Owners offer details on Philly's food truck scene

Here is an excerpt from Craig LaBan's online blog:

C.L.: We did a mega-blow-out package in last Thursday's food section on the burgeoning new food truck scene in this town (http://www.philly.com/foodtrucks) - cooking serious food on four wheels from LOVE Park to Drexel and Temple. So I invited the cooks and entrepreneurs behind three of the best trucks I came across to discuss the phenomenon. "The grandpa" of the movement - 29-year-old Tom McCusker of Honest Tom's; the wood-fired, dough-tossing crew from Pitruco Pizza, Nathan Winkler-Rhoades, Jonah Fliegelman, and Eric Hilkowitz; and the duo behind the relatively new Yumtown truck on 13th Street on Temple's campus, Lanie Belmont and Andrew Tantisunthorn. Tell us where each of you are from originally, what kind of food your trucks focus on, and where you typically park.

Pitruco Pizza: We're all Philly natives (Germantown and Mt. Airy represented!). We do Neapolitan-inspired pizzas cooked on the truck in a wood-fired oven, and we divide our time between LOVE Park and Drexel's campus.

Honest Tom's: I'm originally from the Delaware County suburbs, moved to the city in 2000. We make tacos at Drexel University and Aviator Park. Also breakfast at the Clark Park farmer's market.

Yumtownusa: We both moved here after college a few years ago, and have been involved in one way or another in Philadelphia food businesses during that time. We serve sandwiches and soups made from local ingredients. Currently we're parked on Temple's campus at 13th and Norris.

 C.L.: What inspired you to start a food truck instead of opening a restaurant?

Honest Tom's: I was down in Austin, Texas, eating breakfast tacos and decided I wanted to start making them in Philadelphia. Storefronts were out of my budget so I decided on a truck. Met a guy who was selling a truck, took out a cash advance and hit the streets three months later.

Pitruco Pizza: We didn't have much restaurant experience, didn't have many funds for start-up, and thought a truck would be much more manageable in general. We wanted to be able to learn on the job without too much risk. Plus, we thought a pizza truck was a more original way to go ...

Yumtownusa: We'd patronized food trucks in N.Y. and Austin and San Francisco and thought small mobile businesses were providing a vital energy to the culture.

Reader: How has the health department reacted to you? Pressure is mounting in other cities to curb the trucks by brick-and-mortars.