44 | APRIL 27 • 2023
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dresses, there’s even a bowl option, which
they eat with a fork. Still, many choose to
chance it. “You gotta hunch over, lean for-
ward and go for it,
” she says.
Herskovitz-Rosenbloom says she’s seen
food truck demand increase over the past
five years. “It’s much more common now
at bar and bat mitzvahs, a little more casual
events. I wouldn’t say too many black-tie
weddings that we cater are with a food
truck,
” she says. “That doesn’t mean it
doesn’t happen; it’s just
a bit more on the casual
side. When you’re bring-
ing a food truck to serve
food to your guests at a
wedding, I’
d usually take
the tone of a more casual
event.
”
Given pricing volatil-
ity and the nature of the
industry, she doesn’t book
more than six months
ahead. “I don’t want to
have to change pricing or anything on a
customer a year and a half after we made
the contract, so we recommend booking six
months or less in advance,
” she says.
DREAM MACHINE
Scott Moloney, who runs two “Dream
Machine” dessert trucks, has spent the last
12 years bringing desserts to bar and bat
mitzvahs, graduation parties, weddings
and food truck rallies. He’s also got a store,
his third, opening in
Grosse Pointe Woods
that will have a dedicat-
ed space for events.
For bar and bat mitzvahs, his most
popular offering is a scoop-on-site sundae
bar with three flavors of ice cream and the
option for 10. Bar and bat mitz-
vah guests of honor also have the
option to design their own ice
cream flavor. “It’s something that’s
different. Everyone wants to do
something that’s a little different
to make their bar or bat mitzvah
unique, and that’s a way they can do it,
” he
says. Some bar and bat mitzvah families
also choose to have custom pints as give-
aways, he adds.
Moloney, who traded in a career in bank-
ing to pursue his dream of opening an ice
cream store, says setup is no problem for his
trucks. “We don’t rely on
electricity. We use insulat-
ed buckets to hold the ice
cream — we’re very easy to
work with.
”
For weddings, some
hosts elect to serve “boozy
ice cream” including
white chocolate with a
Chambord raspberry
liqueur ribbon and shaved
chocolate, or peach bour-
bon in the summer. “We
almost always have a
request for salted caramel
for weddings,
” he says.
Some weddings his trucks travel to have
even come out of relationships that started
with first dates at his shops. “They come
back to tell us after they hired us that one
of the reasons they wanted us there is that
it’s where they had their first date.
”
LEFT: Chef Cari in her Southfield Chinese restaurant, Wok In, Cari Out.
ABOVE: Chef Cari in her “The Fish Bowl” food truck.
JOHN HARDWICK
JOHN HARDWICK
COURTESY SCOTT MOLONEY
Scott
Moloney
The bright purple Dream
Machine truck dispenses
custom flavors of ice cream.