44 | APRIL 27 • 2023 continued from page 42 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.