ONTARIO — Nicole Martinez said she and her husband, David, always knew they wanted to own their own business.
“Originally, I had said a bakery and cafe, but I woke up a few times in the middle of the night thinking it was supposed to be a food truck,” she said.
The Martinezes bought a trailer from Simple Fire Wood-Fired Pizza in January and made their debut with Nonno Nick’s Wood-Fired Pizza Oct. 13 at Stingel Elementary School.
David Martinez said he and Nicole are still thinking about making Puerto Rican food in the trailer, but they decided on pizza because the trailer already had the wood-fired oven.
“This thing weighs a ton, so we thought we’d keep it for now,” he said. “(Puerto Rican food) was Nicole’s dream because she loves cooking Puerto Rican food — my grandmother taught her all the recipes and stuff like that.”
Nicole Martinez also learned cooking techniques from her family. The name Nonno Nick’s is a tribute to her grandfather.
“Nonno is ‘grandpa’ in Italian,” she said. “My Grandpa Nick was from Sicily. He had a fireplace that he built himself and used to cook out on the fire like this.”
David and Nicole Martinez have five children between the ages of 7 and 22 who help them with the food truck when they can.
David Martinez said the older children will make pizzas and younger ones will take orders at the window.
“It keeps the family unity together,” he said. “The kids love it, they get a kick out of it. The little ones are already talking about doing a lemonade stand outside the trailer next year.”
David Martinez spent five years in the Army Reserves and 23 years in the U.S. Navy, which he retired from in 2021.
“After 28 years of military service, I’m glad I don’t have to report to anybody but her,” he said. “Being your own boss is nice — it’s challenging but it’s worth it.”
Nicole Martinez works on the freight team at Home Depot. She has served pizza to the Home Depot evening crew a few nights.
“I want to be able to give back and take care of people,” she said.
The husband-and-wife team have registered for a number of school fundraisers and plan to donate 10 to 20% of their sales to the causes.
“It depends on how our sales are that particular day,” Nicole Martinez said. “So far, we’ve done all 20s.”
Nicole Martinez said she organizes where the food truck will park with business owners in advance. She said some friends have also offered their property.
“They’ve all been amazingly gracious,” Nicole Martinez said. “As soon as people found out we were doing this, we had people reaching out to us offering their parking lots.”
Nonno Nick’s menu includes cheese, pepperoni and sausage pizzas, as well as barbecue chicken and meat pizzas. Nicole Martinez said they sometimes make margherita and breakfast pizzas for special events.
Nonno Nick’s will sponsor Ontario High School sports fundraisers Jan. 21 and 28. Schedules and open hours are announced on the business’ Facebook and Instagram pages.
