05/05/2026
Belmont friends, I need your honest opinion.
I grew up here—went to Belmont Middle,and South Point. My family is deeply rooted here. My dad runs his handyman business out of Belmont and serves on Planning & Zoning. This community has always meant a lot to us, and we’ve tried to give back through our food truck every chance we get.
Recently, we found out that we’ve been **blacklisted from being a vendor for the City of Belmont**—and the part that’s hard to understand is how it all happened.
For over a month, we’ve been trying to get answers—emails, phone calls, reaching out to multiple people—and received no response. I finally had to attend a City Council meeting just to speak with the city manager in person. That’s when we were told we’ve apparently been banned since October 2025.
What’s confusing is that just 10 days before that, we spoke with the event coordinator who told us we were **approved vendors** and that we should have received an email (which we never did). She even said she didn’t understand why we hadn’t been notified.
Now we’re being told the ban is based on claims that:
* We cursed out vendors and staff at multiple events
* We treated city employees poorly
* We even stole microphones from an event
None of this is true.
Another piece of this situation involves vendor placement. At some events, food trucks—including us—have been placed far away from where the main activity is happening. As vendors paying to be there and trying to support the event, we’ve expressed that being closer to the event helps us actually serve people and stay in business. When we’ve asked about being placed near higher-traffic areas, including where the city is sailing alcohol is being served, we’ve been told those areas are kept there because they generate more revenue for the event if they are up close to it. We understand events need to make money—but it’s been frustrating to feel like vendors are expected to carry the event while being placed where we have less opportunity to succeed. Expressing that concern has now been characterized as us being “unruly,” which doesn’t feel fair.
We also know that coming to food trucks at events can get expensive for families. That’s why we’ve always tried to be the most affordable entrée option at every event we attend. On top of that, we focus heavily on speed—at busy events, we can typically serve around 50 families an hour. We’ve even heard from event staff that one of their biggest challenges is how slow food service can be overall, which makes it even more confusing why we wouldn’t be included when we’re working to make events faster, more affordable, and more accessible for everyone.
If you’ve ever interacted with us at an event, you know how we operate. We go out of our way to support our community—feeding first responders for free at every event, taking care of city workers helping with setup and cleanup, and doing our best to create a positive experience for everyone. I’ve personally made sure staff and organizers were taken care of, even bringing them food when they were too busy to step away.
So I’m asking you all:
Do you think a local business should be banned like this without ever being notified? Without anything in writing? Without any opportunity to respond or appeal?
And should one decision like this be made without transparency, especially when it impacts a business that has been part of this community for years?
I’m not posting this to attack anyone—I’m genuinely trying to understand and figure out the right way forward. Belmont has always supported us, and we’ve always tried to support Belmont.
I’d really appreciate your thoughts.
