https://vimeo.com/20374685]
Bret Cavanaugh looks wiped out. Stepping out of his freshly painted lunch truck, Bret’s face shows sweat, fatigue and relief.
“Man, we got maybe four hours of sleep last night prepping things for today. We’re beat.”
Bret lets out a chuckle, sharing a weary, “It’s Miller Time” smile with his business partner, Dan Semko.
The duo just survived the highly anticipated debut of their brand new organic food truck endeavor, “Renaissance Sausage.” on the opening day of the Headhouse Farmers’ Market. To their surprise, demand at the truck’s counter was huge and a bit overwhelming. Bret and Dan expected the majority of their business earlier for breakfast. Instead, they got an early lunch rush that continued well after the farmers’ market closed for the afternoon. The duo ended up selling 200 of their organic, handmade sausages in about five hours. Not a bad tally for their first day.
Bret and Dan are longtime friends and natives of Lambertville, N.J. They first got their start in the mobile food business selling sandwiches and burritos out of their kitchen-converted 1974 Volkswagen bus in Charleston, S.C., where Dan attended college. Last year they decided to come full circle on a long, ongoing conversation, from which Philadelphia’s very first all local, organic food truck was born, “Renaissance Sausages.”
Bret first learned to make links after a receiving a sausage-making machine for Christmas in his early twenties. He got the hang of the process and began making small batches for friends, though he always wanted to do more with the newly acquired craft.
Bret says he has had an interest in building a business around locally grown and organically prepared foods for a long time. With Renaissance Foods, LLC, he and Dan have been able to incorporate fresh foods and agricultural sustainability with this own niche of handmade sausages.
“We thought the country is definitely becoming more aware of their food and where it comes from and that’s the main direction of where we’re going with local and organic food,” says Bret. “Our name, ‘Renaissance Sausage,’ comes from this whole notion of rebirthing or, you know, renewed interest in sustainability and eating local movement,” he explains.
According to Local Harvest, an online national registry for organic produce and livestock farms, there are over 671 organic farms in Pennsylvania. In Philadelphia alone, there are roughly 33 active farmers’ markets hosted within the city limits.
“We support local farmers in the Delaware Valley. All of our meats come from the Lancaster area. We’re trying to build relationships with some farmers to bring local products into the city,” says Bret.
Along with the produce and spices they use, all of the meat Bret and Dan use in their sausages are from local producers as well.
Their current roster of locally-produced natural food distributers include Albert’s Organics in Bridgeport, N.J., Jamison Farm in Latrobe, Pa., and the non-profit organic farmers’ cooperative, Lancaster Farm Fresh, also in Pennsylvania.
The sandwiches on the current menu are made in a variety of styles and include ingredients like all natural pork, free-range chicken, Lancaster beef and local lamb. They also feature vegetarian sausage–a homemade, meat-free frank made of local, organic vegetables, herbs, spices and vegetable proteins.
Although they are currently looking for a permanent location for lunch sales during the week, you can find “Renaissance Sausage” at the Headhouse Farmer’s Market every Sunday this summer. As Bret explains, the waiting list for a permit to serve on the University of Pennsylvania’s campus is extremely long. Though, he says reassuringly that once they determine where they can generate the most business from the weekday lunch crowd, devotees of the handmade sausage sandwiches will be able to track their locations through updates on its Web site.
The Headhouse Farmers’ Market, hosted by The Food Trust, features over 24 local produce and prepared food vendors every Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Second and Pine streets off of South Street.
organic farms could actually save us from carcinogens and toxins:~;
organic foods are the best for our health since they are free from dangerous chemicals and toxins ,:’
do you make sausages? Or is that just a name you use on the truck?