The season is in full swing and Johnny Meatballs On A Roll is rollin’ on to some huge things! Last week, we officially moved into our brand new facility in Lodi (Land-of-Dynamite-Italians), which will serve as Johnny Meatballs Headquarters and the RevCon Printing Studios—our in-house t-shirt and logo design service.

Our private catering business is now taking off and we have been doing lots of different things at all of our public events lately. We introduced our new Meatball Skewers (mini meatballs with bocconcini on sticks) on News 12 last month and that gave us an idea to start a new “Special of the Week” campaign. Thus far, it has been a real success.

In addition to the hot meatball sandwiches and meatballs-in-a-box, we set up a pot of boiling water on the cart at the Hasbrouck Heights Farmers Market last week and introduced hot made-to-order Star cheese ravioli. They were a huge hit! The following week in Fort Lee, we introduced – are you ready? – hot dogs! That’s right folks, the world’s first mobile meatball cart now is also a hot dog wagon. Although I was skeptical of the idea at first, it does make perfect sense.

Some people have been approaching us thinking that we are a hot dog cart, so now if someone isn’t in the mood for a meatball we can offer that option of a dog. But these aren’t just ordinary hot dogs, of course. We use nothing but the best, super large Sabretts—my opinion the best on the market—with sauerkraut and red onions (among all our other available toppings). In time, we hope to try out some more ideas—like Italian style hot dogs in pizza bread with potatoes, onions and peppers. And maybe sausage and peppers and chili too as the cooler weather approaches.


Besides all that and our souvenir table with t-shirts, hats and other JM merchandise, we really are looking to expand even further this fall. Our ultimate goal is to have our stand be a grand Italian-American one-stop shop...Johnny's Italian Village. Think dried sausages hanging from the side of our tent, lots of different cuts of boxed macaroni and a nice selection of canned and jarred goods...plus pastries, pies and different treats like gelato sandwiches which we plan to try soon. We already have the San Benedetto tea, olive oil in our personalized bottles, our sauce made with Jersey tomatoes, and will soon offer balsamic vinegar and who knows what else! But that’s not all...not even close!

Recently, we formed a new friendship with the great folks at DiPaolo Bros. Bakery—the original on Bloomfield Avenue in Newark. They will be making us Johnny Meatball stuffed breads and meatball-topped mini pizza pies to be available off the cart and direct in their bakery. In September, we will be helping them coordinate their huge 50th anniversary celebration, an event we can't wait to be a part of.


More carts are still going to be constructed and there are actually two more major things in the works. We are in current negotiations for two seperate television projects. I would indulge more, but we are still in the very early phases. But stay tuned. You aint seen nothing yet!