Morels, Food Truck no more?

And for the record, it absolutely takes $13K ( or more) to buy a truck, alter it, paint it, equip it, buy the licenses and food. Absolutely. I'd estimate the better part of 1K in the parallel batteries, inverter and cabling system.

Subject to an acceptable explanation, which I haven't heard yet, I'm throwing in with MikeG and Annemarie on this one.

For me, this is the "kicker":

From the Kickstart FAQ:

If you are unable to fulfill the promises made to backers, cannot complete the project as advertised, or decide to abandon the project for any reason, you are expected to cancel funding. A failure to do so could result in damage to your reputation or even legal action on behalf of your backers.

His promise was to open a food truck, which he did. Deb says he offered coupons to the donors and I think they have been given ample time to redeem them.

My feeling is you donate to the person and to the cause because you have faith in that person's vision and commitment, not because you explicitly (and merely) support the narrowly-defined project at hand.

I'm with this. Things change and evolve and the operator has to be able to bend and flex... or break.

It seems to me that Morels has a larger direction than the food truck (which is usually a jump-off to a brick-and-mortar, anyways.)

They promote Vegan cuisine.

However he feels he needs to accomplish that goal, fine. Would we rather watch those donations going down the tube on 'it's not Kosher?'

Now maybe I'm reading between the lines here, but it seems Ky plumbing statutes may have turned this project upside-down. The truck was built according to Ohio code.

Also, read the Ebay post- they list strengths and weaknesses! An effort has been made to avoid the 'buyer be ware' scenario. Doesn't seem like a drop-and-run kinda opperation to me...

(indeed, about as above-board as one could be)

C'mon- this is his baby. You know this is a tough decision, but one that had to be made...

[Robin Garr]

Here's the Morels Facebook page, folks. Have at it ...

http://www.facebook.com/Morelsfoodtruck

His promise was to open a food truck, which he did. Deb says he offered coupons to the donors and I think they have been given ample time to redeem them.

Whatever...

Please listen to the first podcast that he posted on the Facebook page a few weeks ago before passing any more judgment. It explains the issue completely as well as where the money will be going. The way I understand it, he has also invested a substantial amount of his own personal money into the business in addition to what was gotten from kickstarter.

The money he gets for the truck is going right back into the business to expand their retail sales at Rainbow Blossom and Heine Brothers. I personally am looking forward to the expanded retail sales because while I have not been able to make it out to the truck, I have tried quite a bit of the food through Rainbow Blossom and it was all delicious.

The business itself is not going away. I read what someone posted on the Facebook page, and I think as long as he sent out the coupons or whatever rewards were promised to his backers, there should not be a problem. The business is not shutting down -- Morels food will still be available. Also, does Kickstarter mention a length of time the business has to be operating? All it says is if you "abandon the project" -- I really don't think he has done that...he is changing direction with it, but the truck existed and has operated so it's not "abandoned." The money is being reinvested in the business.

Here's a link to the podcast I mentioned at the beginning of this post: http://atebitvegan.podomatic.com/entry/ ... 9_30-08_00

[Robin Garr]

Whatever...

Same question as to Annemarie: Do you have a stake? Did you contribute?

Stan is a very good friend of mine. He is definitly a stand up guy, who in no way ever takes advantage of people. He did put a great deal of his own money on top of what he got off of kickstarter. He has already fulfilled or is still planning to fulfill any and all of his in kind obligations to his backers. I myself being a backer (*small) and knowing many of his followers, wish him well in his new endeavor. It seems by focusing on doing more retail and catering his products will be more readily available to his customers. Isn't it more about the FOOD, rather than the way it arrives anyway?

I agree with what one person said on the Facebook page: I don't care if the food comes from a truck or a tree stump, as long as I can still get it.

whether i contributed or not has no baring on this issue: it's about principle.

principle as defined by Annemarie.

"It's about the principle." I don't even know what that means.

I didn't invest in Morels so I don't directly have a dog in this fight. That being said this turn of events would certainly make me much more leery about helping somebody else start up a venture using kickstart! It's been less than a year since the truck started operations, the money was raised last January. Being in operation for less than a year hardly equates to not abandoning the project! If he wants to expand that's wonderful but he shouldn't abandon the roots that got him started. If this was his plan all along he should have Ordered his original kickstart request much differently!

The quote that Steve posted from kickstart:

If you are unable to fulfill the promises made to backers, cannot complete the project as advertised, or decide to abandon the project for any reason, you are expected to cancel funding. A failure to do so could result in damage to your reputation or even legal action on behalf of your backers.

certainly defines expectations and it seems like he did not fulfill them. It will be interesting to see if kickstart does anything about this to help encourage future investors in their projects!

Not sure where to start or who to respond to here, but I'll try my best. First let me start by saying I think I may have the impression that Anne Marie and a few other have expressed if I heard the news too and didn't feel like reading the print under the headline. I knew this is the way this would be perceived weeks before we announced we were selling it. The issues where more complicated than a facebook post, or forum post like this one. So I recorded a 30 minute podcast explaining everything as honestly and in full as I possibly could. And then the following week I recorded another 45 minute podcast where we talked even more about the plans and changes coming for Morels. We announced the truck closing 3 weeks ago. It was in the Courier Journal a week before we even told everyone publicly (a whole other story). http://consuminglouisville.com/2011/11/morels-podcast-whats-happening-with-the-truck.php Consuming Louisville did an article on their website over 3 weeks ago about the closing of the truck. We've been talking about it on facebook very openly for the last 3 weeks as well. I've been cleaning the truck and prepping it to sell for the last month. We tell everyone its for sale yesterday on ebay, and now all of this. All of the preparation that wen't into avoiding this, was apparently not enough. So I'm going to try to sum this up the best I can.

The Kickstarter thing happened very fast, and before I knew it I had (after fees) a little under $12,000 in my account to buy a truck. After looking around for trucks and finding out that I also needed a commercial kitchen to prep my food in, and realizing that I needed cooking equipment, and the right permits, and utensils, a cash register, food prep cost, loads loads more. This was all separate from buying the truck. I ended up taking out another 12K in loans to help pay for everything. The truck was bought and driven to Dayton Ohio where it was built by a gentleman I found on Craigslist. It took him about a month and a half, but when it was done it was absolutely stunning. Obviously the laws weren't exactly inviting when we first opened in April, but we were able to start doing some gigs at bars and festivals. It was always a gamble though for us. Obviously we have a, some might (and have) say a "narrow market". A lot of people run the other way when they see the word vegan. We had great success at the Truckus Ruckus, and other events like those. But those are few and far between. Certainly not enough to pay for all of the overhead we have every month. I started selling sandwiches in Heine Brothers and Rainbow Blossom shortly after we opened the truck because, A I wanted to get people more familiar with the kind of food we were serving, and B we needed some extra income for the business. We started out selling about 10-20 sandwiches a week. Now after 7 months or so, we are over 300 a week. I have two very long days in the kitchen making 4 different types of sandwiches on a large scale. With all of our bills, we are still check to check every month. There's been a few times I feared we wouldn't have the money to operate for the week. It still happens just about every month. I came to the conclusion a couple months ago, that something had to give. Either A I could shut down the whole business. Sell the truck and donate the money to an animal sanctuary, or B sell the truck and keep doing whats been doing consistently well for us since the beginning. We have been able to reach people on a much more level playing ground in the retail side than we have on the truck. We can market better, and have a lot more product control and perspective. The retail has also gotten us to share business with a lot of other great local businesses like Heine Brothers, Rainbow Blossom and Breadworks to name a few.

I chose not to stay on the sinking ship. We had to get some plumbing issues changed to be compliant with KY state code that would have been more money that we simply don't have. The Kickstarter money is huge and I would hope that any of the actual backers would feel free to drop me a message or ask any questions they might have. I too have a lot of money invested in this. Anyone that really knows me (or listened to the podcast), would know that I'm not "selling the truck and pocketing all of the money and moving to Florida". I'm trying to work with what I've got. And to respond to this :

If you are unable to fulfill the promises made to backers, cannot complete the project as advertised, or decide to abandon the project for any reason, you are expected to cancel funding. A failure to do so could result in damage to your reputation or even legal action on behalf of your backers.

First, no I am not legally expected to manage and run a successful vegan food truck until I die. This part is very clear when you are starting the procedure of getting accepted to be featured on Kickstarter. If I were to have taken the money raised and just bought a motorcycle with it, I could have some legal issues. But I didn't. I produced a vegan food truck and it didn't turn out to be the best mode of business for me. And let me just say for the record, anyone that pledged money that is "left with a bad taste in their mouth", or thinks what I'm doing is "fishy" or thinks that my new direction is crap. I will send you the money you donated back after the truck sells. If you didn't get to use your coupons before the truck closed, we will still be at all of the same events next year. Just with a tent and not a truck. And no I'm not bathing in Kickstarter money, I'm putting it right back into the same company that I've spent all of this past year trying to grow. And yes there a LOADS of catering companies in Louisville, but there's no vegan/vegetarian catering company like what we do. I know you can find pasta and veggie burgers at most weddings, but we would never dream of selling a veggie burger. Hope this cleared things up.

-Stanley

[Robin Garr]

Hope this cleared things up.

I think it did. Amply, adequately, and frankly more than you should reasonably have been expected to do. Thanks, Stan.

I didn't invest in Morels so I don't directly have a dog in this fight. That being said this turn of events would certainly make me much more leery about helping somebody else start up a venture using kickstart! It's been less than a year since the truck started operations, the money was raised last January. Being in operation for less than a year hardly equates to not abandoning the project! If he wants to expand that's wonderful but he shouldn't abandon the roots that got him started. If this was his plan all along he should have Ordered his original kickstart request much differently!

The quote that Steve posted from kickstart:

If you are unable to fulfill the promises made to backers, cannot complete the project as advertised, or decide to abandon the project for any reason, you are expected to cancel funding. A failure to do so could result in damage to your reputation or even legal action on behalf of your backers.

certainly defines expectations and it seems like he did not fulfill them. It will be interesting to see if kickstart does anything about this to help encourage future investors in their projects!

So you would rather he continue to operate the truck that is losing money and shut down instead of continuing to operate in some fashion, albeit not from a truck?

So you would rather he continue to operate the truck that is losing money and shut down instead of continuing to operate in some fashion, albeit not from a truck?

As I said I don't have a dog in this fight but it would certainly make me hesitate before investing in a future venture. By reading what Stan wrote it looks like he really didn't know what he was getting into unlike several of the other trucks that have begun operation locally. If he had maybe he would've asked for more money for the initial startup and have been better prepared for what he was getting into. I don't spite him in any way for what he's doing but I don't think he has fulfilled the vision that most of his investors had!