Big Sandy's own Casten and Katie Heppner have launched the Hungry Heifer, the food truck arm of their growing catering business. Katie has been catering for around 8 years, covering harvest meals and events. She explains that "...it kind of just got so big that we needed to become mobile. Then we decided to put the food truck together. It changed from just using it for harvest meals, to using it for events and fairs and weddings and all kinds of celebrations." Over the last year, the addition of the truck to their culinary arsenal has enabled them to serve hot meals to farm crews in the field as well as hungry event attendees through the area.
Over the summer, they have used the truck while catering several weddings, business luncheons, as well as the Chinook Fair and other community events. Next weekend, they will be selling food at the Marias River Firemen's Concert, which is a fundraiser for rural fire departments.
When I asked about the menu at the Hungry Heifer Casten explained: "The menu is never the same. It's always something different, but we kind of have our staples with the Pulled Pork Nachos, Street Tacos, and Barbecue Mac Bowls. Our biggest hits have definitely been the Mac Bowls. For the Chinook fair, we did something new. We did a barbecue parfait cup: mac and cheese in the bottom of the cup, then baked beans, then smoked kielbasa sausage, then we did pulled pork, another layer mac and cheese and then topped it with either pulled pork or brisket and then a bunch of barbecue sauce and cheese."
The barbecue portion of the business is largely done with a huge smoker trailer, which Casten set out to build a year ago. The smoker made its debut "for Summer Celebration, and then we took it to the Blaine County Fair last weekend. While everybody's going to the rodeo, I was smoking meat the whole time. So it was good."
The reception for their food at fairs and other events has been very positive. Casten shared the highest praise he has received so far for their cooking: "I've had some gentlemen that run very prestigious barbecue joints in Montana say that some of our foods the best that they've ever eaten."
The pair has a long-running joy in food preparation and eating. Katie learned to cook from her grandmother and grew up in a home that cherished good food. The couple also explained that their philosophy regarding portion size, which goes well with the Hungry Heifer business name: "Nobody's ever gonna go hungry. I mean, that's kind of the thing we pride ourselves on is our portions are huge, and you should never never walk away still wanting more food."
The business is largely run by Casten and Katie, though they credit Katie's siblings Kayla and Wally, with getting
the truck on the road at all. The four are often the main kitchen crew while serving. The Heppner's many children sometimes take turns running the till. Incidentally, the large brood of children played a large part in the starting of the catering business. "Katie and I've always loved to cook, and we figured if we were cooking for all these kids all the time... It was kind of the lead up to you know if we could make them happy, then we can make everyone happy."
For more information on the Hungry Heifer or to contact them about harvest meal options, you can follow them on Facebook.
