09/21/2026
🚨 PSA — KANSAS CITY FOOD TRUCK CUSTOMERS & OWNERS: PLEASE READ AND SHARE 🚨
This is going to be a long post, but it needs to be said.
If you're booking a food truck for a wedding, graduation, employee appreciation event, birthday, private party, corporate event or anything else, VERIFY WHO YOU ARE GIVING YOUR MONEY TO.
Over the last six-plus months, several food-truck owners and I have been working to organize our industry and form an independent food-truck association. Part of that work has involved researching what's happening around our industry.
And that research led me somewhere I didn't expect.
🚨 SUBJECT #1 — A "KANSAS CITY FOOD TRUCK ASSOCIATION" WEBSITE
We discovered a website presenting itself as a Kansas City food-truck association. It features local food trucks and presents customers with the ability to book trucks for events.
Instead of immediately making accusations, I investigated it myself.
I called the number listed.
I physically went to the Kansas City address associated with it.
The address led me to an apartment in an apartment building.
I researched the business registration information.
And most importantly, I personally contacted two of the food-truck businesses displayed on the website.
According to those owners, they had NO KNOWLEDGE that their businesses were being presented on this website in this manner.
Let that sink in.
I'm tagging trucks because businesses deserve to know when their names, images or likenesses are being used in connection with something they didn't authorize.
ChickHoovenSwine BBQ Catering
Homestyle Grill
QueenPins & KingPins Food Trucks
The Melt Truck
Based on what I personally investigated and what these owners told me, I have serious concerns about this operation and believe consumers and food-truck owners need to protect themselves.
DO NOT SEND MONEY JUST BECAUSE A WEBSITE CLAIMS IT CAN BOOK A PARTICULAR FOOD TRUCK.
Call the actual truck.
Ask the owner:
"Did you authorize this company to represent you?"
"Are they allowed to book your truck?"
"Is my event actually on your calendar?"
"Are they authorized to collect money on your behalf?"
Five minutes on the phone could save somebody from a nightmare on their wedding day or from expecting a truck to feed 200 employees that never knew about the event.
If you believe you've already lost money through a fraudulent transaction, save your receipts, emails, screenshots and other documentation and report it to the appropriate authorities.
This is EXACTLY the type of issue a legitimate food-truck association should be addressing.
And that brings me to Subject #2.
🚨 THE 300-FOOT "HALO" RULE & WHO REPRESENTS FOOD TRUCKS
Kansas City's 300-foot rule didn't appear out of thin air.
Before City Hall voted, restaurant owners in the Crossroads publicly argued that food trucks were hurting their businesses. Restaurant representatives participated in the discussion advocating for greater separation between restaurants and mobile vendors.
I know because I followed this fight, spoke publicly about it and was at City Hall.
The ordinance ultimately passed.
Food trucks now have to deal with the consequences.
So when I'm asked to sit in a room and accept that organizations whose interests have been on the OTHER SIDE of this issue are suddenly the people food trucks should depend upon to protect our interests, I'm going to ask questions.
And I'm not going to apologize for asking them.
At a recent food-truck association meeting, I respectfully raised those concerns.
I'm not interested in personal attacks.
I'm interested in WHO REPRESENTS FOOD TRUCKS WHEN OUR LIVELIHOODS ARE ON THE LINE.
My position is simple:
Food trucks need an INDEPENDENT voice.
Restaurants deserve representation.
Neighborhood organizations deserve representation.
Food trucks deserve representation too.
But those interests are NOT always identical.
When they're not, somebody needs to be sitting at that table whose FIRST responsibility is protecting and advocating for the food-truck industry.
That's why we've been building our coalition.
🚨 AND YES — OUR ORGANIZATION IS MOVING FORWARD.
We've already taken the state-registration steps for our organization.
We're working through the bylaws, governance, membership structure and protections that need to exist for an organization like this to have credibility.
And I'm NOT rushing it just because another organization appeared first.
Being FIRST isn't the goal.
Building it RIGHT is.
I'm not interested in creating another club.
I'm interested in building an organization that can advocate for food trucks when ordinances are being written, educate operators about what's happening at City Hall, protect the integrity of our industry, identify potential problems affecting operators and give legitimate food-truck businesses a unified voice.
And here's something everybody who's gotten to know me already understands:
I WILL SPEAK UP.
Respectfully when possible.
Forcefully when necessary.
But I'm not going to sit quietly while decisions affecting people's livelihoods are being made around us.
The 300-foot rule showed this industry exactly what can happen when other interests are organized and food trucks aren't.
That changes now.
To my fellow food-truck owners:
Pay attention.
Ask questions.
Protect your business name.
Protect your images.
Protect your customers.
And KNOW who is claiming to represent you.
To our customers:
Before giving money to ANY third party claiming they can book a particular food truck, CONTACT THAT FOOD TRUCK DIRECTLY AND VERIFY IT.
Our association and membership rollout will be announced soon.
We're going to do this correctly.
We're going to do it transparently.
And most importantly—
FOOD TRUCK OWNERS WILL HAVE A VOICE AT THE TABLE.
— Hero
Hero's New York Griddle
