The Grand Mere Inn in Stevensville is bringing in a new attraction. Co-owner Charley Racine tells us they’ve purchased a food truck. He had the idea of acquiring a truck just to shake things up and take advantage of the one day per week the Grand Mere isn’t open.
“We’re closed on Sundays, so one of our thoughts was to do Sunset and Food trucks on a Sunday and set the food truck up on the bluff at the restaurant,” Racine said. “We’ll look into expanding the liquor license out on the bluff, and then be able to serve beer and wine and then have the food truck up there serving food.”
Racine says food trucks are increasingly popular around the country and he wanted to give one a shot.
“I think it’s kind of a new twist and with all the breweries and wineries we have around, there’s more people kind of out, bopping around. And I think after COVID, people like to be outdoors more, and we just noticed that same thing, kind of a trend going where it’s getting to be more and more popular, food trucks are. So we decided to take it in that direction.”
With the restaurant now sufficiently staffed, Racine says he can take on the food truck project. The Grand Mere food truck is currently being finished for use. Racine bought it from a business in Indiana. He tells us he plans to take it live in June.
“We’ve got a few dates set up down at the Watermark, and then I’ve been getting a few phone calls on weddings and graduations and stuff like that. But this first summer, we’re probably going to try to take it a little slow and easy. It’s a new venture for us, so we’re just going to see where it moves us.”
Racine told us about some of the dishes you’ll be able to get at the truck when it launches.
“We’re going to shoot for kind of our staple menu items. We sell a lot of perch and ribs and swordfish. We’ll take a different twist to the food truck and do more seafood, offer more seafood options and stuff like that when we’re out…So it’s going to be perch, ribs, black and swordfish, chicken wings.”
Racine said they’ll also have specials, and another idea of one of his chefs is to offer duck tacos. Everything will be served in a basket with fries and cole slaw. There will be a soft launch of the food truck along the bluff at the Grand Mere before you see the truck out and about in the community. Expect that soft launch to be sometime in June.
