We’re a quarter of the way into the 21st century and the food truck to brick-and-mortar pipeline already feels like a tale as old as time.

But the restaurant chef to personal chef to food truck operator route? A rarity indeed.

Longtime Richmond chef George T. Carroll Jr. is launching his food truck Wumami this June. So far, menu items will include burgers, oxtail and wings flavored with a signature 16-spice Wumami rub or sauce plus crab spring rolls, curry-spiced red cabbage, pineapple rice and more.

We sat down with Carroll to learn more about his “comfort food with global flavors” concept.

Style Weekly: Tell us about your culinary background.

Carroll: I’ve been a chef for about 20 years, most of that time in Richmond. I was born in Maryland and grew up in the Tidewater area [Hampton/Chesapeake/Virginia Beach]. I left when I was 22 and went to Johnson and Wales [in North Miami, Fla.] before joining the United States Army Reserves. I came to Richmond around 2010 and first became an executive chef in 2017; I’ve worked in restaurants like Chez Max, Max on Broad and The Savory Grain.

Food trucks are hot. Setting up a schedule with other businesses can be tricky. Why a food truck for the next step in your career?

COVID gives you a new perspective on life. One of my dreams has always been to have a food truck.

I’ve been doing private dinners [under the name The Chef Haus, LLC] but I wanted to hit the masses a lot faster. I felt like the trailer would do that. I didn’t necessarily want to jump into a lease — the trailer has low overhead, low maintenance, you’re your own boss on your own time. You have to work a little harder but it’s worth it because it’s you 100%.

Plus, I want to be more involved in the community and what better way to do that than to pull up at a farmers market, festival, brewery and just really be immersed?

Tell us about the truck.

I bought it about eight months ago, custom-built in Hampton. It’s 16×20 fully equipped stainless steel.

Do you have anyone else working with you?

I don’t have a full-time staff but I do have personnel that I have formed relationships with over the years, so if I need servers or cooks or bartenders, I have people I can reach out to.

To start off it will be me and my brother — he has worked with me in four restaurants, I was executive chef in three of those — and he works my private dinners with me. And my mom will help sometimes.

A family affair! What do you think about Richmond’s current food truck scene?

The city is growing. It’s known regionally as having a strong food scene but I think soon it will be known nationally and globally. I’m friends with food trucks like Cluck N Roll, and 1115 Mobile Kitchen. I’ve asked them questions, I’ve even worked on trucks for free to just get that experience.

I’ve been in Scott’s Addition for about three years and once a year there are eight new units, eight new shopping centers, there’s a market, a festival.  It continues to grow. I’m excited to see where Richmond will be within the next couple of years — food trucks are going to be a need for sure.

Wumami—it’s pretty fun to say. How’d you get the name?

It’s a play on the word umami and wings, [the W] being one of my favorite comfort foods. We don’t want to be known in Richmond just for fried chicken and collard greens and cornbread, though. I don’t want to limit myself. It’s comfort food but I’m giving you a twist, bringing Latin and Asian flavors plus some French techniques. It’s going to be a little bit of everything, but it’s going to make sense.

What are your short and long-term plans for the truck? 

To start, I’ll be doing a residency at The Savory Grain (first event took place Sunday, June 15) a few Sundays a month. I’ll be taking over their kitchen, doing my food truck menu. They’ll have the bar open. That will start the launch and get things going — it’s really nice to have that opportunity.

I plan to have the trailer out during the week, too. Also, if the logistics work and the trailer fits, I’m not opposed to doing small bites and things of that nature or even doing backyard events. It will definitely be used as a multifunctional, mobile kitchen.

After running Wumami for about a year, I plan to expand to more trucks with different kinds of food.

Now, just to reiterate — you’re totally fine with the heat of a food truck in the summer?

After being in the industry for a while, I can tell you, especially in the older buildings in Richmond, kitchens get hot. It’s one of those things you kind of get used to. The heat doesn’t bother me much.

Follow Carroll on Instagram for the latest food truck updates. Catch Wumami at Savory Grain on Sunday, June 29 from 6-9 p.m.