Meet David Britton, known chef and owner behind Pies on Wheels

Nov 21, 2023

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The No. 1 seller with the Pies on Wheels food truck is the simple classic: Margherita pizza.

You can find the Pies on Wheels food truck at the Saratoga Race Course. This will be their 13th year at the track.

Warmer weather is here, and food trucks are filling the streets again with various cuisines at local markets, outdoor activities, and around the Capitol. Here is another Q&A in our occasional series on area food trucks and their operators. This week, we talked with David Britton, owner of Pies on Wheels.

More in this series: Heisenburgers Food Truck | The Hungry Traveler | Times Square Catering | Livin' the Dream | Greek on the Run

Website: https://www.piesonwheels.com

Facebook: Pies on Wheels

How did Pies on Wheels come to be?

We started in 2009 when the economy was questionable. We were closing a restaurant we had in Saratoga, so we took our last little investment and started a food truck which had a wood-fired pizza theme. We bought a truck off of eBay and we had it built here locally. We started the first year with parties and it's developed over the last 12 years into a prosperous and enjoyable business.

We started with pizzas, which are really fun to make and often the expenses are pretty controllable because the ingredients by themselves are often not overly expensive. Now we also offer options like paella and plank salmon on the churrasco grill.

How would you describe Pies on Wheels food truck's culture?

We source locally as needed. That is in the DNA of our operation. We’re a seasonal farm community, but if we’re doing roasted beets or sides of asparagus, there's a lot of menu items on there that we can source. Even the mainstream stores in town have local sections.

The ovens and the equipment we use are the finest available. Especially to be portable and travel, and to get the quality of pizza that we offer. I used to work for Ritz-Carlton. We did an event in Palm Springs and they had this wood-fire oven that they were moving around the property with a forklift, and I thought to myself, "That is absolutely the coolest thing I’ve ever seen…" The first oven I built was on a trailer. The oven was about 750 pounds, the biggest you can buy commercially.

What are the crowd favorites on your menu?

When it comes to the pizzas, most people really enjoy cheese pizza. Just a good Margherita pizza. Cheese pizza is, believe it or not, the No. 1 seller even with all of the interesting ingredients we like to use. I’m always experimenting. If you look at the menu, there's really some ambitious dishes, like the paella for 200 people or the wings that we do over fire. The wings are very popular.

Need more pizza? Check out the Capital Region pizza trail.

How can people find you? Do you have regular stops?

We focus on private bookings mostly, but occasionally do events in the area. We’ve been at the Saratoga Race Track for 12 years, this will be the 13th year. We are there every day, with our wood-fire pizza set up. That's nice because there are so many regulars and people who keep coming back every year.

Which food truck would you like to see highlighted? Email Sara Tracey at [email protected] or Email Jessica Kelly at [email protected].