BENTON, Ark. — A central Arkansas food truck owner is trying to figure out what comes next after a fire destroyed the business he spent months building from the ground up.
Jesse Dorris, owner of Jesse James Foods, said his food trailer caught fire Wednesday while he was driving back toward Benton after serving customers in Little Rock.
Dorris said he had just finished a lunch stop at Practice Plus on Executive Center Drive and was heading home when another driver pulled alongside him and warned him that his trailer was on fire.
“I pulled over, there’s a door over here so I tried to open the door to get to the fire extinguisher, because I have two in there, but there was just so much black smoke that you couldn’t see in the trailer,” Dorris said.
He called 911 and unhooked the trailer from his vehicle. By the time firefighters arrived, Dorris said flames were coming from both sides of the trailer.
The fire destroyed a business Dorris had launched only months earlier.
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Dorris said he began working on the trailer in December after discovering several problems with it, including rotted flooring. He gutted much of the trailer and rebuilt it himself, installing fryers, a flat-top grill, cooling systems and other equipment.
He estimates he invested at least $10,000 into the trailer before opening Jesse James Foods in the spring.
“It took a long time to get to this point, and it took five minutes to get rid of it,” Dorris said. “I don’t know how to feel about it.”
Dorris had previously worked in the restaurant industry before moving to Benton. He said his goal in starting the food truck was to build something of his own and make a living doing what he enjoys most — cooking.
“The only thing I’ve ever been good at is cooking,” Dorris said. “I had to do it; I had to figure it out.”
Jesse James Foods traveled throughout central Arkansas, including Benton, Malvern and Little Rock. Dorris said he built his menu around foods customers could not easily find elsewhere, including specialty burgers, sandwiches and wraps.
He said the fire has left him without his primary source of income.
“This was my every day, seven days a week,” Dorris said. “This is how I made my money.”
Dorris said he recently obtained insurance for the trailer, but he is still waiting to learn how much of the damage may be covered.
For now, he said he is working through DoorDash to bring in income while considering his next move.
Despite the loss, Dorris said one of the biggest surprises has been the response from the community.
Customers and other central Arkansas residents have reached out with offers to help. Some have offered him places where he may be able to cook, while others have sent him listings for replacement food trucks and trailers. A GoFundMe has also been started to help him recover.
“People that I don’t even know are reaching out,” Dorris said. “Everybody that I’ve worked with so far at places that I’ve been with the food trailer and places that I was going to go to, they all are extending a hand to help.”
Dorris said experiencing that support has changed the way he thinks about community.
“Community is something I’ve always seen on TV, and I’ve never experienced it myself,” he said. “This out of nowhere — people that I don’t even know are reaching out.”
Dorris does not yet know whether his next step will be another food truck, a permanent restaurant or something else entirely.
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He does know, however, that he intends to keep cooking.
“With the support that I’m getting, I’m going to find something,” Dorris said. “If it’s a brick and mortar or if it’s a food trailer, I’m going to find something.”
For Dorris, the setback is another moment where he will have to adjust and keep moving forward.
“You always just have to keep pushing on no matter what happens,” he said.
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