Nothing says “you’re in for a good time” quite like a food truck. The mobile kitchens are staples at every carnival, fair and festival, and are guaranteed to dish up variety anywhere they park.
Unbound by the confines of a brick-and-mortar location, these kings of the road can serve up what they want, when they want, where they want.
While the food truck scene in bigger cities like Boston and Burlington may be a little more established, the New Hampshire food truck craze is just beginning. This summer, the Granite State’s highways and byways have been bustling with food trucks going from one festival to the next, bringing their inspired creations along with them.
We’re not talking about trucks filled to the brim with fried dough and corn dogs (although those do hit the spot). We’re talking about food trucks that are owned and operated by chefs who craved their own venture but didn’t want to be held back by having a physical location. So rather than have you stop by their location, they decided to meet you at yours.
DeadProof Pizza
You’ll probably hear the DeadProof Pizza truck before you see it. With their music at top volume, DeadProof’s owners, Dante and Vinny Marino and Matt Berry, are serving up “good vibes and dope pies.”
It all started in Milford, where Dante was working as a graphic designer and had a client who wanted to make pizza. Dante cooked up the designs that would one day define DeadProof — they were punk, loud and vibrant.
“He (the client) didn’t love it at all,” Dante said. “But I fell in love with the concept.”
Matt Berry, who was a chef at Culture in Milford at the time, would sometimes make pizza crust out of the “dead” — over-proofed bread dough that couldn’t be baked for bread.
“I pocketed ‘DeadProof’ as a name for something,” Berry said.
“Matt and I brainstormed, and the idea came more to life when we were talking about what we wanted the vibe to be. We wanted it to be like, ‘Hey, we’re DeadProof and we’re here in this parking lot!’”
Dante put his skills as a graphic designer to work, so that DeadProof’s vibe and branding was established before their first pop-up. With T-shirts, stickers, a cohesive menu and matching truck, patrons at DeadProof’s first pop-up thought they had been around for years.
“I’ve never had so many people compliment the vibe and branding,” Dante said. “We made waves in the first year alone.”
DeadProof’s success lies within their boundary-breaking pizzas and their effort to collaborate with other restaurants right out of the gate.
“We got our hands dirty doing pop-ups,” Berry said. “I’ve been cooking in southern New Hampshire for 15 years, so I used my contacts to collab and spread out.”
“We went from low-key to super popular out of the gate,” Dante added. “We’re loud, obnoxious and listen to loud music. We created a space that we would want to be in and eat at.”
In an effort to keep people excited, DeadProof’s menu is as ever-changing as their location. They always offer a vegan pizza, but otherwise they’re marching to the beat of their pizza drum and letting their creativity shine on pie.
Most Popular Menu Item: Send Noods
Find them at deadproofpizza.com
Photo Courtesy/ Clyde Bullen
Clyde’s Cupcakes
Most food trucks act as a way for chefs and aspiring restaurateurs to start their business and generate interest before opening a brick-and-mortar location. For Clyde Bullen, owner of Clyde’s Cupcakes, the path to food-truck success hasn’t been as linear.
“Fifteen years ago, I had a bakery in Exeter,” Bullen said. “People loved my products and would ask if I could cater for events in the park and in Portsmouth. I opted to start the food truck to be a mobile billboard to drive business to the store.”
Business for Clyde’s soared after launching the iconic hot-pink pastry truck. As they went to more events, Clyde’s Cupcakes’ fan base (and demand) grew, and Bullen decided to add another food truck. During COVID-19, he opened his food truck by the Exeter bandstand, since he already had that license. Bullen made the decision to close his original Exeter storefront and go fully mobile.
“Last year alone, we went to over 300 festivals all over New England,” Bullen said. “We go to every festival and concert that we possibly can.”
A trained pastry chef, Bullen prides himself in the quality of his pastries.
Photo Courtesy/ Clyde Bullen
“You’re not getting crap from us,” he said. “Everything is high-end. We’re loved, and people love our sweets.”
Clyde’s Cupcakes isn’t just a cupcake truck — they do just about everything. They make cheesecakes, cupcakes, cake pops, ice cream and 20 styles of brownies (with a build-your-own-sundae option).
Between having a physical location or the trucks, Bullen prefers being mobile because you meet so many different people, and have customers from all over, he says. Plus, you get to see how tastes vary from town to town.
“You go to one town, and everyone wants unique flavors like a bacon cupcake. You go to another town and that just won’t fly.
It’s amazing to see,” Bullen said.
Next January, Clyde’s Cupcakes will have a full-circle moment with the opening of a brick-and-mortar dessert and wine bar in Manchester. There, Bullen plans to pair regular wines with his dessert menu, and give patrons a place to sit down and unwind.
“It’s another avenue to chill out and enjoy some time, instead of just eating and running,” Bullen said. “We’re always trying to do something different. My son went to Italy for two weeks to learn about wine, and we’re going to have a lot of exclusive wines. We’re really hoping people will like the pairings.”
Most Popular Menu Item: The Almond Joy Brownie and the Chocolate Overdose Cupcake.
Find them in Exeter and at clydescupcakes.com
Teenie Wienies
During the pandemic, everyone developed a hobby. Most people started DIY projects around the house or started gardening, but experienced butcher and co-owner of Teenie Wienies, Riley O’Loughlin, did something a little different.
“I’ve been butchering since I was 18, so I’ve been doing it for 14 years now,” O’Loughlin said. “I’d always noticed that no one really makes their own sausage from scratch, so I started making sausage as a pandemic hobby.” After buying a meat grinder, O’Loughlin started experimenting with sausage-making and quickly realized that handmade sausage was “the best thing ever.”
O’Loughlin only uses pork shoulder in his sausages, and he makes the spice blends for the sausages from scratch.
It wasn’t long after that O’Loughlin set up shop at the 3-foot butcher’s counter inside Georgia’s Northside in Concord. The barbecue joint’s owner, Chef Alan Natkiel, was looking for different foods and wanted to build up the food community in Concord. O’Loughlin was looking for a place to make and sell his homemade sausages. So in the summer of 2022, they linked up (pun intended).
“We — my girlfriend, Molly, and I — had different sausages weekly and had a good little following there,” O’Loughlin said. “We unintentionally fell into catering. The local skatepark was hosting an event, and they were looking for food vendors. We were able to grill sausages and make them into sandwiches, and everyone was super receptive! That’s when we thought, ‘Why don’t we start a food truck?’ ”
After four months of repairing a food truck and dozens of phone calls to friends who know how to build, Teenie Wienies was ready to hit the road in October 2023.
In the 10 months since opening, O’Loughlin said, “It’s been terrific. Back in February, we were named one of the Hippo’s Top Five Food Trucks, after only four months of service. We must be doing something right!”
“I’ve always been very passionate about butchery,” O’Loughlin said. “I’ve always tried to learn how to do new things and be the best butcher I could be. I didn’t expect a food truck, but you’ve got to pivot. The goal is to turn Teenie Wienies into a brick-and-mortar hybrid butcher shop where you can sit down and grab a bite to eat.”
O’Loughlin doesn’t take himself or his business too seriously. Apart from hearing customers chuckle under their breath at the truck’s name, his favorite thing, so far, has been the feedback.
“There’s nothing better than being told what you’re doing is awesome,” O’Loughlin said. “The actual process of sausage-making is also a favorite. It’s my moment to be alone, and it’s a very calming and creative outlet. The sausage is my canvas, and the spices are my paint. The possibilities are endless.”
Most Popular Menu Item: The Chinese Dumpling
Find them at facebook.com/TeenieWienies
Kimberly’s Gluten Free Kitchen
Tired of the “career thing,” Kimberly Harvey was looking for a change of pace and ready to be her own boss. With 20 years of experience cooking gluten-free foods at home for her gluten-intolerant husband, she toyed with the idea of opening a gluten-free prepared and frozen foods market in her hometown of North Conway.
Photo Courtesy/ Kimberly’s Gluten Free Kitchen
“I wanted to work less, not more,” Harvey said. “Having a brick-and-mortar location kind of owns you, and it wasn’t the lifestyle I wanted. I went to a music festival and saw the food trucks and thought that would be perfect.”
Kimberly’s Gluten Free Kitchen was born in 2018, and business has been booming ever since. The Gluten Free Kitchen dishes up tater tots and tacos, all made from scratch. With no professional culinary schooling, Harvey does not call herself a chef because she feels that it’s an earned title.
“Our food is widely known and loved,” Harvey said. “I’ve always been a stickler when it comes to the quality of our food. We do everything from scratch, and being gluten-free, it’s important. The quality of the food is also better when you make it from scratch.”
At fairs and festivals, Kimberly’s Gluten Free Kitchen is like finding water in the desert to people who can’t eat gluten.
“When I’m in North Conway, I do farmers markets and events, and I get repeat customers all the time,” Harvey said. “When we do festivals, especially at beer venues, people are ecstatic to see us because no one would think there would be a gluten-free option. At food truck festivals, they do a good job promoting who will be there, and then people will go because they know they can eat at one of the food trucks.”
Harvey and her team are having a lot of fun working on the truck and at all the events they go to. When asked if she would consider opening a brick-and-mortar location, Harvey gave a resounding “hell no!”
“I’m 52, and could easily consider myself semi-retired. It’s so flexible and fun, and I want to keep it that way.”
Most Popular Menu Item: The Chicken Taco, The Veggie Taco and the Poutine Tater Tots
Find them at kimberlysglutenfreekitchen.net