His own food truck started as a dream, but after a glass of wine at sunset in Aruba this dream became reality. Theo van der Dungen from Schijndel has been selling satay skewers in his own food truck for a few years now: Satheo. He now hardly misses a festival and attracts a lot of attention with his ‘craziness on a stick’: “It’s not romance, but hard work,” he says. Also this weekend at Paaspop.
Theo is an entrepreneur through and through. Just before the corona period, he sold his stand construction company and decided to go on holiday to Aruba with his girlfriend. There his girlfriend asked a question that turned Theo’s life upside down. “She asked if I had any plans or dreams for the future,” says Theo. “I always wanted my own restaurant abroad. But because of the children we wanted to stay close. Then the idea of a food truck came.”
And so an adventure began. Everything went well for Theo. “The name ‘Satheo’ had been fixed since 2003. It started out as a joke, but suddenly everything came together. The concept stood out and I came across a riot van that later became my food truck.”
Theo’s stall is a striking appearance. “It is not without reason that all joking aside. We make it an experience. We are wearing a police shirt, the van has a fake camera and bars and every now and then I am breathing fire on the roof.”
According to the Schijndel entrepreneur, the combination of good satay and the atmosphere is the key to his success. It is almost fully booked until the end of the season. “We are at Nirwana, the Zwarte Cross, Kamping Kitsch Club and the 4Daagse, among others,” he says, looking at a large calendar.
“It is really hard work,” Theo emphasizes. “It’s lugging, lugging and more lugging. At Paaspop, for example, ten thousand sticks pass through it. I can no longer pick that up myself. Fortunately, I have help from many people.”
He moved a few years ago. Since then, Theo has lived next to the Paaspop grounds. His previous house had become much too small for him business. “This house has all kinds of stables that the previous owner used for horses. Now it is my kitchen and cooling,” he says proudly.
Festival life is not unknown to Theo. About thirty years ago he was already behind the tap at the Schijndel festival. “That was beautiful, but at a certain point it became too big.” He calls the fact that he is now there, years later, with his own stall ‘crazy’.
“I wish I had done it twenty years earlier, it’s a real thrill,” Theo laughs. He is on the eve of his third season. That will again be hard work and working on it every day. “But when you see people walking past the cart and they get a smile on their face, then you know what you are doing it for.”
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