Julianna Trunko, a part-time police officer who lives in Copley Township, already had one food truck — appropriately enough it’s a converted SWAT vehicle — and this year she’s added a second, a yellow school bus.
“Yeah, what was I thinking?” Trunko says, anticipating the inevitable question. After all, Trunko and her husband, Rawney, a deputy in the Summit County Sheriff’s Office, are raising three children ages 12 and under.
And, as if that’s not enough, Trunko also runs a small charitable effort, Cops 4 Kids with Autism. Her experiences with her own autistic child and on-the-job situations taught her the importance of police officers learning to relate to kids with autism.
Trunko’s new truck, a former school bus, is called Ye Olde School Treats-N-Eats, and its menu includes traditional goodies with a twist, including funnel cakes stuffed with various gooey treats (Oreos and cream filling is one option) and pizza cones (pizza fillings inside a crust shaped like an ice cream cone.)
Ye Olde School joins Trunko’s Southern Thangs Grub Truck, the old SWAT vehicle, which serves everything from deep-fried s’mores to po’ boy sliders to Gator Bites (yes, real alligator meat).
Trunko has one of the region’s larger food-truck enterprises. In addition to getting a big assist from her husband, she employs more than 20 seasonal workers.
Both trucks will be rolling to this Friday’s Food Truck Frenzy, which runs from 4 to 8 p.m. in the parking lot of the nonprofit Child Guidance & Family Solutions at North Forge and East Market streets in Akron.
The Frenzy will feature 13 trucks offering everything from lobster rolls to build-your-own burritos to wood-fired pizza; local rock band No Expectations will perform. Admission is free. It kicks off the third season of Food Truck Fridays, the weekly lunchtime rallies that begin May 20. Typically, about four to five trucks will be on hand for those, which run 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and benefit Child Guidance. (Go to the Food Truck Fridays Facebook page for updates.)
“Every year, more food trucks pop up on our radar,” said Judy Fowler of Child Guidance, echoing organizers of similar events.
Her take on the growth of the mobile food industry: “The trucks really are a chance to really build an entrepreneurial business, and they don’t have the overhead that a restaurant does.”
Plus, Fowler said, “the trucks can move to the customer, instead of waiting for the customer to come to them.”
More than 20 trucks have expressed interest in participating in the lunchtime Friday events, which run from May 20 through Sept. 2. Trucks give a percentage of sales to the agency, and Fowler said they also benefit from the awareness generated by Food Truck Fridays.
Trunko said she got the food-truck bug in the fall of 2013 and had Southern Thangs up and running in time for the 2014 season. “I’d always loved food and cooking and entertaining,” she said.
Some of her proceeds support Cops 4 Kids with Autism, which puts together holiday baskets for families in which at least one child is autistic.
Families sign up for the program and police officers deliver the baskets, making connections with the children. See its Facebook page for more details.
Copley and Tallmadge events
Need more signs that food truck season is here? Trunko’s school bus and Southern Thangs also will be serving at the Copley Food Truck Festival from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday at Copley High School at 3807 Ridgewood Road. A dozen trucks are signed up for this rally; 10 percent of the proceeds go to the school’s music programs.
And on May 22, area food truck fans will flock to Tallmadge, for what has become home to one of the largest single-day food truck gatherings in the region. More than 20 trucks have signed up for the 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. event that will set up in the Tallmadge Recreation Center parking lot at 46 N. Munroe Road, off East Avenue, east of Tallmadge Circle. This is the third year for the event, with music from the Swizzle Stick Band and activities for kids. (See the Tallmadge Food Truck Festival Facebook page for more information.)
Trucks also are setting up at wineries and office parks, among other venues.
Look for a gathering of trucks again this summer at the Taste of Akron at Hardesty Park, which this year will run from 6 to 10 p.m. July 21. (The Taste of Akron kicks off Akron Arts Expo weekend, also at the park.)
Square Scullery
Another new area truck, Square Scullery, won’t be at the Food Truck Frenzy kickoff. But look for it later at Food Truck Fridays.
Its name is a reference to Highland Square, the Akron neighborhood where owners Matt and Heather Ulichney live. While new on the Akron truck scene, Matt Ulichney, 29, has years of food experience. He’s a cook at Crave in downtown Akron; an earlier stint was with the StrEAT Mobile Bistro out of the Cleveland area.
“I learned I really like going to different places … I really like having to figure things out on the fly,” Ulichney said.
The Norton High School graduate is planning to make the Square Scullery his full-time gig, taking the truck to festivals and using it for catering. Heather Ulichney has a photography business and is a partner in the food-truck operation.
A scullery is a small kitchen, Ulichney noted. However, at 27 feet, his truck is longer than many.
The menu, he said, is “modern comfort food” that will change with the seasons. “We want to work with local farmers.”
Look for items that have been a hit at events Ulichney has catered, such as jalapeño grits with citrus-braised pork, pickled black-eyed peas and red cabbage; and amaretto-poached apples with warm bacon jam.
Katie Byard can be reached at 330-996-3781 or kbyard@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her @KatieByardABJ on Twitter or www.facebook.com/KatieByardABJ.