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Everybody gets it. SEPTEMBER 2023
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Flock provides wide variety of food, drink By Frank Prager Big Z Media Food trucks have become immensely popular over the past decade. The large mobile vehicles are equipped to cook, prepare and serve restaurantquality food. On-board kitchens allow many to prepare menu items from scratch, often rivaling the taste of food prepared in brickand-mortar commercial kitchens. Their mobility lets them come to special occasions, parties and celebrations, providing great dining for events which otherwise would be limited to cold food, catered food or outdoor grilling. A unique business in Alton is providing the community a venue at which they can meet with family or friends for planned events or impromptu get-togethers, and enjoy food truck quality dining along with their favorite drinks in a convenient, comfortable atmosphere. Flock & Food Truck Park opened in May of last year and has seen great success, bringing a dining experience to Alton unlike any
other in the area. The business is owned and operated by the husband and wife team of Matt and Laura Windisch. Both have extensive experience in the food service business. They each began working at restaurants as teenagers and first met when they were working at a restaurant together. Laura attended culinary school and the two have operated Stacked Burger Bar in St. Louis for years. “In the thirteen years we’ve been together, we’ve never not worked with each other,” says Laura. Living previously in the Tower Grove neighborhood of St. Louis, they came to Alton looking for a house and decided to stay and start the business. The two have a daughter, Leni, and have lived in Alton for over five years now. “When we saw what was going on with the AltonWorks initiative, we got excited about the idea of opening a business in Alton,” she explains. Flock provides a great dining atmosphere, both indoor and outdoor, for enjoying the food truck
Flock & Food Truck Park 210 Ridge Street, Alton flockalton.com Bar hours Wed - Thu 4-10pm Fri 5-11pm Sat 11am-11pm Sun 11am-4pm Food truck hours Wed - Thu 4-8pm Fri 5-9pm Sat 11am-3pm & 5-9pm Sun 11am-4pm
service. A bar in the venue serves a wide variety of both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks for any gathering from families to business events to casual get-togethers for friends. The outdoor seating allows people to enjoy the bridge and the riverfront scenery as well as regular entertainment. The heated indoor dining area lets people enjoy the venue regardless of the weather.
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The food trucks provide a wide variety of dining options. They include bar-b-cue, Thai food, Mediterranean cuisine and Soul food. Other options are tacos, chicken, hot dogs, Mexican street corn, smoothies, Icees and sweet treats. Anywhere from one to six trucks are on site at a time. The food truck schedule along with dates for special events can be found on Flock’s Facebook and Instagram pages. The bar provides a wide variety of
drinks to fit anyone’s tastes. It sells house-crafted cocktails as well as non-alcoholic cocktails. It serves cold beer, draft beer and wine, as well. It also serves seltzers, nonalcoholic brews, soda, water, tea and apple juice. Laura says the name of the business was inspired by the flocks of birds she and her husband would see along the river when they commuted back and forth from St. Louis. “We would see them on our daily drives and wanted the name of the business to highlight the region. 3
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