New Centre County food truck brings farm-to-table concept on the road with rotating menus

Gourmet Griddle Company is taking farm-to-table on the road, ditching the standard brick-and-mortar restaurant format and bringing fresh, seasonal, local eats to Centre County customers via a food truck.

The idea for the food truck arose when Brandtly Ward and his mother Debra Nesbitt traveled to Oregon to visit family and the two noticed the number of food trucks in the region.

“We joked back and forth about starting one up. When we came back, we found a truck and we said, ‘Let’s do this,’” Ward said. The two began outfitting their truck for food service last July and started serving customers in April.

Ward was well prepared for the endeavor, having ample experience in the culinary arts at the Central Pennsylvania Institute of Science and Technology in high school and also spending time in culinary at the Pennsylvania College of Technology.

“I grew up catering in State College ... and I’ve spent time in restaurants in our area, as well as in Upstate New York,” he said.

From the beginning, Ward knew he wanted to apply the farm-to-table restaurant concept to a food truck, working with as many local vendors as possible and sourcing as many products as possible from the region or Pennsylvania — while also making farm-to-table food affordable for the average person. Gourmet Griddle Company offers rotating menus, with items including upscale burgers, grilled sandwiches and more.

“We have an open-faced caprese sandwich and a turkey avocado melt,” Ward said. “Our BCB Burger has, by far, been our bestseller. It has bacon jam, a three-cheese blend and barbecue sauce.”

The BCB Burger — which is so popular that it has sold out at past events — is one of Ward’s personal favorites, but he also likes the Grilled Stickies that the truck serves along with a series of sauces, like a whiskey caramel sauce. Another need-to-try menu item is The Bentley, the turkey, bacon and avocado sandwich named for its creator, Ward’s 10-year-old son.

“If people get the chance (to try it), they’ll fall in love with it,” Ward said.

The food truck has also released breakfast menus at some of its appearances, offering tantalizing options like The Peanut, a grilled peanut butter and jelly sandwich on cinnamon brioche bread, drizzled with either whiskey caramel sauce (the same used for the Grilled Stickies) or crème anglaise.

Ward said response to the new addition to the Happy Valley food truck scene has “been great” — and seeing those happy customers has been one of Ward’s favorite parts of running the business thus far.

“(At) our first gig, seeing the line of people outside for the first time — it was pretty emotional. It was pretty cool,” he said.

So far, Gourmet Griddle Company has made appearances at a handful of local breweries and wineries, such as at the new Boal City Brewing Co. and University Wine Company, with plans to continue serving the same throughout the season. Ward also has eventual hopes to appear at area festivals and fairs, if the endeavor proves successful enough for him and Nesbitt to focus on the business full time.

“Going full time is our first step,” Ward said, “but I would love to open a brick-and-mortar, but instead of a restaurant, a bakery. Then, eventually, we could expand to more trucks and then have the bakery as our storefront … We deal a lot with sandwiches and breads and I’d love to see another bakery come to the area.”

To stay updated on Gourmet Griddle Company’s upcoming schedule, as well as find the food truck’s current menu, follow the business on Facebook.