Pioneering the Kamloop’s food truck industry wasn’t something that Natalie Basil, TRU Alumna ‘06 and partner Mikey Wheeler-Johnson had ever envisioned for themselves; but, with a desire to move closer to the family farm, Eats Amore was born…via a dream.
“We were both working for the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo in Fort McMurray, and we were looking for a change. A province wide search for City jobs in B.C. came up with nothing, but we knew we wanted to be near Kamloops to help my parents with their certified organic farm, SSOL Gardens. Then the idea came to Mikey in a dream. Mikey explained his dream to me, where we had started a food truck that was based around the family farm, and would be seasonally based,” said Basil.
The decision to quit their six-figure jobs and move to Kamloops was made then and there.
Owners Natalie and Mikey take a photo break during opening day 2015
Basil, who holds a double major in economics and political science from TRU and Wheeler-Johnson, who has a chemical engineering background said their post-secondary educations have helped play a role in their business success.
“The economics background really comes into play on the business end of things, understanding supply and demand etc. While Mikey’s background helped during the building process, understanding project management, process design and even physics principals came into play,” said Basil.
Neither Basil nor Wheeler-Johnson have a culinary background but Basil’s grandmother was born in the heart of Naples, Italy (the birth place of pizza) passing down years of traditional Napolitano recipe’s to her grandchildren. With an organic family farm to source the finest local ingredients, it’s a perfect harmony.
Although support from the Kamloops community has been great, it hasn’t been a cake walk for the couple.
“It’s relatively new here (Kamloops) so the city has been overly cautious in making any decisions that allow us to do what we do more effectively. Starting a truck in most other cities is usually easier but doing it at home, in Kamloops, we are somewhat of pioneers,” said Basil.
Open Day 2015 for Eats Amore – 300 Block of Victoria Street
With the City of Kamloops posing strict rules and regulations around the industry, it’s made it difficult for emerging mobile food companies to be successful.
“In over 2 years, there has been little to no advancement on this issue. All we want to do is help people eat good food that was sourced as locally as possible,” said Wheeler-Johnson.
However, community members have rallied to ease restrictions on bylaws and rules for street food vendors in Kamloops, you can learn more here.
When asked what success looks like for them?
“Success to us is many things. Finishing an event and exceeding people’s expectations, balancing work and home life, working hard but being able to take time off to travel and see the world and enjoy ourselves, while still contributing to the community.,” said Basil.
“Success to me has no definitive picture. It’s more of a constant-work-in-progress, and is unique to everyone. There will always be something that you could have done better, or something you could have done differently, but there are also milestones along the way that need to be celebrated. When you look back on whatever it is, as a whole, all that matters is whether or not you are happy,” said Wheeler-Johnson.
If you’d like to try their organic hand-made Italian cuisine, look for them in one of their three regular locations. Wednesday on the 300 block of Victoria Street (beside the Kami Inn), Thursday at the Best Western Hotel on Columbia Street (near the top of the hill) and Fridays in Riverside Park (at the bottom of 3rd Ave). They will be doing a noon hour “Yoga & Lunch in the Park” program in conjunction with BK Yoga and the City of Kamloops. Check their social media pages for announcements.
