(PHOTO BY JESSE DAVIS / THE VILLAGE REPORTER)
A NEW VENTURE … Hot Dogs 2 Go food truck owners Tara and Matt Shaver, flanked by their children, friends, and members of the local business community, cut a ribbon for their grand opening in front of Benfield Wines Friday evening. Their oldest son can be seen holding a graduation photo of another son, who was unable to attend the event due to being away at college in Chicago.
By: Jesse Davis
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
jesse@thevillagereporter.com
The new-to-Swanton Hot Dogs 2 Go food truck was the celebrant in a ribbon cutting put on by the Swanton Area Chamber of Commerce Friday evening.
The truck, operated by Swanton business owners and couple Tara and Matt Shaver, features a variety of all-beef hot dog varieties as well as burgers and specialty fries on its menu.
“This is a family business that we brought back up from Naples, Florida, where my mom and her family is from,” Tara said. “We drove this all the way up there just to expand the business.” Tara has also operated Posh Apparel and Co. in Swanton for roughly a decade.
“I work with a lot of local businesses and schools – including Benfield Wines – closely, and a lot of the organizations around here, we make apparel for all of them.”
“And then my husband owns MJS Service and Repair, it’s granite, stone, and marble, and he lays floor and tile and does all kinds of handyman work,” she said.
Prior to starting his own business, Matt worked as a granite countertop fabricator for 20 years. “We started working for ourselves about eight years ago now, and we kind of quit our careers and just started doing our own thing,” Tara said.
Tara also serves on the committee for the Swanton Corn Festival, and the Shavers will be in attendance with the new food truck, from which they will be offering specialty corn items just for the event, including deep fried corn on the cob, corn fritters, and loaded Mexican street corn nachos. All the items will be made with locally sourced corn.
According to Tara, they are hoping to be at other events around town, hoping to stay as local as possible. She graduated from Anthony Wayne High School, while her husband was born, raised, and has lived his whole life in Swanton.
“We just love Swanton,” Tara said. “We’ve raised our four children here; we’ve had between the two of us six kids. Swanton’s a good place, we love it.”