Food Truck Fridays bring local flavor to Beech Hill Bar
Trending
ST. CLAIRSVILLE -- Beech Hill Bar recently launched its Food Truck Fridays in an effort to support other local Ohio Valley businesses.
Manager Megan Zimmerman said she came up with the idea after customers frequently asked why the bar doesn't serve food.
"Everyone kept asking about food. They’re always like, 'You don’t have food here,' so I was like alright let’s try to come up with something. And then I was like, 'Oh, food trucks! So we're seeing if this will actually work out."
The event started last Friday with Straight Out the Smoker and continues with Culinary Collisions on Friday.
Zimmerman said the idea has been working well and she is now booked up each Friday through the first Friday of November.
She added that the bar is looking to continue adding more food trucks beyond those Zimmerman has currently booked.
Zimmerman said that even though she is booked through November, if a food truck would want to vend at the bar before then, she would be in favor of adding a second food truck on days that are already booked.
"We have the option if we want to have a second truck here, so we can do more than one," Zimmerman said. "It’s just to make more interest and get more people to know that there’s food trucks here and that It’s not just corporations and big chain restaurants."
She added that the Food Truck Fridays are a vessel to keep money in the community instead of customers going to national chains.
"I hope it just brings awareness mainly to the fact that there’s a lot more small businesses than you think there are," Zimmerman said. "You've got to support local businesses in order to keep it local."
She added that the Food Truck Fridays will take place from noon until 8 p.m. or until they sell out.
The schedule includes:
• Sept. 4 -- Straight Out the Smoker.
• Sept. 11 -- Ideal Provisions and Nothing Bundt Cakes.
• Sept. 18 -- Big Back Activities.
The bar will host a special event Sept. 19 featuring Straight Out the Smoker and Pink Burd Boutique Trailer.
• Sept. 25 -- Straight Out the Smoker.
• Oct. 2 -- Culinary Collisions.
• Oct. 9 -- Straight Out the Smoker and Nothing Bundt Cakes.
• Oct. 16 -- Culinary Collisions.
• Oct. 23 -- Straight Out the Smoker.
The bar will host another special event Oct. 24 with the Naughty Lobstah.
• Oct. 30 -- Chaisson’s Kajun Services LLC and Dr. Sweets Food Truck.
• Nov. 6 -- Straight Out the Smoker.
Culinary Collisions owner Paul Dovenbarger said Friday marks the business' first time in St. Clairsville.
Culinary Collisions is based in Byesville and specializes in smoked items.
"We specialize in smoke-infused dishes, so basically, our smoked Philly is one of our most popular items. We smoke some chuck roll, and we get it to shred and fall apart, and then we make a Philly sandwich out of it," Dovenbarger said. "We have a couple of desserts, and everything has a smoked component in it. We have a cheesecake sandwich, and there is smoked cinnamon and powdered sugar on top of it. It’s different and delicious."
He added that he's been wanting to get into the St. Clairsville market and saw Zimmerman post in various Facebook groups about how the bar was looking to bring food trucks to the bar weekly.
"It’s nice for a couple businesses to come together. We pull up and we don’t sell any drinks because they’re selling all the drinks inside and then they don’t sell food, so we sell food," Dovenbarger said. "It's kind of you help me and I help you situation."
Beech Hill Bar is open seven days a week from noon until 2:30 a.m.