Rolling vendors find a home on the beach
by Jenny Peterson | Current Staff Writer
Frozen treats, cold brew coffee, vegan pastries, smash burgers, and more.
Folly beachgoers can get all this without stepping foot into a building, thanks to mobile food and beverage businesses that have been popping up in the city’s commercial corridor on privately-owned lots.
It turns out, there’s a steady market for beach goers who want a to-go treat.
There’s always a steady line at the Pineapple Hut, a truck on a highly visible lot on the corner of Center Street and 103 West Eerie, which offers six different products including Pineapple Whip in a cup, whip inside of a pineapple, or a paradise whip.
“We do anywhere from 3,100 products to 4,000 products at this location per week,” says owner Cody Brooks. During the summer, The Pineapple Hut is open seven days a week from 11 a.m. until 9 p.m.
Two breakfast-oriented food trucks have joined the mix this year: Millers All Day, a mobile truck offshoot of its very successful brick-and-mortar breakfast spots on James Island and downtown and Dead Low Coffee, a surfer-owned, community-inspired gathering space and mobile coffeeshop.
Co-owner Patrick Garlock said the idea for the mobile coffee truck came about after seeing something similar on a surf trip in Northern California.
“An Australian guy was running the concept and I said, ‘When I retire, I would love to do that—sell coffee out of a truck on the beach, so I wrote a half-effort business plan in a notebook,” Garlock said.
Following a career in the Coast Guard and with the City of Charleston Fire Department and as a paramedic, Garlock decided to go “all in” on the beach community coffee truck in 2022.
“I was (inspired by) the coffee shop hangout that everyone goes to when they get done surfing, they talk about surfing. It’s really a staple in the community. I was talking to somebody and they said, ‘If you’re really thinking about it, you should take a crack at it.’”
He connected with business partner Gavin McCutcheon and Gavin’s wife, Margaret, a baker, about adding vegan pastries. In addition to coffee, McCutcheon offers a spam sandwich wrapped in nori paper, a nod to their Hawaiian influence, from the truck.
“The whole process to open took about a year and a half and we just put our nose to the grindstone,” Garlock said. They use Springbok Coffee Roasters out of downtown on King Street for their beans.
Parkin’ it
While several mobile trucks park on a high visibility private lot along Center Street, Dead Low Coffee fronts East Ashley Avenue, next door to Taco Boy, who have been supportive of the venture, according to Garlock. Dead Low Coffee is open seven days a week, from 8 a.m. until noon.
“The local community is definitely the highlight of working out there,” Garlock said. “A third to one half of our business is locals. It’s kind of like being a daytime bartender. You know everything about your customers. You see them and you’re like, ‘How was vacation? How are the kids?’
The Pineapple Hut first opened in 2019 on the lot on Center Street.
Brooks said he simply reached out to the Black Magic Cafe owner at the time and asked if he would consider renting the space in his parking lot to operate, and he agreed.
Millers All Day food truck, a 26-foot long truck that was purchased from the West Coast, has been operating on the Center Street lot for just over a month.
Nathan Thurston, managing member of Millers All Day, said their foray into becoming a permanent rolling fixture on Folly Beach was spurred by a longtime customer and property owner requesting they come out to the beach on the Center Street and West Eerie lot.
“We were doing a lot of rotations with our truck through different neighborhoods and breweries,” said Thurston. “We had a loyal patron reach out to me directly to get the food truck there. We usually scout out locations, but in this particular scenario, he came to us and offered us the opportunity to come check out the space. The first day I looked at it, we shook hands on the spot and decided to give it a try.”
Millers All Day food truck is open seven days a week from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. serving a smashed avocado, egg and cheese sandwich; smash burger; fried chicken biscuit; yogurt parfait, cinnamon roll and home fries. It also sells a lot of cold brew coffee and has an espresso machine on board. Menu items will change based on the season.
“Our food truck chef, Norm, loves connecting with the guests. He’s got a local following that comes to see him,” Thurston said.
According to Folly Beach city staff, mobile food trucks must get a vendor license to operate and follow several rules, including only operating on lots “that have frontage on Center Street, East Ashley Avenue and East Arctic Avenue in the Downtown Commercial or Island Commercial Zoning Districts.”
The city allows for multiple businesses on one lot based on square footage as well as mandating that there needs to be provided restrooms, temporary or otherwise, on site.
Garlock said that he hopes the city embraces more mobile food truck opportunities simply from an environmental perspective.
“The environmental impact of having a food truck is next to nothing versus digging up the land, tearing down trees, putting in power lines for a new building,” he said.
Mobile food trucks are also a way for up-and-coming chefs and entrepreneurs to get their products to the public without the cost of purchasing or renting a brick-and-mortar building.
“If you’re working in a food truck, you’re passionate about what you’re doing because it’s your livelihood,” Garlock said. “Most of the time, the person handing you something out the window probably owns it.”
