Philly food-truck wannabes go to college

FIVE chef-on-wheels wannabes stood in a Community College of Philadelphia driveway on 18th Street near Spring Garden, listening to Josh Kim, owner of SPOT Gourmet Burgers, Steaks & Pork, preach his food-cart gospel.

"I'm taking money from you and you're going to put something that I make in your mouth," Kim told them.

"This is the most intricate transaction you can do, other than . . . " he said, waiting for the laugh and getting it.

Kim was a recent guest lecturer in chef John Olsen's "Introduction to Food Truck Entrepreneurship" course at CCP, the first college program of its kind in Pennsylvania.

Olsen is a down-to-earth South Philly guy from 5th and Ritner who has loved cooking since spending his teen years helping the head chef at Riverfront Restaurant & Dinner Theatre, on Delaware Avenue.

After years as a country-club chef in Chester and Delaware counties, Olsen began teaching culinary arts at CCP and at the Art Institute of Philadelphia, and loved it.

"I came from a tough neighborhood in South Philly," Olsen said. "A chef took me under his wing and made a difference in my life, so I want to give back. I want my students to follow their passion."

Paulette Myrick of West Philadelphia, a CCP culinary-arts graduate who hopes to run a cookies-and-cheesecake truck, grew up amid the delicious smells of cakes, bread and biscuits in her grandfather's Davis Bakery, at 22nd and Diamond.

After raising nine children as a homemaker, Myrick said, "Running my own food truck will be an example I can give my kids that there's always a way to be self-sufficient. You should never give up."

Myrick had just started going to CCP in 2010 when her husband of 32 years died unexpectedly.

"He was only 57," Myrick said. "Before he died, he said, 'Don't stop going to school. Promise me.' So I kept going."

When Myrick told Kim what kind of truck she planned, he said, "Pastries is a tough, tough nut to crack. Why? Everybody's got to eat lunch, but not everybody's got to eat dessert."

Myrick smiled, knowing that Kim had never tasted her pastries.

Kim warned the students, "You think you can roll up the window and make money? Nothing is further from the truth! The average food-truck owner works 80-hour weeks."

Myrick smiled again. After raising nine children, she said, "I'm not a stranger to hard work."

Kim delivered another dose of truck tough love. "Don't get into the 'local organic' thing," he warned. "You're not Whole Foods. No one cares about 'local organic' on a truck. And what 'local organic' will you be selling in the fall? Gourds?"

Kim said food-truck colors have to be red, white, yellow or orange. "I won't paint a food truck gunmetal gray," he said. "People would say, 'What's he got in there? Tattoos?' "

Besides Myrick, Kim's listeners included Mike Bronico, a construction worker, and his girlfriend, Gianna Terico, a CCP culinary-arts graduate, both from South Philly, who kept their dream food truck a secret.

"I'm all Italian and she's half Italian," Bronico said, laughing, and left it at that.