The owners of Vansauwa’s Tacos & Vegan Eats are hoping a big push from supporters will help them raise $15,000 to equip and brand a food trailer they recently picked up in Houston.
For the last year, Desaepa Vansauwa and Zirconia Alleyne have been cooking their Caribbean-inspired food under a tent that measures 10-by-10 feet. The trailer will nearly double their work space.
The Kickstarter campaign concludes at midnight Thursday. Late Monday night, it had raised $3,452 toward the $15,000 goal.
Kickstarter is a funding platform for independent businesses, creative projects and inventions. Donors receive rewards such as swag and free food based on different giving levels. If a campaign does not meet the goal by its deadline, the donor pledges are not collected.
“With the support we have had, I am optimistic,” Vansauwa said Monday afternoon.
Vansauwa works full-time on the food business. Alleyne is the Kentucky New Era editor.
When a hit-and-run accident cut short his college athletic career several years ago, Vansauwa’s life went in a new direction. He became interested in cultures, community and food – and that eventually brought him back to Hopkinsville, his childhood home, where he developed the recipes for tacos and vegan food.
Working under a tent hasn’t been ideal, but it did have some advantages.
“It allowed people to see how hard we were working,” Vansauwa said. “I love the involvement the tent gave us.”
The trailer will make it possible for Vansauwa and Alleyne to keep working when it rains or gets windy – and to store more food and cater company events.
In February, the business received a $5,000 award in the Entrepreneurs Business Plan competition sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce and Hopkinsville Community College.
If the Kickstarter campaign is successful, Vansauwa said they will use the money to purchase a 48-inch flat-top griddle, two refrigerators, food prep tables and exterior wrap to brand the trailer.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
