Around 10am this morning, I happened upon this sandwich stand on de Maisonneuve, just west of Decarie. About three seconds after I took the picture, the gentleman in the white shirt dropped the metal flap and drove off looking just like any other pickup…
They seemed to be selling pre-packaged sandwiches and drinks, which I suppose would allow them to get around the touchy street food questions that Cedric raised last week.
Before I got a chance to learn whether this operation visits regularly or follows a particular route, the guy in the tuque was inviting me to a Reggae festival (believe it or not, that door on the 2nd storey of the building leads to a popular Reggae club).
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Il me semble que c’est assez commun comme système de vente de nourriture dans les zones industrielles, près des gros entrepôts, des chantiers, etc.
D’habitude, ils ont une grosse sélection de sandwichs aux oeufs.
Usually, those mobile canteens operate on private properties; chip wagons and hot-dog stands are on the street, so they need a permit for that.
I would venture to say that they cannot sell while on public properties…
(Those mobile canteens bring back warm memories… 40 years ago, I went to a private school whose «cafeteria» was such a mobile canteen that came in the school yard. When you were fortunate to not have to lug a lunch [that is, your mommy gave you some lunch money], you had the chance of eating that wonderful fast-food, which was always much tastier than the bland sandwiches packed in your lunch box. But the best part was when your juice jar [thermoses did not last] broke and your lunch was soaked, so the teacher made sure everyone in the class gave you a bit of their lunch, so you had a real, fantastic lunch)…
It’s a coffee truck — see http://www.coffeetrucks.ca/main.htm if you want to buy one or have one stop near you. “They are well suited for serving food to construction sites, warehouses, factories, outdoor festivals and events, or large industrial shops.” I don’t know if they are common in Montreal, but they were common in St. Catharines, Ontario when I was a kid, and I think I’ve seen one like this along St-Jacques in NDG.
I have oddly fond childhood memories of these trucks, too.
And Laurent’s right: lotsa egg salad on white!
Yeah, it’s a canteen. They tend to drive around industrial areas bringing food to the businesses there since there are no convenient restaurants nearby.
I’m guessing they hit up all of the garages on De Mais, I know there’s one that goes to Merson on St. Jacques and Cavendish.
I used to buy stuff from one when I worked on Cote-De-Liesse
wow Alanah n’est jamais sorti du plateau. C’est très très commun un peu partout dans le grand Montréal.
Ces gars là ont des horraires assez précis généralement et font pas mal toujours les mêmes circuits.
They were common in Windsor (ON) as well – would drive up to factories or worksites without onsite cafeteria facilities, and honk the horn, and everybody would come out. Always admired the plane-like packed-in design.
…until I was 22, I worked in a building on Gostick Place in the middle of nowhere North Vancouver but with an impressive view of downtown over Burrard Inlet, and the options for lunch were indeed egg salad sandwiches from a truck just like this one. Well, they also had roast beef or ham-and-cheese on white, equally tasteless. Luckily, there was a burger joint out of a van on the reservation next door which was extremely unhealthy but mmm mmm good.
In the US they’re an ubiquitious institution in the construction industry. They are somewhat affectionately called “roach coaches”. The food & coffee is uniformly dreadful & the prices extortionate.
It reminds me of when I was little and I would vistit my grandparents in Ontario. I would hear the familiar sound of the ice cream truck, only to be surprised that it was the tool sharpening truck. They got me everytime.
We called it ‘le camion de viadnge’. Where I worked a few years ago we had one that came by 3 times a day. You could get a $ loan, beer or a sandwich, donut or coffee. A mobile entrepreneur selling anything.
Back after the War similar, but more crude ‘Panel Trucks’ used to arrive at consruction sites blowing their strident horns and workers would descend like ants for sandwiches, smokes, drinks and candy bars.
The higher-tech version as shown, with the stainless cabinet behind the cab, was a product of the Sixties and usually had a 2 or more note horn that was unmistakeable.
In the Fifties teens used to deliver ice cream treats ‘Dixie Cup’??, from an ice-box-equipped three-wheel tricycle of the style still used at the time by small mom and pop corner grocery/epicerie stores.
The ice cream teen had to wear a white uniform with a billed cap on hot humid summer days. The Ice Cream trike had an array of silver tinkling bells on it’s horizontal handle bar that would attract kids like a car crash or a fire truck.
There were once knife-sharpening trucks, similar to milk and bread delivery trucks, that roamed around sharping knifes, hedge clippers etc. that had a small workshop behind the cab with crudish art work on the outside.
These entrepreneurs usually had a streetcar-like gong on the roof above the driver’s seat with a hammer on a rope and pulley that ‘rang’ it, going Clang-clunk-clang-clunk-clang-clunk in it’s very own street sound to advertise it’s coming.
When the City was going to shut off the water, men on foot were sent around with hand bells to announce the fact.
Streetcars had bells, a Big City sound. ( Toronto’s streetcars have electric bells like the Montreal PCC cars AND a auto horn. )
Fire trucks had sirens, red lights and a bell mounted on the fender, operated by a rope from inside the cab.
Tramways emergency wrecker trucks had sirens, red lights and a bell to clear their route to a trolley or bus emergency.
Trains, of course, had bells, too, but the new ones today are electronic, similar to the new elecronic crossing bells.
Another story of things that once were.
Actually, there are still knife-sharpening trucks in Montreal. When I worked at home, I would hear it go by a few times every year, and I saw one just the other day along the Lachine Canal in Saint-Henri.
Good to know the knife-sharpening trucks are still extant, amongst so many other things that are not.
The name of the ice cream brand offered by the teens with the trikes was ‘Pony Boy’.
Thank You!
ROTFL …
These trucks ALWAYS look like this. Nothing novel or undercover about it. Common to see on big job sites.
Maybe like, run such pictures by somebody before the headline etc.?