John Coffelt, Editor

The owners of the Heaven in your Mouth food truck are no strangers to the restaurant business.

Their latest venture, a brick-and-mortar expansion of their food truck fair coming next month to the square, will offer Dan and Leanne Dunford a place to do what they say they do best, make heavenly food.

Dan, a longtime restauranteur dating back to his kitchen education in the military, moved to Utah to be near his parents and to open a national-chain drive in. A heart attack, however, changed those plans.

While he convalesced, he began researching the restaurant industry, and an idea grew from his love for barbecue.

The Dunfords eventually got a barbecue food truck up and going and dove into the crowded food truck scene in their area.

“In Utah, what they call barbecue is what they cook on the grill,” Dan said. “Our food trailer was a huge success. Then we had the opportunity to open a restaurant in town.”

The restaurant operated with about 20 employees. Diners would come from as far away as Salt Lake City and Idaho. When the pandemic hit, the 20 employees dropped to two and the husband-and-wife team sold to-go orders from the drive thru.

Leanne said after the pandemic, they sold the restaurant and returned to selling barbecue from a food truck until they felt it was time to return to Tennessee and their family who live here.

For three years they’ve operated the Heaven in your Mouth food truck here, mostly at Arnold’s Air Force base. With the brick-and-mortar kitchen, the Dunfords will expand their menu.

“We’ll do our black angus steakburgers, flatbread pizzas, Korean-style rice bowls and deli-style sandwiches,” Leanne said. “Of course we have catering, maybe ladies’ luncheons, reserve the place out for bridal showers – private events.”

“We are taking some of our favorite things that we’ve have had success with on the truck and putting them here,” she said.

Dan said he plans to have daily specials like pasta dishes, higher quality meat and three lunches and Greek food – a whole lineup of choices, and as he sees what does best, those items will return more frequently.

The steakburgers and flatbread pizzas and deli-sliced sandwiches will be menu mainstays. Dan said he will not spare any expense on the quality of the ingredients. From the choice angus beef to Prosciutto to Italian hoagies, the self-described foodies are going to focus more on what they’re good at:  cooking good food.  

Dan just purchased a new pizza oven that can also use wood for a genuine stone fired pizza experience ready in only about 2 minutes. Leanne, the baker, will be bringing homemade bread.

“Our business plan is to offer a lot of high-quality food … and to offer a really great price,” Dan said. “I’m not showing off, but we’re foodies. We love really great food, so we want to offer that in a smaller venue that we can manage ourselves.” 

The small shop at 116 S. Spring St., where “bakehouse” was located, will have 15 seats for dine-in customers, and primarily cater to-go sales.

The Dunfords are still deciding what the store hours will look like, but they hope to be open on Mondays and Tuesdays when some of the other local spots are closed.   

John has been with the Manchester Times since May 2011. John has won Tennessee Press Association awards for Best News Photo and placed in numerous other categories. John is a 1994 graduate of Tullahoma High School, a graduate of Motlow State Community College and earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Middle Tennessee State University. He lives in Tullahoma, enjoys painting, dancing and exploring the outdoors.