CARIBOU — Jamie Smith runs a restaurant called “The Happy Belly” out of a food truck near the Aroostook Wellness parking lot on Birdseye Avenue.
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Aroostook Republican Photo/Chris Bouchard Happy Belly owner Jamie Smith stands outside of his food truck on Caribou’s Birdseye Ave. Although he got a late start on his summer business, he plans to be back next year thanks to popular demand. |
“I’ve always wanted to do something in the food business,” said Smith. “I worked in restaurants when I was younger and my family also used to have a summer business. I’d say the best part of doing this is getting the chance to meet with the public.”
When Smith brought up the idea of starting a food truck restaurant, some suggested he take it to Presque Isle instead of Caribou.
“Well I live in Caribou,” said Smith, “so why would I do it in Presque Isle? For me, this is a matter of offering people a different option. I’m only open for four days, because I figure people are only going out to eat so often. I also have other work that I need to do during the day.”
The Happy Belly has been open since late July, and will close on September 26th.
“It started out with my niece and I, but right now I do the cooking, I have one person at the window, and another person helping out. Right now we have been open for six weeks and there’s a lot more to think about as far as how to make the business run smoother and faster.
“None of the meat is frozen. I get it fresh and make it into patties in the morning. I used to offer a choice of red or brown hot dog, but realized it’s just one more thing to track. Plus, nine out of 10 people are gonna choose the red one anyway, so I decided to eliminate the brown ones,” he said.
The menu at The Happy Belly is straightforward, hot dogs are number one, burgers are number two, and Happy Belly combos are number three.
“I offer two burgers,” said Smith, “we have a smaller burger and a large one. We also offer a good salad. My big thing is ‘roadside fare with healthy options.’ Another thing we consider is that people might want to split a meal. So the Happy Belly combo lets a couple people order the hotdog and hamburger so they can split that up however they want. But then again, there are times when you just want to have it all, and it’s good for those situations too.”
The smaller burger is is roughly three ounces and the bigger burger is approximately five and a half ounces.
“Last night, I had a man, woman, and their daughter come here,” said Smith. “The man and woman had the big burger, and their daughter had the smaller one. The best thing so far has been meeting the people and also getting repeat people coming back. I have done no advertising whatsoever. It’s all been word of mouth.”
According to Smith, the The Happy Belly will likely open next summer.
“I’m thinking next Summer I might stay open late on Saturday nights. I may move around in the future, but people tend to like it right here. At first I thought ‘who’s gonna want to sit in the parking lot?’ but we’ve had great turnouts. I didn’t even put the sign up for the first week because I didn’t want to make a big deal out of the place and then have people come and risk a bad experience. So after the first week we put a sign up.
“It’s been a gradual process. I tell people it’s ‘simple because we are.’ I had some guy come up to me and say ‘Don’t get too big. Don’t start offering too many things.’ The more I hear this from people, the more I realize I should keep it simple.”
