Aroy-D the Thai Elephant

Aroy-D the Thai Elephant Food Truck in New Jersey

It started with a dream shared by a husband and wife. In 2006, Pupay came to the US to get a new start in life and met Jon shortly after. Two years later they were married. Soon she realized how much she missed her native Thai food and so she started shopping around northern Jersey to look for the products so she could make her own "home" food.
She found a number of stores that specialized in the unique Thai products and soon she was cooking for the first time in her life.
Well, Jon HAD to have some and realized that this was about the best food he'd ever eaten. Going to work every day in a software development office, Jon would bring Pupay's food to work. Everyone around him would rage in jealousy at lunchtime as the food was so much better than anything they had.
So one day, Pupay agreed to make lunch for the office. It was SUCH a hit, that they all asked for it again and again. Soon they were catering meetings and providing lunch for dozens of employees.
By then they knew they needed to open a restaurant to accommodate the growing demand. But money was tight. Then in 2009, the Great Food Truck Race debuted on the Food Network. This was something that they both knew they could do.
After searching for a truck for over a year, researching the business, understanding the importance of identifying the demographic and following the market, they finally found an affordable truck.
Unfortunately, it wasn't a food truck, it was a Matco Tool Truck.
But in April of 2011 they purchased it and parked it in the backyard of their home. Day after day, Jon left the office, went to the hardware store and bought tools and supplies. Then he headed home and used the internet to learn how to convert the truck from a Tool Truck to the Thai Elephant Food Truck!

It took about 6 months, but in October of 2011
Aroy D (Thai for "very yummy") made its debut and has been on the streets serving the freshest Thai food to northern New Jersey ever since.

Three years later, they opened their first ever Brick and Mortar restaurant in Verona, NJ. Initially it was just intended to be a front for the truck operations but the enormous popularity among the Verona community meant more hiring and expansion.

In 2015, the decision was made to expand into the Thai dessert business by bringing Thai rolled ice cream in the form of Ice Cream Thai'm, our converted 1969 VW bus. It now roams the streets of northern Jersey to great fanfare and honking horns everywhere!

Then in 2017, they were walking their newborn baby girl (Skylar) when Pupay saw a sign in a window FOR RENT. Stopping and peering in the windows, she suggested they move the every popular restaurant into this NEW and HIGHLY VISIBLE location with MUCH more space. Well, months later and after hard work and sweat, the new location at 605 Bloomfield Ave
opened on Sept 23, 2017 with a vastly improved menu and setup including our very own Ice Cream Thai'm bar!!