Food Truck Warz not returning to city
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Food Truck Warz will not return to Brandon this September after the organizers decided to step away and were unable find anyone else to take the reins, owner Darryl Wolski said.
Wolski and his business partner, Jody Sass, announced earlier this year that Food Truck Warz was no longer worth it. The event became a stress and a headache to organize, and was too much work for a team of two, Wolski told the Sun on Wednesday.
“It wasn’t fun anymore,” Wolksi said. “I feel a sigh of relief not having to do this thing in a few weeks.”
In this file photo from 2022, Brandonites take in the opening night of Food Truck Warz at the Keystone Centre. Food Truck Warz will not return this year after the owners decided to step away from the event. (Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun files)
Hundreds of hours went into hosting the event, he said, with tasks including having to co-ordinate roughly two dozen food trucks to come to Brandon, investing around $55,000 to cover costs, and navigating health, safety and fire codes.
Wolski said the main reason he stepped away was because of the need to jump through so many hoops.
“Just like, I want to pull out all the hair I have left,” he said. “So I guess it’s not really a financial thing.”
Food Truck Warz was held in Brandon for seven years. Last year at the Keystone Centre, about 26 food trucks were scheduled for the event.
While it offered “great memories for us all,” as Coun. Tyson Tame (Ward 10) wrote on social media, it was a risky venture. The business depended on weather, and only hovered above break even for its entire seven-year run, Wolski said.
Commenting on the closure, Mayor Jeff Fawcett said the stoppage is sad, but he does not think that the event is gone for good.
A similar food truck program may be piloted downtown next year, Emmy Sanderson, executive director of Downtown BIZ, told the Sun on Wednesday. Sanderson said several people have asked for food trucks in the core.
Downtown BIZ is interested in backing an event, but no plans are in place as of now, she said.
“Certainly, if somebody wanted to bring Food Truck Warz downtown, we’d be here to support them,” Sanderson said.
Support could include guiding organizers through the logistics of hosting the event, as well as promoting it, helping with permits and contributing event funds, she said.
Wolski said that when he was stepping away from Food Truck Warz, there was not much interest in anyone else taking over the event. He said he and his business partner contacted a number of different people in Brandon, but no one was willing to commit.
“We’ve tried, like I said, four or five different parties, and nobody wanted it,” he said.
» cmcdowell@brandonsun.com