piggy’s hits different area offices including Castle Branch and the New Hanover County Department of Social Services.
