WEST FARGO — Here’s a recipe for food truck success.
Take one friendly go-getter who likes to try new adventures. Stir in a like-minded sibling, a patient and supportive husband, a converted waffle wagon and a bunch of specialty beverages with names like the Dirty Jackie and the Twisted Blahhh.
And what do you get? Twisted J’z Mobile Coffee, Ice Cream & Eats.
Now in its third year of operation, Twisted J’z has built a following with its popular iced caramel macchiatos, friendly owner Joy Staton and faithful rotation of school parking lots from Kindred to Deer Creek.
The initial plan for co-owners Staton and her sister, Janelle Peterson, had been to bring the trailer to just five or six big events every year.
But people really do love coffee and fancy drinks. So those six events each year have mushroomed into a brisk, five-day-a-week schedule during Twisted J’z busiest season. It also helped spark a successful brick-and-mortar of the same name, which is run by Peterson in the sisters’ hometown of Bowbells, N.D.
“It’s so fun,” says a grinning Staton, behind the counter of her trailer. “I don’t feel like it’s work.”
Chris Flynn / The Forum
On this morning, she’s parked outside Legacy Elementary, as the school’s PTO brings in the trailer as an end-of-school year show of appreciation for Legacy’s teachers.
The sight of the 20-foot white coffee wagon with the bold, black-and-aqua logos is a welcome one, as the neighborhood surrounding Legacy doesn’t have a coffee shop or eatery within easy walking distance.
“We just want to treat them, because there’s a lot of hard things they have to do,” says Alyssa Bonnet, the school’s nurse. She is also this year’s president of Legacy’s PTO, which treated every staff member in the school to one free drink.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
Many local schools keep Staton hopping toward the end of the school year. During Teacher Appreciation Week in early May, she was asked to bring the trailer to schools in Kindred as well as four elementary schools in Fargo.
Throughout the summer, she also plans to park in several school parking lots, with the hopes of drawing kids and parents from surrounding neighborhoods.
“The schools have been so amazing,” Staton says, with a big grin. “I literally could have had two trailers this spring. It’s been so fun.”
Staton admits she’s never shied away from new adventures. “My mom taught me to be independent,” she says.
That independence and self-sufficiency were necessary. Staton’s father died in a combine accident, leaving their mother to raise five daughters by herself. (All the girls had names which began with “J,” which inspired the “Twisted J’z” name.)
Staton was the youngest of the five. She grew up to marry husband, Chad, start a family and work for many years as a medical transcriptionist at MeritCare (now Sanford).
But then the Hickson, N.D., resident discovered metalsmithing and took a real shine to making jewelry. She also learned how to laser logos to customize marketing items.
“When I started doing jewelry, my husband pushed me off the cliff and said, ‘Now you have to do it full-time.’”
Under the business name Joy’z Jazz, she brought her wares to vendor shows. That’s what perked her interest in a mobile coffee operation.
During the shows, she noticed that if there was a coffee truck or stand, it was always the busiest place at the show.
That prompted her and Peterson to start discussing a coffee wagon. Chad, who doesn’t drink coffee, took more convincing, but eventually got onboard the coffee wagon. “I keep my husband’s wheels turning,” she says. “He has helped me so much. He always supports me.”
She and Peterson bought a used Wahoo Waffles wagon out of Thief River Falls, Minn., and transformed it with custom trailer wrap.
They also developed a menu, which required a lot of taste-testing. “I gained 12 pounds,” she says, laughing.
They built a lineup of coffee drinks, with memorable names like GG’s Dirty Chai, Shrek Matcha and the Twisted Blahhh (aka black coffee).
They also stirred smoothies, Red Bull Zingers and “dirty sodas” into the mix, like the Dirty Jackie, made of Dr. Pepper Zero, toasted marshmallow syrup and vanilla protein. (The latter is named for another sister, Jackie, who helps a lot during their busiest season.)
Chris Flynn / The Forum
And there’s a wide selection of refreshing Lotus drinks, which derive their energy boost from green coffee extract.
While they always offer healthy snacks like acai bowls, protein balls and the Snackitude (an “adult Lunchable”), Staton beefs up the menu at larger events with ice cream treats, her mother’s homemade caramel rolls, breakfast burritos, pulled pork or mac and cheese.
It’s hard work, but worth it
The idea of a food truck sounds pretty romantic, but it’s also plenty of work. Staton gets up at 4:30 a.m. to get everything ready so she can pull the trailer to her desired destination and flip open her concession window for business a couple of hours later.
After she’s sold her last coffee, she heads home, does dishes, cleans the trailer and stocks up for the next day.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
But even if it isn’t always easy, she enjoys it. She talks of two recent day-brighteners. One was an 8-year-old who ordered an eye-opening combo of iced caramel macchiato, a chocolate chip muffin and a smoothie. Afterward, he told her: “I’ve been waiting for you guys to come back, like ever since the last time you were here. If you had a digital review, I’d give you five stars.”
Another was a young woman who came by and gifted her with a plate of sourdough chocolate cookies and a book of devotionals titled “God is My Hiding Place.”
The woman explained the reason for her gifts: “You are always so happy and kind.” Staton, a person of faith herself, beams at the memory.
“That was definitely a God moment,” she says. “I think I’m actually getting more out of this than the customers do.”
Twisted J’z will appear regularly at various locations throughout Kindred, West Fargo and Fargo all summer. For a daily update on the trailer’s location, find
on Facebook.
