Get ready to eat some great food, shop from local vendors and dance the night away at the KIC Food Truck Festival & Expo.
The event is set for Sept. 28, from 4-9 p.m. There will be live music by Mass Affect Party Band, Karen Collins, Sam Patton and DJ Dolla Bill as well as tons of foods.
Kitchen Incubator of Chattanooga Member Manager Pat Rowe said they have more than 30 food trucks signed up for the event. The market vendors are all local entrepreneurs. Rowe said they plan to have an area set up with fun activities for the kids and the KIC will unveil their newly constructed outdoor patio.
“We are putting in a 75-seat patio,” Rowe said. “We do a lot of outside events, and the new outdoor seating area allows more people to come out and support local small businesses while not having to eat out of their car or standing around.”
The festival is just another way the KIC is meeting the needs of the food truck industry which has recently exploded in the Scenic City. Rowe said the patio is going to be a major asset for the KIC.
“I’ve been in Chattanooga all my life,” Rowe said. “I’ve been in the food industry about 29 years. I’ve seen it grow tremendously when it comes to food trucks. Before COVID you may have seen a few. After COVID, everywhere you turn, there is a food truck.”
The KIC is powered by Launch, a Chattanooga-based nonprofit focused on empowering underrepresented entrepreneurs. Their main office is in the Business Incubator in the city’s Northshore area.
“Launch is our mother company,” Rowe said. “While working with a lot of entrepreneurs…we started realizing that a lot of them were starting to do stuff in the food-based industries.”
In 2019, Launch acquired a building which once housed the Virginia College and Culinary School. As they began developing the concept of what the KIC would look like, the COVID pandemic lockdown started. Rowe said those in the food business had to pivot to remain open, but many also shifted their focus to help others.
Teaming up with local organizations and funders on a COVID-related food relief program, these entrepreneurs and community partners provided 100,000 meals for seniors.
Rowe, who runs his own food truck, BBQ Rowe, said he had to change the way he conducted business during the pandemic. “When COVID hit, even for me, being a business owner I had to look at my business and say, what do I do,” he said. “I know people are still eating, and yes COVID has happened, and yes, we are not trying to put 10 people in a room together, but people still have to eat.”
Rowe said he started doing pop-up food sales, at times, selling roughly 100 meals in two hours. He said people became accustomed to getting their meals from food trucks and after the pandemic, entrepreneurs realized it was an easier business model to start with.
“Food trucks have less overhead than a brick-and-mortar location,” he said.
Rowe said he continues to see growth in food-based businesses, which means the KIC will continue its mission to assist. Members of KIC get to utilize all the commercial kitchen spaces, freezers and refrigerators housed inside its 10,000 square foot building.
He said the KIC has also helped revitalize the Eastgate Town Center neighborhood. “People in this area get to experience great food without having to drive downtown and also with ample parking spaces,” Rowe said.
Right now, the KIC is assisting 40 members in the food industry in various stages of growth. Rowe said some are food trucks. Others are still in the startup phase. Others may not have a food truck yet and others are just offering catering, pop-up meals, or consumer packaged items.
“This keeps them legal because in order to have a commercial business like this, you have to have a commercial commissary space,” Rowe said.
Rowe said the KIC offers different membership options depending on what the business owner needs and how many hours per week they anticipate using the facility. Everyone who joins receives full training on all the equipment through a supervised on-boarding period.
The upcoming festival is an opportunity to showcase just how valuable the KIC is to the food truck industry and the community in general.
“Come out with the family, and have a great time,” Rowe said. “Come out and support the entrepreneurs. Come out and support local small businesses.”