HAY RIVER - A Hay River woman has used her background as a cook to open a new business - a mobile concession stand.

Alana Harris-Schmitz opened her own business in Hay River this summer. It’s a mobile concession stand called Atlantis Eatery. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

"I really enjoy cooking and I figured why not do something I enjoy doing and know how to do," said Alana Harris-Schmitz.

Her new business - Atlantis Eatery - opened earlier this summer.

Harris-Schmitz, 29, said she had hoped the new endeavour would be successful and it has been more than she expected - sometimes with lineups of 30 people.

"I dreamt big and I went big," she said. "I'm thankful that it's working out."

The concept is to move the concession stand around, especially to smaller communities which may not have a lot of restaurants.

So far, it has travelled to Enterprise for the Gateway Jamboree music festival.

"I was busy," Harris-Schmitz said of the trip to Enterprise. "I had lineups from the minute I opened until the minute I ran out of food."

That will be the only trip outside of Hay River this year.

"I have to look into getting a fridge/freezer unit that will go onto the back of my vehicle, because I've been going through so much food," Harris-Schmitz explained. "In order for me to travel into another place, I'd have to be able to bring a lot of stock with me. That's something I'm going to invest in and hopefully have for next season."

This summer, Atlantis Eatery has been operating on a vacant lot on Lepine Street.

"It will be strictly seasonal," Harris-Schmitz said. "I'll run until it's too cold to run and I'll open up as soon as it's warm enough."

She believes people enjoy getting their food from somewhere different.

"A lot of people eat right in their vehicles," she said, adding others sit outdoors at tables to enjoy fish, fries, hot dogs, sandwiches, ice cream, wraps and more.

Harris-Schmitz likes working outdoors. "I'm a huge, huge camper," she said. "I love cooking outdoors and I like being mobile."

On the days the stand is open - Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday - she stocks up the trailer with as much food as she can.

"Eventually I'll run out of food," she said. "I can shut down for an hour and stock up, but sometimes it's just so busy you can't keep up."

The 20-x-8-foot trailer was custom-built to Harris-Schmitz's specifications by a company in Ontario.

"I've definitely invested a lot of money and time into it, and had lots of family, friends and neighbours help me out," she said.

The trailer contains two deep fryers, a flattop grill, a char broiler, a pizza machine, a slush machine, a soft-serve ice cream machine, a coffee machine, a fridge, a freezer, a milkshake maker and a fire-suppression system.

Despite all that, there is still room to move around.

"It's definitely very spacious," Harris-Schmitz noted. "People are shocked when they come in and say, 'Oh my God, there's so much room.'"

Harris-Schmitz moved to Hay River in 2007 from Fort Liard, where her family moved in 1985.

"My father was a construction engineer and went there to build the school," she recalled. "He ended up falling in love with the community and purchasing a piece of property and moved us up."

After graduating high school as class valedictorian in Fort Simpson, she began working in the food sector of the oil industry around Fort Liard.

"I started as a camp attendant and worked my way up to a cook and then a breakfast cook and then eventually I was cooking for about 300 people," she said.

In 2007, she got married and her husband, Mark Schmitz of Fort Simpson, took a job in Hay River. There, she managed The Rooster convenience store for T&S Holdings.

"I ran The Rooster for them for about a year and a half and then they sold it to out-of-town people," she said. "That's when I started cooking up this idea and opened this."

Harris-Schmitz said she enjoys working for herself.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.