Morels, Food Truck no more?

So word on the streets is that Morel's is getting out of the food truck game and put the truck up for sale on Ebay. (I will try to post the link later) Wasnt the whole point of the kickstarter fund raiser to pay for this truck?

[Robin Garr]

It's no secret, it's on the Morels Facebook page.

Morels food truck is up for sale! http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 812wt_1270

Stan Chase is a good guy. And, I think, a forum member, so I expect he can check in here if he wants to. I wouldn't be so quick to judge him myself ...

[Robin Garr]

More info from the Facebook page:

The truck will be sold, but we are still going to have a strong presence in Louisville. Our retail products are not only going to continue in Heine Brothers & Rainbow Blossom, but they are going to get better! Also starting in 2012 we will be changing our business model. We will be a full vegan catering company, have booths at festivals and hopefully get into some farmers markets. This was a difficult and complicated issue that was covered in full on our podcast which can be listened to here : http://atebitvegan.podomatic.com/entry/ ... 9_30-08_00

[Robin Garr]

here's the original kickstarter funds needed for:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/965 ... food-truck
i don't care how you slice it. the majority of the money went for the truck. the whole thing was he needed a truck. and he got $13,000 for that truck. it's just not fair to the people who donated the money.
i don't care if he plans to continue doing what he does in a different manor. give back the money he received for that truck. i find this not kosher. i'm sorrry. do the right thing.
Buying the truck *** bingo***
Painting the truck
Vendors/health permits
Necessary licenses
Food start up
please don't tell me that $13,000 went for permits and food.

You certainly have a right to your opinion, Annemarie, judgemental as it may be. Have you gone to the Morels Facebook page, where Stan addresses this issue in considerable detail? He's using the money to continue the business, which is not failing but changing direction. He's trying to run a business, not poke his nose into other people's.

Well the world must be ending as I'm 100% in Annemarie's corner on this one.

Again this guy asked for handouts for a truck. If he's failing with the truck that's fine, if he wants to do another venture fine he's free to. However most people donated money to this as a food truck operation which was sorely lacking at the time, not a catering operation which there are a dozens of in this market.

From the outside looking in he should at least ask his "investors" if they want their funds going to the new venture or not.

PS - I say this as someone who has patronized the services of this operation and did not donate to the fund raiser.

[Robin Garr]

PS - I say this as someone who has patronized the services of this operation and did not donate to the fund raiser.

Mike, you're not coming across with the same tone as Annemarie, who's making me fear for poor Hester Prynne. Your questions are legitimate. But since you've been a patron, why not ask Stan? Catch him on the Facebook page or wait for him to show up here.

I also want to note, yeah he was given the money and in the end yeah he's free to do what he wants with it. However I just think this path is going to leave a bad taste in people's mouths.

[Robin Garr]

I also want to note, yeah he was given the money and in the end yeah he's free to do what he wants with it. However I just think this path is going to leave a bad taste in people's mouths.

Fair enough. I've pinged him and invited him to step over here and take our questions. I assume that if he takes us up on that, the questions will be as civil, as per Mike's example.

Kickstarter is not about investing in a company. It is a donation usually tied to a specific reward, if the company actually opens. I have no idea if Morels promised rewards or not, but he did open the truck, and if he fullfilled the reward promises, he is good in my book.

I pledged money to a brewery a few months ago with the promise of a t-shirt once the brewery started. If the brewery opened I would have be owed a t-shirt and nothing more. I'm not an investor, just a donor, I have no say.

Edit: $0 donated or spent to Morels

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 wondering if anyone in this thread actually has a dog in the fight. How much did any of you folks donate to the cause?

[Robin Garr]

i'm just saying...

Clay's question is a good one: Did you put money into this?

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.

This

Kickstarter is not about investing in a company. It is a donation usually tied to a specific reward, if the company actually opens. I have no idea if Morels promised rewards or not, but he did open the truck, and if he fullfilled the reward promises, he is good in my book.

And this.

I believe this is the beauty of kickstarter; connect with people that share a few bucks to share in your vision. No one is on the hook for a large sum, unless they want to be.

I'm wondering if anyone in this thread actually has a dog in the fight. How much did any of you folks donate to the cause?

And this too...

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.

Kickstarter is not about investing in a company. It is a donation usually tied to a specific reward, if the company actually opens. I have no idea if Morels promised rewards or not, but he did open the truck, and if he fullfilled the reward promises, he is good in my book.

I pledged money to a brewery a few months ago with the promise of a t-shirt once the brewery started. If the brewery opened I would have be owed a t-shirt and nothing more. I'm not an investor, just a donor, I have no say.

Edit: $0 donated or spent to Morels

( no donation and haven't been even able to try them)
Stan outlined the benefits of the pledges on his Kickstart page. Everybody got some kind of in-kind for their donation, so they got something for their donation. The difficult one in my view is the people who received coupons for their donation, and may not be able to redeem from a catering from operation. Maybe he's already figured out a solution for this...
Deb