The Filling Station: A Falmouth Native's Food Truck Dream Come To Life
Those who stopped by the Cape Cod Winery this summer might have spotted or even purchased food from The Filling Station, a new food truck that frequents the winery on Oxbow Road.
The Filling Station, owned and operated by five-star chef Andrew Swain, has had a busy summer between feeding the masses at events like Levitate Music Festival and catering private events, in addition to maintaining regular spots on the food truck circuit.
This being Mr. Swain’s first year in the food truck business after a career as an executive chef, the Johnson & Wales graduate is more than pleased with how things are going so far.
“It’s just a dream that I had,” he said. “I worked at a restaurant called the Rye Tavern for around nine years and when the pandemic came around, it gave me the idea of doing something on my own and the ability to do it. So I pursued that, and owning a food truck seemed more reasonable and fun than starting a restaurant that was in one spot.”
A Falmouth native who now lives in Plymouth, Mr. Swain relishes the ability to create his own hours and experiment with new menu items at his own discretion.
“I call it new American, sort of,” Mr. Swain said. “It’s whatever I come up with pretty much. Sometimes there’s Asian influence, sometimes it’s more traditional, sometimes there’s some French to it. It’s kind of whatever I can find at the farmers market or at the grocery store, and I just come up with a new and creative way of doing it.”
Some of The Filling Station’s most popular dishes are new takes on classic crowd-pleasing appetizers, like its truffle Parmesan tater tots, crispy Brussels sprouts topped with roasted sunflower seeds and goat cheese sauce or “frickles,” which are beer-battered fried pickles served with a sweet and spicy aioli drizzle.
Mr. Swain did not want to be limited in his culinary offerings, so he designed his truck to resemble the exact kind of kitchen one would find in a small restaurant. His kitchen on wheels is complete with an oven, a range, two fryolators, a flattop, a freezer, two coolers, hand sinks and a giant hooded ventilation system.
“I did it like that because I didn’t want to be just the taco truck or the crèpe truck, I wanted to be able to do a little bit of everything or anything that I wanted,” he said. “It’s a smaller food truck than most of them. I had it custom-made up in Maine. The guy who made it for me said he’s never had a truck that had so much stuff in such a small space.”
Mr. Swain has a lot of help in running his truck. In addition to his girlfriend, Lydia Talbot, who helps run the front-of-house operations, Mr. Swain has help from his father, stepmother, brothers and friends whenever they are able to volunteer. Mr. Swain and Ms. Talbot each have young daughters, 9 and 10 years old, who help run food from the kitchen to the customers when things get busy.
“It’s cute; people love it,” Ms. Talbot said. “It’s a family affair, big time.”
Mr. Swain also gets help in the kitchen from a friend, Ron Seymour. The pair worked together at Rye Tavern, and when Mr. Swain transitioned into the food truck business, Mr. Seymour followed.
“They work [together] really smoothly,” Ms. Talbot said. “They already have a rapport, they’re already on a rhythm and can kind of read each other’s minds. It’s a well-oiled machine in the truck.”
Through their individual connections to both the Falmouth and Plymouth communities, Mr. Swain and Ms. Talbot have forged relationships with other food truck owners and local businesses that are supportive and have helped The Filling Station gain popularity. A development called Redbrook in Plymouth has been a go-to spot for the truck but in a way that differs from locations like the Cape Cod Winery or their new circuit spot, Bad Martha Farmer’s Brewery.
“They’re two different types of things,” Mr. Swain said. “At the winery, you do a lot more appetizers, small plates, shared plates, stuff like that. Then you go to Redbrook, where everybody lives right there. I think there are 600 people that live there, and you do a lot more take-home entrées because people will go there instead of going home for dinner.”
The Filling Station is not Mr. Swain’s first venture into the entrepreneurial world of food and drink. He was also the founding member of Lazy Eight Vodka. It started with iced tea at a restaurant in Providence because he thought he could brew a better tea. He blended three loose-leaf teas together that the restaurant started to use because it was better than its tea. After a while, it turned into the idea of making it into a 12-ounce bottled alcoholic beverage. At about 6 percent alcohol by volume, it was similar to beverages like Mike’s Hard Lemonade. The drink, however, was not a financial success.
From there, they decided to remarket the brand as an all-natural tea-flavored vodka, and Lazy Eight was born. He continued for 10 years with Lazy Eight, which is only available in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, before transitioning into the food truck business.
While running The Filling Station, Mr. Swain has also been working full time as a chef at the Chapoquoit Grill in West Falmouth, which has been supportive of his food truck business. Chapoquoit Grill even signed on as his commissary kitchen; this is a rentable kitchen where food truck operators can prepare and store their food, a requirement for food trucks.
“They’re super nice and supportive there,” Mr. Swain said. “If I need time off to do something, they make sure that I can do it. Moving forward, next summer I’d like to only be there part time and take on more events with The Filling Station and hopefully transition that into a full-time thing.”
In considering the future of The Filling Station, Mr. Swain said he has been weighing the option of operating a fleet of food trucks against the option of opening a singular stationary restaurant.
“I’m thinking by the end of next summer, that’s going to be the big question,” he said. “I haven’t quite decided. I’m leaning toward the fleet of food trucks if I can find a good team. I don’t want to run my family ragged, but I think that’s the direction that we’re thinking.”