Use the words “food truck” in Cleveland and those in the know are likely to drop four super hot words: Dim and Den Sum. Up until a couple months ago, this was the one and only one food truck meeting epicurean-on-the-go requirements and ubiquitous Food Network designation. “I’m really excited to see other people with trucks pop up,” says Chris Hodgson, the catalyst behind Dim and Den Sum and pioneer to the new age of Foodtruckdom in Cleveland.
But with Dim and Den Sum on a winter sabbatical of sorts, as Hodgson focuses on a number of related projects to expand his brand – exclusivity with the Cleveland Clinic, a second and third truck (gourmet taco and ice cream-smoothie, respectively) and a restaurant that he hopes to have open by the fall – a new Cleveland food truck debuted in November with flair all its own. Enter Umami Moto, which loosely translates to “good taste, to-go” from Japanese root words. Think gourmet “Asian-fusion food on wheels” and you’re halfway there.
“Hello, Moto!”
Umami Moto is the brainchild of “business partners in a live together-work together relationship” Jae Stulock and Sandy Madachik. “We live in two different boxes: the house and our truck,” says Stulock. “We’re together all the time, which might be challenging for some, but we have a pretty strong affinity for each other and what we do. We manage to stay out of each other’s hair.”
Stulock and Madachik launched their “dream business” after seriously considering leaving Cleveland for a Colorado Rocky Mountain High – specifically the hippie-collegiate mecca known as Boulder.
A carpenter for a local construction firm, Stulock had concerns about economic ripple effects on his line of work. He and Madachik, a former IT firm office manager, “had the plan for Umami Moto in a folder for some time” and regularly toyed with the idea of opening a food truck during non-work hours.
Neither partner saw Umami Moto as a slam-dunk panacea or quick-fix to career bliss, but “with 14 years in the construction industry, the economy helped me make the decision,” says Stulock.
The Class of 2011
“It seemed like the right time for a move into culinary,” says Stulock. “I didn’t have any formal training, but through the years, I worked at pizza shops and in a bakery.
“I started working in a kitchen as an adult and thought, ‘Now this is something I can do.’ I jumped in with both feet.”
Credit the City of Cleveland with keeping two of its own off of the ski-lift into Dodge. “They’re great people," says Hodgson. "I’ve only seen them once on their second day out and my crew all bought from them. Young entrepreneurs who love food, the industry and other people? That’s really cool to see.”
Stulock and Madachik didn’t really consider Cleveland for their food truck in earnest until they heard about the new City of Cleveland’s new Cleveland Food Cart Pilot Program, which launched last month. In an effort to “provide the general public with more diverse culinary options, to promote small business growth, to increase the availability of healthy and local food choices,” the city began accepting Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for food trucks, carts and other mobile dining alternatives.
The program piqued the interests of Stulock and Madachik enough that within a week their proposal was complete and submitted to the program, currently overseen by one of the city’s neighborhood planners and food truck point-person Trevor Hunt.
Once their application was approved, Stulock and Madachik began their labyrinthine criss-crossing of Cleveland and its suburbs in their Los Angeles-purchased food truck.
“There were a whole series of permits involved, but the new program speaks to city planning –they select who’s going to be on the street,” explains Stulock, adding that new friends running the Caribbean/ Salvadorian food truck JiBARO World Eats are also a part of the 2011 “graduating class” of sorts. “We’re fortunate the city decided our ideas were good ones,” he says.
