WOODSTOCK — The owner of Robinson Farm is seeking approval from the town’s Development Review Board at Tuesday’s meeting to operate a food truck on the West Woodstock Road property.
Green Mountain Gumbo, a food truck with a Cajun-style menu, is intended to help counter “the abysmal lack of places to eat in this area of Woodstock,” Heather Ingegneri, the farm’s director of operations, said on Friday.
Its hours of operation would be 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Friday through Monday.
Jared Bourgeois, the Louisiana-born chef behind Green Mountain Gumbo and Ingegneri’s husband, previously operated another Cajun-style food truck in Virginia. Now he’s moving up north to live on the farm with Ingegneri.
Green Mountain’s menu pulls from Bourgeois’ Southern roots while integrating veggies and maple syrup produced on the farm.
The $11 Corn Maque Choux, a traditional Cajun side dish, is made with corn and tomatoes grown on the farm, and the $15 Chicken and Waffles uses maple syrup from the sugarhouse.
Green Mountain also serves jambalaya and a couple kinds of gumbo, “Things we ate all the time growing up,” Bourgeois said.
In addition to operating on the farm, Green Mountain Gumbo would also offer catering for weddings on the farm and operate as a mobile truck throughout the Upper Valley, its website says.
The truck was recently open for business on the farm during Maple Weekend, a celebration of the sugaring season, which didn’t require approval from the town because it was a one-off event, Ingegneri said.
Robinson Farm is not the only business using a food truck to create an additional eating option in town. The White Cottage Snack Bar, a burger and sandwich joint in West Woodstock, operated a food truck on the perimeter of the Woodstock Green in the warmer months last year.
The truck will be open again this June, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Friday through Monday, a White Cottage employee said.
Green Mountain Gumbo is just one of the many operations at Robinson Farm.
Owned by Cristina Arumi, a partner at the global law firm Hogan Lovells, the farm includes a seven-bedroom inn, a sugarhouse, a farmstand, a guest house and over 100 acres of private trails.
In 2022, Arumi purchased the first of three land parcels that comprise the farm for $3.3 million, according to town property records.
It costs between $100 to $200 a night to stay at the inn, depending on the room. The price jumps to $500 a night during peak foliage season.
If the Development Review Board approves Green Mountain for use at Tuesday’s meeting, it would open for lunch beginning in mid-June through October, Ingegneri said.
Vehicular and pedestrian safety as well as impact on the surrounding area are some of the main criteria the board considers when granting food trucks approval for conditional use, Board Chairman Wade Treadway said on Friday.
The Tuesday meeting is slated for 6:30 p.m. at the Town Hall and on Zoom.
