Jun 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By David A Kolman

Body benefits

Morehead's FE 125 has a 12-foot-long, 10-foot 6-inch-high Fresh Max refrigerated body. Manufactured by Complete Truck Bodies of Gay, Georgia, the Fresh Max line features three to four inches of insulation, seamless aluminum inner and outer skins, and body panel's pressure bonded to structural foam for superior strength and durability.

The rear of the body has two full panel opening swing doors. A single panel swing door is on the body's curb side. Plastic strip curtains are on all the doors to help keep the cold in and the heat out when the doors are open.

For the refrigeration unit, Morehead settled on the Thermo King V500 Max reefer with electric plug-in capability.

“One of the things I liked about the truck body was its smoothness, which would make our vehicle wrap look even better,” says Morehead. “We designed the wrap to be a unique, eye-catching rolling billboard for our gourmet desserts.

“We even have the wrap on the front of the truck body, as well as on top of the cab, so it can be seen from just about any angle.”

Snappy Sign in Cocoa Beach, Florida, did the vehicle wrapping and Morehead says, “and they did a great job”

He has been focusing his sales efforts on smaller family run mom-and-pop type eateries, independent restaurants, caterers, and country clubs. “I do have a couple of larger accounts, including some fine dining restaurants and two large hotels, The Rosen Omni Plaza in Orlando and the Daytona Beach Hilton. In total, I now have more than 50 customers.”

Time management

Morehead is dividing his time between his nursery and pie businesses. “It's keeping me extremely busy, but I'm loving every minute of it.”

He's in the process of adding a retail store for his pies at his nursery, which sits right off busy US 1.

“I'm proud that I've developed the pie business so fast in such a short time, but unfortunately the Central Florida economy has slowed,” Morehead says. “We don't have the usual amount of snowbirds here.

“Not only are fewer people wintering here this year, there aren't as many people going out to eat as normal.

“One nice thing about the slowdown,” he says, “is that when I'm cold calling on restaurants, the decision makers are more available and have more time to visit with me. This is important because my pies sell themselves. The key is to get them to have a taste.”