Chow Haul Burns, But Owner Looks Forward
SUPERIOR, WISC. — This Fourth of July would have marked 11 years of operation for the food truck known as Chow Haul. However, this year there won’t be a celebration on the anniversary. Last Saturday the truck crashed and burned.
Chow Haul was on its way to an event at the 19th Hole on Saturday afternoon. But the truck never arrived. Instead, the owner’s stepfather says the brakes gave out, and despite his best efforts, he hit a light pole.
Leon Torkelson explained what happened, “Truck came to a sudden. I’m sitting there for a bit. Some people are out there are asking me if I’m all right and telling me to get out of the truck. And then all of a sudden, a little fire erupts over here, off to my right. I get out of the truck. Well, the right side is where the door is, so I had to go out the backdoor. And there was a little fire there about midway back on the truck. I get out of the truck.”
Leon’s hair was singed a little and he hurt his knee, but there were no other injuries.
Keith Burgess and his stepfather Leon built the Chow Haul by hand 11 years ago and the food truck has been a fixture in the Twin Ports since then. Now with the truck totally burned up and no property insurance, it’s going to be a long road to get back to operating, but Keith says Chow Haul will return. He talked about why it has been successful. “Make food that you’d feed your mom and we make all kinds of different, weird stuff. Just make food that people like, don’t just make…no. Just make food that your mom would like.”
Chow Haul had a full schedule of events scheduled for the rest of the year. But with only a few exceptions, Burgess won’t be able to provide the food truck experience people were hoping for. However, he’s trying to help where he can.”So, I have an event on Tuesday in Canal Park. I’m probably going to rent a grill and knock that one out.”
Community members and even other food truck owners have been contacting Keith and offering words of encouragement. While he’s unsure how he will buy a new truck, he’s confident it will happen. “I’ve got to get a new truck. We’re going to go do, probably a GoFundMe or something like that. That’s not my normal MO. If we want to exist and people want us to exist, that’s the only way it will happen if we exist together.”
