What began as a search for a place to park a food truck has grown into Fetch Food Park, a dog-friendly food truck park that opened in June 2019 and currently features a variety of global cuisines, desserts and a florist.
Meet the owner
Fetch Food Park came together after owner Paul Serraino expanded his Jersey Giant Pizza business and decided to launch a food trailer. Shortly after finding and purchasing a piece of property, food trailer Leyla's Kitchen approached him about joining the property.
Since then, the park has gradually expanded with more tenants. The Jersey Giant Pizza trailer later became Leyla's Pizzeria, and a former barbecue restaurant building on the property was remodeled and now houses The Cosmic Cup.
"They help each other out; it's a friendly environment between tenants," Serraino said. "I didn't want that property to become a gas station, because that's what it was slated for. That's why the previous owners were much happier to sell it to me, even for a little less money, than than to have it turned into a Texaco or a Valero."
What they offer
The food truck park currently has six vendors:
- The Cosmic Cup: the mystic-themed business offers tarot readings and a drink menu featuring "witch's wake up" coffee from Oaxaca, Mexico, "mystic leaves" tea, "forest spell" lemonades, "witch pop" Italian sodas and "frozen wishes" shaved ice.
- Grateful Custard: customers can buy buffalo milk ice cream swirled with a variety of drizzle flavors and toppings out of a Volkswagen van.
- Leyla's Kitchen: the food truck offers Lebanese dishes such as baba ghanouj, labneh, shawarma and rice plates, pita wraps, kabob skewers, and baklava.
- Leyla's Pizzeria: cuisine includes New York-style pizza, calzones, Italian-style sandwiches made on house baked puccia bread, New York-style cheesecake and more.
- Kate's Arte Flora: the florist offers custom-made floral arrangements and bouquets for a variety of occasions.
- Namaste: the food truck serves Indian street food such as naan, samosas, curries, tikka masala, mango lassi and gulab jamun.
Serraino said that Fetch's newest tenant, Bento & Blaze, is slated to open in August and will offer Japanese cuisine.
A section of the park also features a kid-friendly area with a movie screen for outdoor moving screenings and covered seating areas.
Staying local
For Serraino, the fun in operating a food truck park lies in its ability to act as an "entrepreneurial incubator" for local businesses.
"Seeing people come in with their ideas and then developing them, that's kind of my thing," Serraino said. "I like to start little businesses and test them out, and so it's nice to see people come in and work hard to build their American dream. ... You could start your own little business, with not a lot of money, and try to grow it into something like we've seen in Austin many times with small food trailers. They end up advancing into brick and mortars and growing them into large businesses."
