Coastside Family Hopes to “Kickstart” their Crab Shack on Wheels

Poppy’s Crab Shack, the coastside’s first crab shack on wheels, is slated to open on November 15, opening day of Dungeness crab season.  To fund their farm-to-table food truck, the founders have turned to the popular crowdfunding website Kickstarter.com.

According to the website, Kickstarter.com is “the world’s largest funding platform for creative projects….[and] is powered by a unique all-or-nothing method where projects must be fully funded or no money changes hands”.  Poppy’s Crab Shack has a 30-day fundraising window from start to finish. If the allotted budget ($10,000 US) isn’t raised before October 13, all pledges are cancelled and the project will not be funded.

Founded by local coastsiders Tom Borden and Amy Hoffmann and named after their 2-year old daughter, Poppy’s Crab Shack will sell whole steamed fresh-off-the-boat Dungeness crab and crab sandwiches.  They anticipate adding other menu items such as crab louie, crab cakes, and crab chowder.  Hoffmann and Borden will be buying all of their crab directly from local crabbers right off the boats in Half Moon Bay’s Princeton Harbor, and will be open only during crab season, November through May.

The couple says their business is committed to the local food movement.  They will source all their ingredients from local organic farms and grass-fed dairies.  “I milk cows a few mornings a week at a local grass-fed dairy,” says Borden, “and it is really satisfying to hear Poppy talk about her ‘Rosie and Daisy milk’.  She knows exactly where her food comes from.”

In a nod to the gourmet food truck craze, the mobile kitchen trailer will enable Poppy’s Crab Shack to serve crab lovers all along the San Mateo County coast, as far north as Montara and as far south as Pescadero, as well as participate in selected San Francisco street food special events.

Anyone interested in learning more about the business or supporting the project should click on the photo for more information.  Interested people can also go to www.kickstarter.com and do a search for “Poppy’s Crab Shack”, or go to www.poppyscrabshack.moonfruit.com and click on the provided link.