Food truck owners put ‘Heart & Soul’ into cooking up solutions to business snags

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – A local food truck owner and chef is determined to keep his business going after multiple hurdles.

Tyrone Bennett and his wife started their food truck after he lost his job to COVID, which was the first obstacle he had to overcome.

A week after getting his business off the ground, a car accident put part of his business on hold.

“On March 30, we were heading to a catering and food truck event in Palm Coast and we were about five to six minutes away when we got hit from behind by a driver,” Bennett said. “The trailer jackknifed and jumped off the trailer. It slid about 100 feet down I-95. The driver that hit us flew and went into the bushes.”

Bennett said he and his wife were discouraged, but his business is not the only thing the crash affected.

After Bennett lost his job to COVID, he started an organization called “We Feed St. Augustine.”

“We give out fresh groceries. We give out cooked prepared meals,” Bennett said. “It was an idea in a room during COVID, and it went from an idea to a wholehearted 501c3 organization. It connects restaurants and food industry professionals to the community.”

The organization has been feeding families through the pandemic, but since the crash, they have been put on pause due to the truck being totaled.

Even though Bennett has to purchase a new food truck, he is not giving up on serving his community.

“Our hope is that we come back to the community,” Bennett said. “The community has been very very supportive. We come back bigger and better and stronger.”

Bennett said he and his wife are planning to relaunch at the St. Augustine Food and Wine Festival and hope to be back up and running the first week of May.