A haven for hoagie lovers

New Jersey native, Maxwell Woolley, remembers eating greasy submarine sandwiches from the Princeton University Hoagie Haven truck as a kid.

Inspired by his childhood memories, Woolley, 22, graduated from Syracuse University last May with a newspaper journalism and history degree, and opened the Hoagie Haven food truck with business partner, Matt Kardjian.

When Woolley arrived at SU as a freshman, he realized there were no late-night restaurants selling artery-clogging “drunk food” favorites like 14-inch subs swimming in melted cheese, hot French fries and onion rings.

Photo: Jennifer Cheng

Hoagie Haven sells snacks, such as the Italian hot dog, to hungry students every day.

“When you think Rutgers, you think of the Grease Truck; Penn State – Are U Hungry; Princeton – Hoagie Haven. Syracuse doesn’t have a place like that. There’s no iconic place for students to go to,” Woolley said, ticking off the names of popular fast-food hangouts at Northeastern universities.

He and Kardjian obtained the recipes on their menu from the original Hoagie Haven in Princeton, which did not charge the two for using the brand name and menu. The Syracuse Hoagie Haven is not a franchise because its operations are unassociated with the original Hoagie Haven on the Princeton University campus. The current location of the truck can be found on the Hoagie Haven Twitter and Facebook.

In the mornings, the truck serves bagels, breakfast sandwiches and the popular challah French toast; subs are offered for lunch with toppings like fries, fried mini chicken tacos and fried pizza rolls. Woolley searched for the highest quality and reasonably-priced rolls, in his opinion, and settled on Harrison Bakery at 1306 W. Genesee St. —a local bakery established more than 50 years ago.  The bakery stretches their usual 12-inch rolls to 14-inches specifically for Hoagie Haven so that the rolls can accommodate the hearty contents dished up by the food truck.    

“I gotta learn to do all the sandwiches,” said Woolley. “We’re both 22-year-olds trying to start a business, never done anything like this before. We both worked in restaurants for a while, never doing it all ourselves.”

Woolley majored in newspaper journalism and history in college. Both he and Kardjian are first-time entrepreneurs.

Business was slow during the first few days of opening but quickly increased. Woolley, who mans the truck for most of the day, spends the idle hours listening to the radio and chopping up onions. Vincent Bonomi, a SUNY ESF student, finds the Hoagie Haven’s slow business a perk because he does not have to wait in line for food as he does at university-owned eateries.

Student customers expressed satisfaction with the hearty items on the Hoagie Haven menu.

SU student, Max Painter, stumbled upon the Hoagie Haven truck on his way home one day. He ordered one of Hoagie Haven’s most popular subs – the “Dirty Sanchez” – containing deep-fried chicken cutlets, mozzarella sticks and fries slathered in hot honey mustard.

“It was good, really filling,” said Painter, but he said he would have liked some fresh toppings like lettuce and tomatoes.

Those toppings are available upon request, said Woolley.

Painter anticipates he will be returning for more. “It’s definitely worth the money, and this is on my way home.”

SU student, Myles Youn, is a fan of the Philly Cheesesteak sandwich. “You buy one sandwich and you’re full,” he said, who plans on eating one of their subs everyday for lunch.

Woolley and Kardjian originally envisioned setting up shop on Marshall Street and invested in several grills and other equipment, but space was unavailable for rent. So, they resorted to selling their food out of a truck.

“It’s a lot of trial and error,” said Kardjian, adding that they now have a storage space full of unused equipment. 

Woolley and Kardjian received help from family members with the start-up costs of the business, about $20,000. Instead of buying a prefabricated food truck, they hired a metalsmith to outfit a 1988 truck to save on costs. Running his own business can be a challenge, Woolley admitted.

Woolley lists the tedious responsibilities in running the business: “Handling all the ordering, the preparing, the actual working the truck, trying to book catering events, contracts for where we’re allowed to park, permits, it’s a laundry list of things I never would’ve imagined I had to do.”

Arek Robinson, a student at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, is a friend of Kardjian. Robinson allowed Kardjian and Woolley to park the Hoagie Haven in his driveway free of charge when he hosted a party at his home. The truck sold food until 2 a.m.  Robinson said the Hoagie Haven was a success at his party.

Besides booking events and parking permits, Woolley and Kardjian spend their time ensuring that their equipment, ingredients and preparation methods meet city code standards, a challenge when working out of a truck.

They searched for a kitchen to rent for a month, in order to have space for food preparation, restocking, and cleaning. Finally, they managed to rent kitchen space at Funk n’ Waffles.

 “The owners of Funk n’ Waffles are recent SU grads and after we spoke to them they were sympathetic to our cause,” said Woolley. “They had extra space and allowed us to rent some of it.”

Woolley and Kardjian stop by frequently to clean equipment or restock the truck. Kyle Corea, co-owner of Funk n’ Waffles, said there were once several food carts and stands around SU but no longer. Hoagie Haven is filling the void and bringing the food cart business back to campus, he said.

“They could’ve gone anywhere, but they stayed on the college campus, and stayed in the city where they went to school,” said Corea. “The fact that they did is great for the university and the city.”

In the summer when the students go home, Woolley and Kardjian plan to take the truck and sell their hoagies at music festivals in the region. 

“No doubt writing is going to do some good for me,” said Woolley on his recently obtained journalism degree. “But not right now.”