Last August, Phil Woltz approached a bright yellow food truck on state Route 115 north of Ocean Shores. He wore a hat from his time in the Navy, letter of the USS Constellation written across the front.

As he got closer, he heard a voice shout from inside the old Fed-Ex delivery truck. “I know you! You were a cook, and you had an attitude!”

John Duncan poked his head out of the truck’s service window. It had been 40 years since the two had seen each other, long enough that the reunion didn’t jog Woltz’s memory.

Then Duncan pulled out his own USS Constellation hat. After a few minutes of conversation, they put the pieces together: the two Navy veterans had lived together on an old WWII cargo ship in the 1980s when it was docked in Bremerton. Woltz prepared the food for thousands of sailors, somewhere along the line getting the nickname “the cook with an attitude,” while Duncan maintained the boat.

What they didn’t know at the time was that nearly a year later, their food trucks would be neighbors on Chance A La Mer Avenue. The Woltzs’ cart, Aft Galley — a nod to the kitchen of a ship — serves hot dogs piled high with toppings, and the Duncans’ cart, Egg Roll Express, dishes up fresh fried foods.

They’re also helping each other brave a frontier as the first regular food trucks to set up shop — legally — in Ocean Shores.

The debate

Around the time the former sailors were meeting and bonding over their new endeavors, the city of Ocean Shores was debating whether or not to allow food trucks to enter the city limits.

Food trucks, or mobile vending units, require specific licenses to operate. Since Ocean Shores became a city in 1970, it never set up a city code allowing vendors to purchase those licenses, meaning vending inside the city was off limits, except for temporary food stands during public events.

As food truck popularity grew in the last decade, so did talk of allowing more permanent food trucks within the city. It was a topic of discussion on the city council for years. Proponents argued food trucks would ease wait times for food during peak tourist seasons, making visitors more likely to stay in town for longer. Others said food trucks could destabilize operations for brick-and-mortar businesses, who use extra revenue from the busy summer season to recoup losses from the slow winter season.

Last September, after a recommendation from the planning commission, the city council chose to allow the rolling restaurants. The city now allows food trucks to purchase a mobile vending unit business license for a $250 fee, a more affordable option than the $200 monthly fee that was originally proposed, and that drew pushback from prospective vendors.

Still, the ordinance differs from Aberdeen and Hoquiam, which don’t require specific licenses for permanent mobile units, but that they purchase a general business license.

Richard Wills, who served on the planning commission last summer and is now a member of the city council, said his plan is to use this first summer of operation to track how the ordinance works for food trucks, and for the rest of the city, and then tweak the rule if any changes need to be made.

Food trucks by the beach

Woltz is originally from New Jersey, and has brought his hot dog knowledge to the other shore. He cooks a New York-style “dirty dog,” soaked in a seasoned broth and then grilled. But he also brings classics from other regions: a Chicago dog, a cream-cheese covered Seattle dog and his special pulled-pork dog.

Woltz is used to cooking in the elements — he used to run his hot dog stand next to the shipyard in West Seattle, where he battled constant rain and sleet, but so far, Woltz said, the biggest challenge of running a food truck in Ocean Shores is the fierce wind. When he opened Memorial Day weekend in the strip mall parking lot next to his current home, salty gusts coming off the Pacific blew out the flames on his grill, and tore up his cart and tent.

The elements are harsh, but the location is prime, just a few blocks from the beach.

Woltz has been able to take refuge from the wind by moving his cart behind the former Fat Marty’s taco restaurant building on Chance A La Mer. The restaurant owners sold the property last year to Ron Lambert, who has since been assisting Woltz with renovations. Soon, Woltz will move his hot dog cart inside the building and expand his menu.

Lambert, who is also a manager at Bennett’s Fish Shack, said at a city council meeting last fall that while he wasn’t opposed to food trucks coming to Ocean Shores, he was concerned that they might draw business away from brick-and-mortars who rely on busy summer seasons to sustain their business year round.

He said he was also concerned food trucks would parachute in from out of town for the summer, desert the town in the winter and take away local dollars. However, he said, the current trucks, both of which are on his property, are tied, or will soon be tied, to brick-and-mortars in town.

Another challenge for Woltz — and for all food trucks — is the requirement of a commercial kitchen, or a commissary kitchen, where the food is stored and serviced. Food trucks in larger cities might use designated commissary kitchens for food prep, but those don’t exist in Ocean Shores.

That’s where his new buddy helped him out.

John and Nai Duncan also own Hot Mama’s Kitchen, a Thai restaurant that’s operated in Ocean Shores since last summer. There, Nai handrolls 300-400 egg rolls a night, packs them with cabbage, ground turkey, taro root and onions, and they are then sold at the truck the next day.

The Duncans allowed Woltz to use that kitchen as a commissary for hot dog prep. In turn, Woltz helped out serving customers on busy nights. And Duncan has pitched in with helping Woltz fix up the future hot dog restaurant.

“It’s like old school (in the) Navy, working together and getting the job done,” Duncan said.

Both he and Woltz commended the support they’ve received from the community.

“The people are very nice, very welcoming, very supportive,” said Elena Woltz. “We give them good professional, warm, welcoming customer service.”

Contact reporter Clayton Franke at 406-552-3917 and clayton.franke@thedailyworld.com.

*This story has been corrected to state that Richard Wills was a planning commission general member, rather than commission chair, during the city’s food truck discussion last summer.