Tap truck ready to roll as weddings, events begin to pick up

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- As the state slowly reopens, the wedding industry is finally generating some revenue.

And now, after being virtually shut down for months, wedding vendors are starting to see renewed business.

One of those vendors, a unique beverage service run by two Wake County couples, is trying to make a Carolina Comeback.

"I don't see us being able to finish like we did last year, but I do think it will be better than what we were anticipating a few months ago where we'd be shut down for the entire year," Tonya Baskerville told ABC11.

Baskerville is one-fourth of Tap Truck NC.

She and her husband, Tim, along with Jim and Chris Morris, got the mobile beverage service off the ground last year.

"We were very pleased with our first year considering the fact that we did absolutely no advertising whatsoever. It was all word-of-mouth or through social media that people came to us," Baskerville told ABC11. "So we were gearing up for 2020 being really big."

The pandemic changed all that.

The two vintage panel trucks outfitted with keg coolers rolled their last mile at the end of February.

Finally, this month, the taps opened again but only for a couple of events.

Business is down 80% compared to this time last year, according to Baskerville.

Still, there's some hope on the horizon primarily for one reason.

"It's becoming easier for people to get back into planning their weddings," she said.

And, she noted, they are not only bringing in a little revenue for Tap Truck NC but also local breweries.

As she poured a beer from the taps on one of the trucks she said, "This is from one of our local breweries, Cloud Brewing, which is downtown Raleigh."

Tap Truck NC also serves wine and even non-alcoholic beverages from a soon-to-be fleet of five trucks.

That's right.

They used their downtime to take a leap of faith and make a capital investment.

It's a sign that they, and so many others, hope the pandemic can be brought under control in 2021.

"Things are starting to open up now, which is great and we're getting a lot more requests for what we're doing, which is exciting," she said.

Another sign of their optimism, after seeing our story last week about a contest for a free wedding for essential workers, they signed on.

"We're excited to be a part of the event. It's such a good cause," Baskerville said.

They are hoping that wedding will be just one of many events to come.