Thieves break into award-winning Kennewick burger spot
Community members are coming together to support a burglarized downtown Kennewick food truck.
The owners of Hot Mess Burgers & Fries arrived early on Monday to make pies when they discovered someone had forced their way into their trailer, according to a Facebook post on the food truck’s website.
Thieves stole the cash register and the system used to make payments.
The award-winning food truck run by the Nokes family has thousands of supporters on its Facebook page.
“And, of course, this couldn’t come at a worse time,” Jan Mennenga wrote in a GoFundMe campaign. “Now, on top of running a small family business, the Nokes family have to deal with repairs, replacements and awfully slow insurance claims.
“I’m posting this to help get these guys back to flipping the best burgers in town as soon as possible.”
The GoFundMe campaign raised more than $1,700 in the first day. The money will go to replacements and repairs, and anything additional will help to replace chairs in a small seating area at the corner of Flag Plaza
“Thank you everyone for your support, ideas, donations and showing of love toward Hot Mess since we were broken into,” a post from Tuesday said. “We’re eternally grateful for being a part of a community of people with such big hearts.”
Even after the series of setbacks, the business owners remain positive, noting in a Facebook post that they started the business in a tent with a griddle.
“We are scrappers and we won’t be pulled down.”
This story was originally published February 6, 2024 at 5:48 PM.