‘Triplet treats’: Food truck operated by 13-year-old sisters is a big hit

An Aylmer family is the talk of the town with their nostalgic treats food truck, and at the helm are the family's triplet daughters. Brent Lale reports.

A love of nostalgic treats has led a family to open a food truck business.

The Wentzell family from Aylmer, Ont. has had the most popular house on Halloween for years by giving away fair food.

“We started doing cotton candy and popcorn at school functions as donations at Halloween night at our house,” explained Mary Anne Wentzell, who owns the truck with her husband Tyler. “We grew to about 650 kids at our house in Aylmer and thought, ‘Wow, maybe we need to take this on the road.’”

To make this happen, it meant her triplet daughters were going to have to start putting in the work.

The 13-year-old sisters oversee making and bagging the food.

“We used to give like cotton candy, popcorn at our house for Halloween and now we go to fairs, schools, and houses for Halloween,” said 13-year-old Caylee Wentzell. “We make popcorn, candy apples, caramel apples, and slushies.”

Her sister Ainsley oversaw making and packaging hundreds of boxes of popcorn.

“I like it because I can see familiar faces and spend time with my family,” said Ainsley. “We did it like we did it for school events and then my dad was just like, ‘Let’s put it into a trailer and make money off of it.”

On Halloween this year they held a contest to bring their truck to a neighbourhood in southwestern Ontario. The winning selection was Florence Street in the northwest end of St. Thomas.

They even added a charitable component raising money for 10-year-old boy Zachery Laliberty, who is battling cancer.

The Wentzells have a bit of history with fair foods. Mary Anne worked at Western Fair years ago, and her husband Tyler worked as a food vendor at his grandfather’s pizza business.

“It’s kind of been in us,” said Mary Anne. “We love the events. We love the rush. We love seeing the smiles on the kids’ faces, or even the older people who get that candy apple or cotton candy that they haven’t had for years.”

Mary Anne and Tyler bought the food truck and got the girls started, but it’s on them to do the heavy lifting. Once they are a little older, they’ll turn the business over to them.

“We’re just helping them out,” said Mary Anne.

She added, “They skipped school today, but really, they learn. I heard them adding counting, adding, doing the multiplication of how much prep we did for our house in town, of bags of cotton candy, popcorn. It’s life skills. It’s been fabulous. What better way for the girls to learn entrepreneurship? Nostalgic treats and fair treats are our family’s favorites.”