Graduations, Birthdays and Family Reunions

Weddings and corporate events get all the attention, and they are not most of what a food truck actually does. Most of what we do around Coalmont and across Tennessee is smaller and less formal: a graduation in somebody’s yard, a fortieth birthday, a family reunion where three generations turned up and nobody wants to cook for fifty people.

Graduation parties

Two things about graduation parties make them perfect for wood fired pizza. Guests arrive over a long window because half of them are going to two other parties the same afternoon, and the age range runs from grandparents to teenagers.

Unlike precooked catered food, pizzas come out continuously rather than in a single push, so somebody who arrives ninety minutes in is not eating the remains of a buffet. And the age spread stops mattering, because pizza is one of the few things a fifteen-year-old and a seventy-five-year-old will both eat without complaining.

Graduation weekends in May and early June are among the busiest we have. If your date is set, contact us early.

Birthdays and anniversaries

A milestone birthday at home has a specific problem: the host wants to be at their own party. Anything that involves cooking, serving or clearing means they are not.

We arrive, cook, serve and take our waste with us, and the person whose party it is spends the evening at it. That is most of the reason people book us for a birthday rather than ordering delivery.

Family reunions

Reunions tend to happen where there is space rather than where there is a kitchen: a park pavilion, a family farm, the field behind somebody’s house. There is usually nowhere to cook and often nothing to plug into.

That is the situation a truck is built for. We bring the oven, the wood and our own power, so the site only has to be somewhere we can park and open an awning. The same thinking applies to venues with no kitchen.

If your reunion already has tables set out, ask us about family style. Whole pizzas go to each table and nobody stands in a line. At a gathering where the point is sitting down and catching up, that is worth more than it would be at a party where everybody is on their feet anyway.

The practical questions, answered once

Is there a minimum size? Around 50 guests. Below that the numbers stop working for a truck that has to be lit two hours before anybody eats.

Can you park at a house? Usually. We need somewhere reasonably level with room to open an awning and a route in a large vehicle can take. A residential street is often fine; a steep driveway or a narrow turn is the thing to check.

Do you need power or water? Neither. We are fully self-contained: a quiet inverter generator, our own fresh water and a gray water tank, and an oven that burns wood we bring with us. Nothing gets emptied at your house.

What about the food sitting around? At smaller events the pizzas are brought out immediately after cooking. For larger events we use a dry-heat warming cabinet rather than one with steam, so the crust does not go soggy and soft. We tested a hold of an hour and a half and the pizzas came out at about 95 percent of what they were straight from the oven, far longer than we would ever need to hold one at a party.

What if it rains? We cook inside the truck with an awning over the window. The thing to plan is where your guests stand, not whether we can cook.

What we serve

Twelve-inch Neapolitan-style pizzas from a wood-fired oven, plus salads, a meatball dish and a pasta salad. Build-your-own is available. The whole menu is here.

The dough takes 32 to 38 hours at minimum and usually closer to 48. That is why we need notice. The process is written out in full.

Asking

Send us the type of event, the date, the location with city and state, the start time and how long you need us, and your estimated guest count. We are based in Coalmont and cover Tennessee from Nashville to Chattanooga and Fayetteville across to Crossville.

Details are on the catering page.