Food trucks are on their way to Dorchester and Mattapan. Starting next month, expect one to be stationed at the Ashmont MBTA stop on Friday afternoons; another could soon come to the Mattapan T station.

“We figured we’d try it a day a week” and build from there, said Patrick Gilmartin, who has paired with business partner Adam Gendreau to start a food-truck company dubbed “Staff Meal.”

Gilmartin, who met his business partner when the two were working at Cambridge’s Rialto, said they are focusing on the Ashmont area because they hope to build a following in the more “neighborhood-y” parts of Boston and know one of the chefs at Tavolo, a restaurant located in the Carruth building next to the station.

Their food truck will also be parked elsewhere in Boston other days and nights of the week, including the Back Bay, a spot on Clarendon Street, and in front of the Boston Public Library in Copley Square.

Gilmartin said they were drawn to the concept of a food truck because opening up a brick and mortar restaurant these days is expensive. “The more we started thinking about it, the more we started realizing the possibilities,” he said.

Locals are cautiously optimistic about the arrival of a food truck in the area. “As long as they provide good food and they’re not competing with the other businesses here in the square, it could be a great thing for the neighborhood,” said Dan Larner, executive director of St. Mark’s Area Main Streets, whose offices are located directly across from the Ashmont station.

Larner noted that a number of restaurants and cafes are already in the area, including Tavolo, Ashmont Grill, Johnny’s Pizza, and Flat Black Coffee.
Edith Murnane, City Hall’s director of food initiatives, said every food truck company is signing a statement pledging not to compete with the local stores and restaurants. “So the food truck that has signed on to be out at Ashmont, they have said that they would not serve something that is in direct competition,” she said.

The menu available on the Staff Meal website has a variety of snacks – including pork belly summer rolls with taramind dipping sauce and arepas with pickled watermelon – and sandwiches – chicken paprikash sub with bacon jam and fried shallots and press smoked pork loin with braised cabbage and apple butter. The prices range from $3 to $4 for the snacks and $6 for the sandwiches. The concept is based on the type of food restaurant staff often throw together for their own meals.

Mayor Thomas Menino and the City Council have set up a new regulatory structure for the food trucks, and the administration has made 15 locations, including Dorchester and Mattapan, available for use and permitting. The other sites include Boston University, Kenmore Square, the South End, Bay Village, Back Bay, South Boston’s waterfront, and the Charlestown Navy Yard. The locations were picked via an online survey of residents, and by city officials checking on which areas could accommodate the presence of a food truck without endangering public safety or causing traffic congestion.

Earlier this year, food trucks were operating on City Hall Plaza and the Kennedy Greenway.
Fifteen vendors have signed on to the effort, including Staff Meal, The Cupcakory, Go Fish, Roxy’s Gourmet Grilled Cheese, the Froyo Truck, and Clover Fast Food, among others. A slot at the Mattapan T station remains available.

Permits for the Ashmont area and elsewhere will run until the end of December, when City Hall officials plan to gather together a group of stakeholders, including the food truck owners and residents, to parse through what went right and what went wrong in the initiative, which is still in the pilot stage.

“We’re really looking at this as a pilot, so it’s in December and in January we’ll be convening these groups to look at what works, what people liked, what people didn’t like, how they would like to change things,” Murnane said.

More information on the food truck initiative is available at cityofboston.gov/foodtrucks.