Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic began, a variety of food trucks have been selling food and drinks outside of Lavin’s Liquors in Wayland on scheduled days. Cousins Maine Lobster and Uncle Joey’s Cannoli came by on Sunday, May 15 from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m.

On average, Cousins Maine Lobster and Uncle Joey’s Cannoli receive between 100 to 300 customers a day at Lavin’s Liquors. They provide a snack or small meal for high school students, as well as the other Wayland residents, passing through the main road or stopping at Lavin’s.

“[Uncle Joey’s Cannoli] will generally come to Lavin’s once to twice a month,” Uncle Joey’s Cannoli food truck owner Joey Sidelinger said. “We’re gonna be here every month with the lobster truck and also Friday nights, starting next week, with a local pizzeria who will also be here Fridays.”

The cannoli and lobster truck are not owned by the same people, but they still wind up spending a good amount of time selling food side-by-side with each other. Each truck has its separate product that it is marketing, as well as its own traditional dishes.

“We go to a lot of places with Cousins Lobster and we’re a very good fit together,” Sidelinger said. “Have a good lobster, then have a good cannoli for dessert.”

Both vendors had their own unique beginnings in starting their trucks. Cousins Lobster started out on hit TV show Shark Tank in 2012 and made a deal with Barbara Corcoran before the trucks became as popular as they are. Although the truck started in California, the owners opened franchises throughout New England and have ever since expanded throughout the United States.

“The actual food truck started in California by the owners who were from Maine,” a Cousins Maine Lobster employee said. “Their vision was just to bring sustained, harvested lobster all around.”

Cousins has since grown and sells a variety of lobster dishes. The truck serves lobster rolls, lobster grilled cheeses, lobster quesadillas, lobster tacos and much more. Cousins generally come to Lavin’s once or twice a month. They have many different locations exclusively in Massachusetts, including stops around Boston and Framingham, which allow for easy access for anyone wanting to try out their lobster cuisine.

“My favorite [dish] is probably the Maine roll, it’s delicious,” the employee said. “Our trucks are awesome.”

Prior to creating Uncle Joey’s Cannoli, Sidelinger worked for Golden Cannoli in Chelsea. Before having a food truck, Sidelinger sold cannolis in tents.

“What inspired [me to start the truck] was [that] I worked for a random cannoli company in Chelsea, Massachusetts called Golden Cannoli on the weekend for fun before it got very popular,” Sidelinger said. “We used to [sell cannoli’s] in tents, we built the trucks last August, which is how it all started.”

For Uncle Joey’s, making cannolis has been in the cards for a very long time, but not in a food truck form. They still communicate and work with Golden Cannoli in order to get fillings and shells for each different cannoli. One of the favorite dishes they have made for some time, in which they need Golden Cannoli for ingredients, is Uncle Joey’s Cannoli chip and dip. It is a dish of cream filling and chocolate chips that gets dipped into with the cannoli shell ‘chips’ by the customer.

“I have a couple different programs in my mission statement when I decided to do this full-time and quit Golden Cannoli, which was that I would give a good portion of my business to charity,” Sidelinger said. “So if you go to our website and order cannolis, particular charities will get 50% of anything we sell.”

Uncle Joey’s Cannoli does fundraisers called, “Cannoli For A Cause”  and 50% of the total proceeds will go to the organization of the events’ choice. Recently, North Middlesex Regional High School hosted an athletic event during cancer awareness day and Uncle Joey’s Cannoli sent some of their proceeds to the Children’s Oncology Group.

“We’ll go to [different charity] locations, such as we recently went to a high school last week for a cancer society where we raised about $1,500 selling cannolis,” Sidelinger said. “We give the charity half of that.”

If you’re looking for a good way to find out more about either of these trucks to try their cuisine, you can find them on Instagram as @unclejoeyscannoli and @cousinsmainelobster.

Gallery • 7 Photos

Credit: Sasha Libenzon

The Connecticut roll is the most popular sandwich at Cousins Maine Lobster. The roll featured lobster with hot butter and a slight touch of lemon. Along with the Connecticut roll, the truck also served the Maine roll, for those who prefer a cold roll. "My favorite is probably the Maine roll," a Cousins Maine Lobster employee said.