CONTINUE TO SITE »
or wait 15 seconds

Article

Local celebrity status keeps Seattle bakery in the limelight

A reputation for good piroshkies undoubtedly played a role in the positive response to Olga Sagan's food truck, but high visibility in the Seattle market has also helped make the business successful.

George Franada welcomes customers to the Piroshki Piroshky truck.

December 16, 2019 by Elliot Maras — Editor, Kiosk Marketplace & Vending Times

Editor's Note: This is part two of a two-part series on how a Seattle bakery operator capitalized on its reputation to establish a successful food truck.

Olga Sagan was already a local celebrity when she decided to launch a food truck for Piroshky Piroshky, a Seattle bakery that specializes in piroshkies, a favorite Russian street food. She learned the importance of working the media from the company's founders, the Kotelnikov family, with whom she worked for nearly 20 years before buying them out. 

Knowing what events to participate in has been a process of trial and error for the Piroshkyi Piroshky food truck. Weekend markets have been successful.

The bakery's reputation for good piroshkies and its high visibility undoubtedly played a role in the positive response to the food truck, which launched one year ago, as explained in part one of this two-part series.

The first food truck event, a two-day night market last December, brought in $9,000 in sales, one of the most successful events, she said.

The Piroshky Piroshky truck has grossed around $200,000 working only on weekends in its first's year, Sagan said. In light of this success, she plans to extend the food truck's activity to seven days a week next year.

Food truck customers already include some of the area's largest employers, Sagan said, such as Microsoft and Amazon. 

Extensive media coverage

Media coverage has included features on the local TV news focusing on specific piroshky menu items, including tips for people who want to make them at home.

In 2007, a visit to the Pike's Place Market bakery by the late culinary celebrity Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations" TV show made the bakery a tourist attraction for several years.

Seattle Met, a local publication, listed the bakery as one of 14 "classic restaurants" at Pike's Place Market last year.

Josue Gomez, a former driver for the bakery, now manages the Piroshky Piroshky truck.

Piroshky Piroshky also supports food banks and charitable organizations, as well as the arts with its "featured artist" series showcasing the artwork of a local artist on its bags. Such activities sustain the company's visibility in the Seattle market. 

In addition, Sagan posts the truck's schedule on Instagram and currently has around 6,000 social media followers. She boasts about having the highest rated bakery in Washington State on Yelp, based on close to 6,000 customer reviews.

Food truck has unique challenges

Determining what events to take the truck to has been a learning process, Sagan said.

"It's expensive to run a food truck," she said. "It's different than brick-and-mortar for sure." The labor cost in relation to the sales is much higher than a brick-and-mortar restaurant. A truck can spend hours in transit not bringing in any revenue.

Serving a 20-mile radius, the company takes the trucks to Seattle's popular weekend markets, as well as catered events such as weddings and landlord appreciation events. Sagan expects to become more active partnering with breweries.

Numerous rewards

One of the truck's most important benefits has been helping Sagan determine where to open a new brick and mortar restaurant. The company has a couple of new locations planned.

"We are now discovering possible locations to open just by taking the truck," she said.

It has also boosted the company's catering business, an area that Sagan thinks has a lot of growth opportunity. Catering currently only accounts for 1% of the company's business.

"People were seeing our truck around and they asked us to come to a catering event," she said. 

The truck has also been a bit of an employee morale booster, as Sagan gives her employees the opportunity to work on the truck. The truck requires three employees a maximum capacity.

She selected a delivery driver with managerial experience, Josue Gomez, to manage the truck. 

Sagan plans to expand the business with both trucks and brick-and-mortar stores. She expects to have around eight or nine stores and two trucks.

She doesn't have a timeline for expanding, but she thinks it is important not to grow too fast to maintain profitability.

Pictures courtesy of Piroshky Piroshky.

About Elliot Maras

Elliot Maras is the editor of Kiosk Marketplace and Vending Times. He brings three decades covering unattended retail and commercial foodservice.

Related Media




©2025 Networld Media Group, LLC. All rights reserved.
b'S2-NEW'