Vegetarian and vegan food truck to open restaurant in Hamtramck

Michigan's winter weather poses certain challenges for food trucks—a dent in sales, namely. One local food truck, Nosh Pit, is doing something about it.

The vegetarian and vegan food truck is opening a brick-and-mortar location in the city of Hamtramck. The Nosh Pit will open on Yemans Street, across from Polish Village Cafe, in the latter half of February.

What's already started, however, is a series of ticketed events that allow co-owners and staff the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the new space and even the restaurant business itself, while offering its customers a sneak peek at the new brick-and-mortar location at the same time.

It's been a relatively fast ride for food truck co-owners Karen Kahn Schultz, Eric Schultz, and Stefan Kudek. Having started the food truck just a year and a half ago, the Nosh Pit trio have quickly built a loyal customer base and garnered a fair share of national recognition for their vegetarian and vegan soups, sandwiches, deserts, and more.

Karen got the idea for the Nosh Pit as she was feeling unfulfilled by her former career in waste management. Though she was in the sustainability sector of that industry, Karen was ready to change course.

"You hit 40 and you start to re-evaluate what you want to do in life," Karen says. "I wanted to do something that helped change the world. I wanted something that was hands-on."

In addition to serving a vegetarian- and vegan-only menu, the Nosh Pit limits waste as much as possible, and recycles and composts whatever they can. Karen's husband Eric says that the business composted three tons of materials last year.

One of the Nosh Pit's main goals is to demonstrate better practices for limiting waste, and recycling and composting materials, and to spread that knowledge to other businesses.

The ticketed soft opening events are open and available to the public, and more information can be found on the restaurant's website and Facebook page. Events feature a four-course dinner that includes soup, appetizer, main course, and dessert, as well as a free drink.

The Nosh Pit is located at 2995 Yemans St. in Hamtramck.

Got a development news story to share? Email MJ Galbraith here or send him a tweet @mikegalbraith.