Editor's note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified where Folks-N-Motion is located. It is in Cincinnati.
CINCINNATI -- Although the COVID-19 pandemic dealt a devastating blow to Cincinnati’s restaurant industry, it’s enabled one uniquely well-adapted business to achieve a years-long goal.
Folks-N-Motion, a take-away soul food restaurant run out of a tiny trailer, saw its business double over the spring.
“It takes you to a height unknown, as far as your inner spirit, seeing other people (brought) joy through food,” chef and owner Rob Dolch said Thursday.
Times are so good that Dolch can finally afford his dream: A food truck to travel around the Tri-State, taking his food to other communities and large events — whenever large events start happening again.
He and his wife are used to being food truck customers, he said. They spend a significant part of most summers traveling to New Orleans and other cities to sample the best mobile restaurants in rotation and get ideas for their own business.
Now, they’ll be part of the herd.
“God has blessed me,” he said.
Kameron Keeling, one of many customers who visited Folks-N-Motion on Thursday, said he was glad to support a local business in the midst of the pandemic.
“Locally-owned restaurants being killed is in our hands, it's in the people of this city's hands, and we should be helping each other to stay going,” he said. “All it takes is to come spend $10 with somebody sometimes."
Dolch expects his custom truck to be ready by the end of July. His first stop when he gets it, he said, will be a giveaway: Driving free food to people experiencing homelessness.
