Mother-daughter duo’s travelling tea trailer continues to deliver tea and comfort during COVID-19
Autumn is the season of change. Leaves begin to change to brilliant, bright and beautiful colours and the warmer temperatures give way to cooler, wintery weather. This is also the season of good company. It is the time to sit down with a friend, share a pot of tea and enjoy good conversation. While gatherings may look different this year, taking place often over Zoom rather than in person, businesses like the mother-daughter-run Tea Amo are still finding ways to bring people together.
As part of a big Irish family, tea has always played an important role in Marian Peter’s life. This love of tea is something she passed down to her daughter, Heather Peter. In 2013, Heather purchased a vintage trailer with the intention of setting up a tea service. When Marian retired from her job as an English as a Second Langue teacher, the mother-daughter duo went into business together, selling tea out of the trailer at parks and private events.
“Having tea with people [is] a lot about [the] memories that you have around tea and making new memories. I think a lot of people have that nostalgia [towards tea] and they already love the memories around afternoon tea, so they want to bring that back,” said Heather.
“Having tea with people [is] a lot about [the] memories that you have around tea and making new memories. I think a lot of people have that nostalgia [towards tea] and they already love the memories around afternoon tea, so they want to bring that back,” said Heather.
Many of the loose leaf teas that they offer are made in-house. As their business continues to grow, the duo hopes to blend more of their teas themselves to create new flavours. Those not made in-house are sampled and then carefully selected from importers. All of their blends are free of artificial flavours, preservatives and added sweeteners.
Tea Amo sells their teas and a number of thoughtfully selected tea-related products on their website. These include traditional products such as teacups and teapots, as well as novelty items, such as perfume oil and teapot-shaped earrings. The latter they opted to include because they felt these items would make nice gifts for tea lovers. Many of these products are locally made.
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However, the pandemic has forced them to pivot their approach. Many of the events they would have attended are now on hold and they can no longer bring the trailer around to parks as they had previously done.
In conjunction with their online store, the duo is now offering afternoon tea boxes. Each afternoon tea box includes finger sandwiches, cookies, fruits and vegetables and two bags of loose leaf tea. These boxes are created in-house and delivered weekly in the trailer.
Especially during this time when many are having socially distant gatherings, the afternoon tea boxes are fitting because everyone can have their own box. As there is no need to share food, individuals are still able to gather safely. For those connecting via Zoom or other video platforms, the tea boxes are also convenient in that they can be ordered individually and then enjoyed together during the call.
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“[W]e're bringing happy to people. So many people have sent this afternoon [tea] box to a friend that's been depressed or a mother that’s sick . . . Or just to themselves with a couple of friends, distancing. So it was just a perfect idea for this time to do the afternoon tea box. So, we're doing quite well with that and enjoying it. It's like a feel-good kind of service for sure,” said Marian.
"So many people have sent this afternoon [tea] box to a friend that's been depressed or a mother that’s sick . . . Or just to themselves with a couple of friends, distancing."
In these trying times, Tea Amo continues to spread the warmth and comfort customary of tea. They are also bringing people together, reminding them of better times as well as providing them with the opportunity to create bright, happy memories that they will look back on fondly for years to come.
On Dec. 8, 2018 Jamaican Patty Shack food truck owners, Michael Thompson and Wendy Wright, introduced a piece of the island to the Hamilton Farmers’ Market. Driven by the positive responses to their twists on classic beef patties, the couple decided to set up shop in a permanent location.
Thompson and Wright started the Jamaican Patty Shack food truck in July 2018 at the Because Beer Craft Beer Festival. The idea had been in their heads for a long time after the Jamaican couple had noticed a lack of availability of patties in the Hamilton area.
Since establishing the food truck, the couple has garnered public recognition that has drawn individuals from far and wide to taste their patties. They recently had a woman from Toronto come to the Hamilton Farmers’ Market simply to have their patties. When they visited Toronto for the Mac & Cheese Festival and Buskerfest last year, they were also invited to Toronto city hall by mayor John Tory.
[spacer height="20px"]The two have been involved in both culinary arts and customer service for a while, having done catering previously. Thompson traces his interest in food service back to his teenage years, working as a manager in Dairy Queen and in a West Indian restaurant called Willie’s Jerk. Wright is a baker and previously worked in a food truck in Toronto. By putting their heads together, the two came up with the idea of a Jamaican patty food truck.
“It's for people on the go. It's fast. It's affordable. Our main aim… was to feed people on the go [for] ten dollars and under [so it’s] easy on the pocket,” said Thompson.
It’s not only the affordability of the patties that has contributed to its wide appeal but the customizability and variety that the Jamaican Patty Shack offers. This is not simply a spot for the traditional beef patty. Customers can top up their patty according to their own taste, adding ingredients such as cheese or jerk chicken or having their patty wrapped, stuffed, or grilled.
[spacer height="20px"]Both out-of-the-box thinkers, the couple is continuously experimenting at home with different flavours. The result is a number of unique twists, such the pattaco — a patty dressed up as a taco — or the reggae patty which is cut open and filled with jerk chicken coleslaw. With their innovations on a traditional recipe, the couple honours the history of the patty.
“Our main slogan is ‘Out of Many, One Patty’ and that's… because of the Jamaican coat of arms which is ‘Out of Many, One People’ and so a lot of different cultures is what comes together to make Jamaica… [T]he patty has evolved from different cultures,” said Thompson.
By setting up shop in the Farmers’ Market, the couple also honours the market tradition in Jamaica. Providing fresh and quality food is important to the duo so they utilize produce from local farmers in their patties.
[spacer height="20px"]Setting up in the market also places Jamaican Patty Shack in the city they love and live in. Since coming to the Farmers’ Market, the Stoney Creek residents have discovered something of a family among the friendly and supportive market crowd. Being able to have personable and meaningful interactions with the members of the community they interact with every day was key to them.
“We want customers to feel happy to come and excited about coming to our spot… We're trying to recreate that little piece of vacation that people have in their mind or in their memories so they come and we have a lit palm tree in the back, some reggae music playing and the service is always positive,” said Wright.
Looking to the future, Thompson and Wright hope to have pop-up shops on the outskirts of Hamilton. They are also looking into donating food to local food banks at the end of the day in order to give back to the community which has supported them as they have established their truck and taken root in the Hamilton Farmers’ Market.
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