Federal Way’s Swagg-n-Wagon serves tasty chicken with love

Published 5:30 am Saturday, April 4, 2026

Clifford and Monique Gatterson are the Federal Way community members behind Swagg-n-Wagon Wings & Things — a food truck and Federal Way storefront that was nominated for this year’s Best of Federal Way.

Swagg-n-Wagon also won the people’s choice and the judge’s top pick at the Taste of Federal Way in 2024 in their first and only year participating.

Their small but mighty menu focuses on their perfected fried chicken in several forms and classic sides of collard greens, cornbread or fries — along with their signature sauce.

The family-owned business opened a Federal Way storefront in the location of the former Lumpia World in May 2025, but you’ll also see their food truck at events throughout the region.

Their weekly schedule is posted on their Facebook, including when they’ll be at their Federal Way storefront.

“It’s different when your business is in the community you live in … it feels special,” Monique said of opening the new permanent location.

As Chef Cliff developed the final concept for the truck, his extensive background in a variety of cuisines made it hard to choose what to focus on. He loves cooking Italian food and at one point purchased panini presses as he explored his options.

Ultimately he decided to make the food that he had the hardest time finding in the Seattle area, and food he knew there was a demand for.

It also has a special history. The first meal he ever cooked for his wife was fried chicken, cornbread, corn and mac n’ cheese. They’ve now been together for 27 years, and she said it’s still her favorite meal and she could eat it every day.

Customers will just have to imagine that mac n’ cheese though. While they had a larger menu in the past including mac n’ cheese, red beans and rice and jambalaya, Cliff fine-tuned it over the years to focus on things that could be consistently delivered at peak flavor throughout a food truck shift.

Swagg-n-Wagon is not giving up their truck anytime soon. Their storefront also acts as the kitchen for their food truck and that part of their business will still be a strong focus.

The couple explained that it is a much more efficient way to run a food business, especially in a time when the economy is in a tougher place and people have less disposable income in their budgets.

Rather than waiting for hours for people to come to them, they can head to an event for three hours and have nonstop lines.

“We’re going to where people are hungry … it’s a night and day difference,” he said. They both described how much fun it is to share their food at such a wide variety of events, from private parties to corporate events to markets and street fairs and more.

Cliff focuses on the food side of the business while Monique runs the financial and administrative side of things, along with leading the customer service.

While Cliff has been working on having a food business of his own for many years, Monique took on her role in the business within the past few years after leaving her job as a supervisor of the financial services team at Virginia Mason Franciscan Health.

Although she said she loved it there and thought she was going to retire from the company, when their sons’ school switched to virtual classes during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, they decided to make some changes.

Owning a business together as a married couple has been a blessing, Monique said.

To put it simply, “I love being with that man,” Monique said. “We have grown, our marriage has grown with building this business, we’ve learned things about each other. We’re together when things are hard and when they are good, you celebrate together.”

“Once my wife joined in she’s such a great administrator … that made it so we could scale it to the next level,” Cliff said.

Cliff has also made hard choices to balance his role as a parent and a small business owner.

Cliff’s first food business was a restaurant in Freighthouse Square in Tacoma. Although he got good reviews and learned a lot, the long hours took a toll on him and he closed up shop after a few years.

“My son would be asleep in the morning when I left for work, then I’d get home fourteen hours later and he’d be asleep again,” Cliff said. It got to the point where he realized, “I really want to raise my child … I don’t want to be the working dad that he never sees.”

After Cliff closed the first restaurant, he started coaching his son’s sports teams and said it was the best decision he ever made.

He didn’t give up his dream though, and saved the money from selling his first round of culinary equipment to invest in a food truck when his son was old enough.

Today despite the challenges that small businesses bring, they’ve now found a flow that allows them enough flexibility to get the quality time that feeds their soul while also feeding the community.