‘We do things differently’ – Burger van celebrates a year touring Suffolk

Published: 7:00 PM August 20, 2022 A smoked food van run by a husband and wife team is celebrating a year serving customers across Suffolk and Essex. Smoke Truck, which is based in Castle Hedingham, was launched by Riccardo and Irene Ferrari last August after they left their jobs working in plant hire in Stratford.

As the couple had a love of cooking, they decided to take the plunge and take a specialist Citroen food van on the road to markets and other events. Some of the their most popular foods include their burgers, macaroni and cheese and fries. Smoke Truck has stopped at events at Helmingham Hall and Hylands Park in Chelmsford, as well as pitching up in Ipswich, Bury St Edmunds and Colchester.

The Porky Scratcher is one of Smoke Truck’s most popular burgers – Credit: Smoke Truck

Mr Ferrari said: “It started with me and my wife leave our jobs working in plant hire. One of our best skills is cooking. “We have the truck and take it to all sorts of events, such as weddings and functions.

We also have some regular spots that we go down. “All of our food is smoked, with our chicken prepared over six hours. Our beef and pork can take as long as 16 hours.

“There are a lot of people doing barbecue food, but a lot of the time it might just be putting pulled pork in a roll with a bit of coleslaw.

Smoke Truck was launched in August 2021 – Credit: Smoke Truck “We do things a bit differently to other places – we take a lot of care in what we do. Mr Ferrari admitted he did not know if his business would see its first birthday, but is delighted with the progress it has made.

He added: “Our major highlight of running Smoke Truck is probably surviving the first year. But getting to all of these places in our first year has been amazing. “We are definitely not regretting it.

Covid was on its way out when we started, so it was just the right time.”