Those who know how to find Toost Foodtruck Festival experience small-scale magic

With Toost, the Netherlands has gained a foodtruck festival that visits smaller towns rather than the capital cities. This sometimes causes local friction, but almost always gratitude. And for a consumer who feels not undressed but cared for for a change.

Halfway through our conversation, Toost Foodtruck Festival organiser Kris de Pee (30) is tapped on his shoulder by the toilet attendant. Visit.

It turns out to be American Anne (58), who shot a few photos at the festival a day earlier. She enthusiastically posted the pictures on Facebook and was shocked by the critical reactions. Friends and strangers of Anne expressed negative opinions about the location of the festival - untraceable - and the disruption of the peace.

The relaxed Kris - reclining in his beach chair, wind through his curls - listens to her concerns patiently. 'Don't worry too much,' is his advice. 'This is just a cranky gentleman.'

Anne cycled all the way from Leiden to Katwijk straight from work to speak to Kris. It was bothering her, she says. Kris reassures her: he has already invited the man to drop by the festival and exchange views over a drink.

Reassure

Concerns are no stranger to him. In almost every place where the Toost Foodtruck Festival descends, residents find it exciting that such a seemingly urban concept visits their village. The local shopkeepers, the catering businesses, the municipality, the residents - sometimes they are the patrons, but occasionally Toost has to win them over as well. It is a side effect of the festival's approach: Toost only touches down in smaller South Holland towns. This summer, there are eighteen of them: from Schiedam to Spijkenisse, from Nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel to Naaldwijk.

Reassurance is sometimes necessary. Restaurant and shop owners fear a drop in their sales, municipalities fear waste and unrest. Sometimes the cooperation is excellent - in Loosduinen, Toost was organised in cooperation with the shopkeepers' association, and the festival was welcomed with open arms by the local catering industry - but sometimes it is also a search. Like in Katwijk, where people have trouble finding the place.

'Last year, Rrrollend was here on Andreasplein, a bit further down the road,' Kris explains. 'People assume we will be there again now. Instead, we will be on the Duinplein. A new location, which is not even on Google Maps yet.'

A loyal club

That makes for confusion. And for a quiet festival site, on this sunny Friday afternoon. The conditions are perfect: the school holidays have started, the fresh sea breeze makes the already weeks-long high temperature pleasant. The service is in the starting blocks, but only some young families are still walking around the festival grounds. And chatty food truck owners, who have gathered at Toeters & Ballen ('Damn good ball sandwich'). As owner Eric handwrites his menu on a chalkboard, he enthusiastically explains the concept of Toost Foodtruck Festival.

'A small, warm organisation, always a fantastic atmosphere on the field... Yes, we really go along for the fun,' Eric said.

The owner of the OctuBus, which is parked a little further down the road, agrees. They also toured Rrrollend with their specialities for a year, but the commercial attitude of that festival started to bother them. 'You pay gold money for a step space and then have to set the atmosphere yourself. At Rrrollend, there is no together; here, the atmosphere is always good.' And so the OctoBus goes along to Brielle, Bergen op Zoom, Zierikzee - and to almost every other venue Toost visits. A welcome addition in food truck country, agrees organiser Kris: they rarely serve fish at festivals. The Octobus - 'arrowhead the tastiest' - offers fresh calamari, fresh squid and baby octopus, all served with homemade aioli. The kibbeling and gourmet fish from the fish stall on the Katwijk promenade can't compete with that.

Small scale

't Omelet Loket will also be back this year. From their orange vintage 1972 Constructam Carol caravan, they serve 'Omelette rolls with a Twist', with resounding names like Crazy Goat, Karma Parma and Hippie Kippie. Foodtrucks BuBu, where you can have not only icing sugar or Nutella but also apple sauce, marzipan syrup spread on your crepe, Ketelbinkie ('Coffee and wet tea') and Beef & Burgers - driving around in a vintage Citroën HY - have also joined Toost this fourth season.

Classic trolleys, small scale and a special selection are what unite them, agrees Kris. The prices are also in line with this: no cash registers where you have to buy twenty chips for awkward amounts to get your dinner together, after which you overeat a dessert you only bought because you would otherwise be stuck with those coins. A veg ball sandwich costs five euros - a lot less than the mini-flammkuchen they serve for seven euros at Oerol.

The whole family

For equally attractive prices, you can get decorated with henna tattoos on the grounds (three euros) or pamper yourself with a head or body massage (10 to 15 euros). That too is in line with the idea behind Toost: offering a total experience for young and old. Hence the carousel, kept in motion by a woman in a bright blue polka-dot dress. We are taller than one metre fifty and heavier than forty kilos, so unfortunately this experience passes us by. Archery then - with suction darts, of course.

The family with small children, that's what Toost is aiming for. Four seasons ago, the festival experienced its birth in the form of a neighbourhood barbecue in Pijnacker. Municipalities in the area turned out to be interested in the atmospheric small scale, which they did not find at competitors such as Rrrollend, Rollende Keukens and TREK. These usually set up in the bigger cities, charge a higher amount for a stand space and let the food-truck owners return a larger part of their turnover. This year, Rrrollend will settle in the centre of The Hague, Rotterdam and Leiden, among other places, while Toost, with Vlaardingen and Rijswijk, prefers the suburbs. Whereas at Rrrollend the atmosphere is set by a hip lounge DJ, swinging retro music blares across the Toost festival grounds. Does Rrrollend also target students, colleagues and first dates, at Toost they emphatically aim for young families.

Hence those calm pastel tones that recur throughout the site. In the flag lines drawn all over the square, the fences covered with the soft red and yellow logo, the azure and baby pink tables, chairs and planters. This is also a target group that thinks about sustainability, Kris stresses - hence why you buy a plastic glass at the beginning of your stay, which you can simply take home after the festival.

Toost in Business

Toost always descends for three days - preferably on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but in Katwijk the party starts a day earlier. 'We are here from Thursday to Sunday because of the Christianity of this municipality,' Kris explains. 'So you see: in every place you have something to consider.' Once people discover the festival, they like to return for several days. 'We change into their living room for a weekend for a while.' On Thursday it remained relatively quiet in Katwijk, tonight and Saturday the organisers expect bigger crowds.

Speaking of rest: what do the organisers do during the winter months? 'Then we mainly deal with corporate events,' Kris explains. 'All Toost festivals are not only cosy and fun to organise, they are also a great calling card for Toost in Business, with which they turn anniversaries, company parties and other events into miniature food truck festivals all year round. Although: up to six hundred people can also be entertained at such a company party.

Towards the end of the afternoon, Katwijk slowly gets busier. The German tourist also sits down and marvels at the Dutch names for squid, omelette with goat cheese and sandwich ball. The complainant has yet to show up for a drink.

Grateful

Toost's arrival may sometimes cause some friction, but in the end gratitude prevails, Kris says. 'These smaller municipalities are always happy that we bring commotion, without being overpowering. Unlike larger festivals, we leave little mess behind, and have everything set up and dismantled in a few hours.'

The next day, we see that Anne has reposted the photos on Facebook, in a bid to remove critical comments all at once. Again, she receives praise, but this time signs of dissatisfaction remain absent. On Saturday night, she posts a cheerful photo shoot with the grumbling acquaintance, who turns out to be a contentedly smiling balding man with a motorbike jacket, tattoos and a penchant for mini octopuses.

On Sunday morning, he is still reeling from last night's party, he reports in the comments. He must have been reassured by Kris, who has every reason to sit back with satisfaction. With Toost, he has put on an atmospheric festival that is accessible to both entrepreneur and visitor.