GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan — Pizza Parliament has had one of its best years in business, according to owner Justin Gunnink.
The pandemic got rid of their main selling venue, outdoor concerts, but also forced them to look for a new customer base.
They found that base by going into neighborhoods, and slowly but surely started finding bars and taverns in the area to partner with.
It also didn’t hurt that it's an election year and they literally sell political puns. Now, they serve at political rallies too.
“We have fun with names like the Bernie Scramble and Majority leader, on the menu, if I had more time to just think up new puns, I would. That is one of my favorite parts about the business,” Gunnink said.
Pizza Parliament was asked to serve at the historical Muskegon Trump Rally, Oct. 17, and since then has been to North Carolina, Lansing, and Waterford Trump rallies as supporters buy up their Bipartisan Pepperoni.
Gunnick said only issue that comes standard with a pizza truck is the wait times once the starting line gets long.
“In Lansing, we had longer wait times than I would like because we are not a pre-made food truck like you can do with taco’s and hotdogs. No matter what, the pizza has to go through that four minute oven to be done, ”Gunnink said.
although the rallies have been both fun and good for business, the future of the truck will still be the local rotation they now have with West Michigan breweries. There are plenty around town without kitchens, leaving a wide enough market for Gunnink and some other local food trucks to collaborate with and make a steady income.
The Pizza Parliaments social following has more than doubled since the beginning of the year, so they can announce when they will be someplace new, like they did recently on Halloween.
The truck went to Muskegon to set up at Brewers Lounge at Pigeon Hill, an extension of Pigeon Hill Brewing that has now only been open for three weeks. The owners said they know winter is coming and don’t believe the pandemic is going away, or even decreasing, as they’ve seen the recent spikes.
They opened this second location to help them expand capacity limits since it used to hold private parties that they can no longer throw due to gathering limits.
Pizza Parliament's next political appearance will be Monday in Grand Rapids at the last Trump rally before election day.
President Trump's speech is scheduled to begin at midnight, but the truck will get there around 6pm.
In order to find out where the political pizza truck will be next, you can follow them on Facebook here.
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