For Avon resident Dana Koffman, feeding locals affordably is a top priority.
Koffman, who learned to cook in Louisiana, is the owner of Slappy’s Creole Cuisine, a new food truck coming to Avon within the next couple of weeks. She successfully opened and ran the Slappy’s truck for four years in Texas. She is now bringing the Louisiana-style food — and her philosophy of helping and supporting people — to Eagle County.
Koffman will be serving a variety of Cajun entrees, including thin fried catfish, gumbo, jambalaya and po’boy sandwiches, all for under $15.
Koffman first started Slappy’s while living in Texas, where the truck was a fixture in the Woodlands near Houston for four years. When COVID hit, Koffman decided to sell the truck. In December 2022, her son, who had moved to Vail, invited her to join him.
“He called me and said, ‘Mom, there’s no Cajun food up here, and everything is so expensive,’” Koffman said.
Within weeks, Koffman had moved to the valley. “I got here, and for like four-and-a-half months, I went to every restaurant, every bar. I know every bartender, I know every restaurant owner, and I just got to know the valley,” she said. “I was so taken with the beauty of waking up in the morning and just seeing massive snowfall, and sheep, and I just fell in love with it.”
In the spring, Koffman left Eagle County to spend time with family, but by June, she was back. While working as a concierge at the Sonnenalp Hotel and Spa this summer, and spending more time building her community, she saw definitively that there was a market for her food.
Affordable eats
As she got to know the community, the affordability problems facing locals immediately jumped out at Koffman.
“People have to eat and people have to feel safe when they put their head down at night,” she said. “And I can’t fix the housing thing, but I can definitely help with the food.”
Her business model is based around supporting the community members’ regular routines.
“Being able to just be at home when you get off work and not have to go drive somewhere and go into a restaurant and eat,” Koffman said. “It’s local-driven, and I’m happy to serve the people who come in from out of town with millions of dollars, but that’s not the goal. The goal is to make sure that everyone who works here and lives here (can affordably eat at Slappy’s).”
About a month ago, Koffman began cooking out of a kitchen in Gypsum, delivering samples of her cuisine to local restaurants and friends. She received rave reviews, she said, and the experience built her confidence about restarting Slappy’s in Eagle County. The delivery service is currently operational, and individuals and businesses can order through the Slappy’s Creole Cuisine website.
Koffman provides free delivery services to Avon locals.
“Feeding locals affordably is a huge thing for me. There’s free delivery in Avon because it’s hard enough to live here. To pay like Uber Eats fees and DoorDash fees is just ridiculous,” Koffman said.
Live music and hugs
To Koffman, the ambiance surrounding her truck is just as important as the food. She welcomes everyone at her truck, and makes a point of getting to know her customers.
“That’s part of my thing, is hugging people and making them feel loved and accepted and it’s just part of what I do. I think that made the food truck way more popular (in Texas), because it wasn’t just food,” Koffman said.
A musician herself — Koffman plays the guitar and sings — she plans to invite musicians to play live music around the truck, which will always be located on Nottingham Ranch Road.
“I love music. I love playing music, but I really love listening to music, too,” she said.
Koffman learned to cook Cajun food while working in her parents’ restaurant in Baton Rouge.
“I’m from Louisiana. My parents owned a restaurant at the north gates of LSU (Louisiana State University) called the Gumbo Place. And when I was at LSU, I worked there. I cooked with my parents, and both of my parents were passionate about cooking,” Koffman said.
“My dad was a big music person, too. We had live music in there and we woke up at 4 o’clock in the morning and cooked gumbo and it got in my blood. I love food. I mean, I love food. I’m a food snob,” Koffman said.
‘Like the universe speaking to me’
When she couldn’t find bread that met her standards to make po’boy sandwiches, the Avon Bakery and Deli owners, friends of Koffman’s, stepped up.
“Mark and Dan at Avon Bakery (and Deli) — I couldn’t find bread to replicate Leidenheimer (Baking Company) in New Orleans. And that is the only bread I’m willing to use for po’boys because it’s just unbeatable. And they found the recipe, and they made that bread,” Koffman said.
The experience felt “like the universe speaking to me,” Koffman said. “I just think having a local business commit to that shows a lot of mutual respect. And that means a lot to me.”
Making authentic Louisianan cuisine in the mountains of Colorado comes with its challenges.
“It’s harder to get fresh seafood here, but not impossible. But the way that I cook, I mean, my shrimp po’boys are real shrimp, individual big shrimp that I bread and fry. And I only use peanut oil, because vegetable is terrible for you, and peanut oil doesn’t cross flavor,” Koffman said.
Koffman plans to use the commissary kitchen in Gypsum for catering orders and cooking big pots of gumbo, but much of the food served from the food truck will be cooked right on the truck. “For the purposes of daily lunch and dinner, I would be serving off the food truck. Everything fried would come directly off the truck,” Koffman said. “Any sandwiches, all that has to happen on the truck because you want it fresh and immediate and Gypsum is too far,” she said.
Going forward, she’s looking for a kitchen manager and a prep cook to become fully operational. Her son will run her sales and marketing.
As the truck’s clientele grows, so, too, will the menu.
“In the spring, I’ll say late winter, by the end of February, we’ll start doing crawfish and we’ll do that every day and (her son) Chase will do the crawfish, because that’s what he does,” Koffman said.
As she opens to the public, Koffman has no worries about the success of her business. “I feel very confident right now. Like I just, I can’t imagine that it would fail, because the food is so good, and I’m so committed to it,” Koffman said. “I think it’s the spirit you do things in that is the most rewarding part of anything you do.”
Slappy’s Creole Cuisine is open for lunch and dinner delivery beginning at noon on Wednesdays through Sundays. Koffman has purchased her food truck, and will be set up and ready to sell within the next couple of weeks. For now, individuals and businesses can place orders for delivery on Slappy’s website. Koffman plans to post on her website and Facebook when the food truck is open for business, which will be located at 85 Nottingham Ranch Road in Avon.