HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – In Huntsville native Brian Steele's family, you either teach school, work for the government or build houses.

Brian, a 29-year-old U.S. Army aviation logistician for Hawk Enterprises who has done a little of all three, is ready to break through the confines of his cubicle and venture into something a bit sweeter with his wife, Natalie.

The married couple is on the cusp of launching a rolling food trailer that will serve doughnuts and hot coffee in south Huntsville. The trailer will be called Bigfoot's Little Donuts, a title inspired by Brian's love for the 1987 bigfoot fantasy comedy starring actor John Lithgow.

"I've always thought Bigfoot was funny," Brian said. "Maybe it's because I'm of the 'Harry and the Hendersons' generation. It just cracks me up a little bit."

The newly-renovated food trailer, which will open by the end of March at the South East Plaza complex on 12021 South Memorial Parkway, will serve warm mini doughnuts with toppings ranging from honey and graham cracker, peanut butter and jelly, strawberry and whipped cream, and Nutella and sprinkles.

Made from dough shipped in bulk from a Minneapolis company, the small fried cakes will be cooked-to-order, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and tailored to each customer's liking.

Filling a niche in Huntsville

Natalie, a Chattanooga native and former elementary school teacher, met Brian nearly three years ago. During Brian's weekend trips to visit Natalie in Chattanooga, the couple would spend time together visiting area farmers markets and tasting the Tennessee food truck cuisine.

"We always joked about how cool it would be to operate one ... but we never really gave it a whole lot of thought," Brian said. "We got married about a year ago and that's when we really started entertaining the idea."

As Huntsville's zoning ordinance on food trucks became more relaxed, the newlyweds began researching the local food truck scene. The couple finally determined that a doughnut trailer that caters mostly to the breakfast crowd was a niche that needed to be filled in Huntsville.

At first, Brian thought he could keep his full-time Army job and run Bigfoot's Little Donuts on the side with the help of his wife and family members. Natalie, an artisan jeweler, also runs a successful hand-stamped jewelry shop on Esty, a popular e-commerce site that specializes in vintage and handcrafted goods.

"As we went along with the process, we realized it was going to be one or the other," said Brian, who has turned in his resignation notice so he can dedicate himself to the food venture. "It was going to be too cumbersome to do both the right way, so I had to make a choice."

A few months ago, the couple bought a second-hand Titan single-axle trailer from a man in Gadsden who had purchased it for his son-in-law to open a Hawaiian shaved ice business. Brian and Natalie began working to renovate the trailer over a period of about five months.

The total makeover cost about $15-16,000, but the couple was able to save on renovations by doing much of the electrical, plumbing and graphic work themselves.

"I have one piece of advice for anybody doing this: talk to other food truck people," Brian said. "That's something I had done but not to the extent that I should have."

A sweet future

Bigfoot's Little Donuts will be open from 6:30-10:30 a.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday to capture the early-morning crowd at Redstone Arsenal. The small business will eventually expand hours past noon and become a staple at the Downtown Street Food Gathering.

Customers will have an opportunity to taste free samples for the first few months and take advantage of grab and go morning specials, which include a dozen doughnuts and coffee for $4 and two dozen doughnuts and coffee for $5.

Natalie, 30, said it is not the couple's goal to move into a brick-and-mortar location.



"We just want to make a great product, sell as many doughnuts as we can, meet a lot of people along the way and have a good time doing it," she said.

Brian, who will build houses on the side to supplement his income, said the future is hazy, but he is hopeful his new business will be profitable as the Rocket City's food truck scene grows.

If not, the former special-education elementary school teacher has a backup plan.

"I'm hoping between building houses and selling doughnuts, I can make similar to what I'm making here, and if I don't, well, there's always a 6x6 cube somewhere in Huntsville that I can get into," he said.

Send Lucy Berry an email at lberry@al.com.