East Vandergrift couple keeps their food truck rolling, despite soaring food and fuel costs

A married couple with a passion for gourmet Asian fare are determined to keep their growing mobile food business afloat amid soaring gasoline prices and sky-high food costs.

East Vandergrift residents Mark and Jessica Lieu own Wok on Wheels, a family-owned and operated Vandergrift-based food truck serving up authentic Asian-inspired chicken.

They said their food costs are up by more than 47% this summer season.

On Thursday, while setting up for a four-day Summerfest Food Festival in Ford City Park, the couple discussed a few of the operational challenges amid the triumphs as they enter their fourth season owning Wok on Wheels.

“We were doing OK last summer, but now the food prices are ridiculous,” said Mark Lieu, a full-time police officer for Vandergrift and a member of the Vandergrift No. 2 Volunteer Fire Department.

Last summer, the Lieu’s paid $17 per 5-gallon container of cooking oil.

This year it’s $45 for the same amount of oil.

Chicken thighs, normally about $42 per case, are now $113 a case, Mark Lieu said.

Three pound bricks of cream cheese used in Mark’s egg rolls?

“Those are now $11 each,” he said. “This year we have reduced our event bookings by about half, and last year we were booked every weekend.”

Family-inspired Asian fare

Lieu was 8 years old and living in a tiny village near Hanoi, Vietnam, when his family relocated to Western Pennsylvania, choosing Murrysville as their new American neighborhood.

He grew up working alongside his father Nang Lieu, 82, in two family-owned Asian restaurants, where he honed his Asian cooking skills.

Mark and Jessica Lieu have three sons, Paige, 13; Hayden, 12; and Aaron, 9.

The family noticed a lack of Asian food truck options around the Alle-Kiski Valley mobile food scene.

“We would go with our friends that have a pizza trailer and never saw a Chinese food truck — so we decided to start one,” Jessica Lieu said.

In 2019, they shelled out $5,000 to purchase a 14- by 7-foot empty trailer from Hometown Trailer in Butler.

“We spent about $20,000 outfitting the trailer,” Mark Lieu said. “I didn’t really have the money to buy it and Hometown worked with us on payment options and a year later we paid it off.”

They described weathering poor pandemic business conditions as “rough.”

“We opened in 2019 and the pandemic has hindered the business some, but it seems to be picking back up,” Jessica Lieu said. “We managed to (survive) covid but many events were cancelled, people were afraid to come out to events and we had troubles getting supplies.”

The business employs two part-time employees, and Hayden works often alongside his parents in the small trailer.

“It’s the worst season right now because the food costs are ridiculous,” Mark Lieu said.

Lieu, 48, is head chef. He said he recalled scant Asian food offerings in the Murrysville area when he was a youngster.

“I remember running and playing. There wasn’t much Asian food around,” he said. “My dad did odd jobs but left his machinist job and opened Asian restaurants.”

Nang still helps Lieu in the food truck, specifically with egg roll preparation.

For Lieu, the dream of owning and cheffing from a mobile food truck has been rewarding, and he’s determined to weather current supply cost issues.

“It’s a great thing. I love eating,” he said. “I love trying new food, and I like incorporating Vietnamese flavors, like Lemongrass, into the menu.”

Menu items include crabmeat rangoons (a fried egg roll filled with cream cheese and crab meat), grilled teriyaki, General Tso’s chicken, fried rice, lo mein, egg rolls, chicken-on-a-stick and more than six flavors of bubble tea.

Bubble tea is a cold milk-based tea drink that originated in Taiwan during the 1980s.

The chicken-on-a-stick is the top seller.

Despite financial strains on the business, Wok On Wheels participates in local Alle-Kiski fundraisers — recently donating 20 percent of their profits from the annual Brody’s Lemonade Stand fundraiser, benefiting Alzheimer’s research, held on June 11 in Allegheny Township.

“People have helped us and we’re just moving it forward,” Lieu said.

Friend and customer Lisa Richards of West Leechburg is the mother of Brody Toy, organizer of Brody’s Lemonade fundraiser.

Richards praised the Lieu’s charitable spirit.

“Mark and Jessica are wonderful, down-to-earth people who make great food,” Richards said. “They’ve been nothing but supportive of Brody’s Lemonade Stand Alzheimer’s fundraiser. You’re always greeted with a smile from them and that means a lot, especially in today’s society.”

Brody Toy, 10, expressed his thanks for the recent donation from Wok On Wheels.

“I really appreciate them helping my fundraiser, and they have the best rice,” Toy said.

Jessica Lieu, 34, grew up in Apollo. She said that although business is doing well, she’s hopeful economic conditions will improve.

“We would like for it to be a bit better but all businesses have their ups and downs,” she said. “We enjoy what we do and the places we’ve been. We have met lots of people along the way.”