GOSHEN—A Chester food truck has rolled into Goshen, or at least the business has.
At the beginning of February, 3 Mama’s and Mike quietly opened their doors at the old Goshen Gourmet location at 134 W. Main Street (the back door across from the police station, not the front).
The business was started in 2013 by the three mamas, Rita Heaney, Danielle Occhiogrosso, and Antonietta Siena, with the moral support of Rita’s husband, Mike Heaney.
Occhiogrosso and Siena had been working in the food business for 20 plus years when they decided it was time for something new.
“At that time, we all needed something that we wanted to do for ourselves, and the timing was perfect,” Rita said about starting the food truck. Rita is Occhiogrosso’s mother and Siena’s mother-in-law.
They bought a food truck and parked it in Chester at 35 Brookside Avenue, not far from where they live. They started with about a dozen menu items, adding in specials to spice things up.
“The specials started selling like crazy, but what do we take off? Everything sells,” Occhiogrosso said.
Their menu kept expanding and soon they were doing events with the food truck, and later catering out of a rented commissary, which is what led them to Goshen.
“We were basically looking at the time for some place we could cater out of,” said Rita.
Besides catering, the brick-and-mortar location offers takeout with family style and single-serving options. The menu has mostly Italian dishes like eggplant parmesan, chicken piccatta, and shrimp alfredo.
Siena makes her own salad dressing and Rita her own ravioli, something they hope to do more of in the future as they expand. Right now they are in the testing phase to see what the Goshen market likes.
“For the month of February on a Monday every week it [the menu] is going to be a little different,” Occhiogrosso told a customer who came in to get a menu.
They have been asking their customers for feedback, and so far they have been told that their portions are “huge” and their prices low.
“And thank god because we always worry that, you know, times are tough,” Occhiogrosso said.
They offer discounts to seniors, veterans, police—“people who protect us,” Rita said.
They are open 3:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Monday to Friday for dinner and 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Saturday for lunch and dinner. By March, they hope to offer lunch the other five days as well.
They are working on getting a sign on W. Main Street so that people know to find them in the back. When the address is put into Google Maps or a GPS, it takes you to the front, which is now Coldwell Banking. They also hope a sign will catch some of the foot traffic in the village.
“Hopefully we can catch the eye of people that are walking or driving past,” Rita said.
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