An allergy led a Columbus woman to build a food truck opening soon. What’s on the menu?

Porsha Huff thought hard about a name for the food trailer business as she drove down Veterans Parkway one day.

The white Nissan Rogue was quiet as her 6-year-old son, Braxton Moffet, sat with his head in his tablet. Huff has a background in the film and technology industries, so she was relying on her creativity to come up with a unique name that would stick.

She thought about the feeling people get when they have their mind on eating something they’re craving and how it makes their mouth water. The word “drool” came to mind.

Huff began playing around with words and eventually the name came to her.

Droolnolie’s, which rhymes with cannolis, will be on the road in Columbus and across the state of Georgia beginning early next year.

“(The name) doesn’t sound like what it is,” Huff said. “Some people might think it’s Italian food. You don’t know what Droolnolie’s is until you actually experience it.”

The food trailer’s menu includes land and sea boils, pastas, lamb dinners and a variety of hotdogs and subs.

“We just have a unique variety of foods, some of your favorite comfort foods, that we put together to cater towards your taste buds,” Huff said.

From a food allergy to a new career

Last September, Huff was at her home cooking when the germ of the idea of her own business was born.

She’d learned how to cook from her Aunt Frances, who was a chef. Before her aunt died, Huff called her all the time to learn recipes and ask for advice while experimenting in the kitchen.

Huff had to experiment a lot because she was allergic to minced garlic, which is often infused in recipes at restaurants. When Huff was younger, the smell of garlic would make her sick. Now she can eat garlic, as long as it isn’t minced.

“I used to have to literally try to make recipes taste like I wanted them to taste without having the garlic in there,” she said. “So, there was a lot of trial and error.”

Many of the items on Droolnolie’s menu are special because they come from Huff and her family experimenting with recipes. This doesn’t mean the food doesn’t utilize garlic, she said, but that they’ve learned to cook with it in different ways.

After Huff cooked her seafood boil at home, she did what a lot of people do in the age of social media. She snapped a photo and posted it on Facebook.

“Oh my God, it looks amazing,” people responded to her post. “I want to try it out.”

So, Huff decided it wouldn’t hurt to make a couple of boils to share with others. After getting good feedback from people who tried her food, Huff decided to pursue her new passion.

She quit her job working in the tech industry in Atlanta and went all in to create Droolnolie’s.

“If you know me, I am all about all or nothing,” Huff said. “My thing is, if it’s something that I really want to do, there’s no such thing as failure. The only way that you’re going to fail is if you really don’t apply yourself.”

God and family

Huff’s passion about getting Droonolie’s off the ground and on the road has taken all of her focus and life savings, she said.

But she is surrounded by support from family and friends, along with her faith.

“It’s God, my determination and my mother to see it through,” Huff said.

Her mother, Pamela, died in 2017 while Huff was nine months pregnant with Braxton. Huff gets her creativity from her mother, she said, who was also a creator and enjoyed film. Now that her mother and her aunt have died, Huff believes their spirits continue to help guide her as she starts a new life chapter with Droolnolie’s.

“I know my mom is in a better position,” Huff said. “She’s with God, so I need them to team up and make things happen. I think I have my special angels with her and my auntie.”

Along with her spiritual faith, Huff leans on her husband, Jerry Mofett, to help as much as he can. Jerry is a contractor in Kuwait, where he still lives.

“He loves the idea,” Huff said. “He’s the designer. He designed the logos.”

Jerry even came back home to Columbus to paint the logo in their base of operations with Huff’s father, Curtis Huff Sr.

Huff’s best friend, Shakendra Skipwith, is working with her as the chief operating officer of Droolnolie’s.

“That’s my best friend since kindergarten,” Huff said. “So, that’s my sister.”

Curtis Huff Jr., her brother, lives in Atlanta. He will be an integral part of helping run Droolnolies when the food trailer is in Atlanta, Huff said.

Droolnolie’s is expected to celebrate its grand opening in Columbus in January. Residents may see the base of operations on Gentian Boulevard, but this location is not a restaurant open to the public, she said.

For now the business will operate only as a food trailer. People who want to try out the food can go to Droolnolie’s Facebook page or on the website to learn more about where the trailer will be and when.

While Huff expects it to be in either Columbus or Atlanta the majority of the time, Droolnolie’s will also travel to other cities like Augusta and Savannah. Along with the food trailer, people can also order catering on the website.

“We want you to feel like family,” Huff said. “We want you to enjoy the food. We want you to have a great experience, and we want you to come back because we’re grateful for you.”