Help Barya with Collateral Damage from Truck Theft

My name is Alex, a food writer, food truck enthusiast, and friend to the business. Our good friends Rod & Selina at Barya need your help.

Barya is a first gen AAPI Bay Area Owned & Operated food truck business. Established in 2017, Barya made it through the pandemic lockdowns and in the summer of 2021 saved enough to acquire a food truck to keep pushing the dream forward. The response to their Fiipino American/Filipino Mexican menu has been overwhelmingly positive. Past patrons will tell you that they have hour-long waits at their truck wherever they go, but that it's worth it for what awaits the customer at the end.

Being the small biz owner of a food truck is an emotional roller coaster ride. They understand that's the life they signed up for, and each hurdle thrown at them, they have always come through for themselves. Barya has taken great pride in being completely self funded from the start, no outside investors, 100% homegrown. But this time, life has thrown them a new challenge that feels very overwhelming and blindsided.

On Nov 26, while Rod & Selina were taking a break in Asia, their food truck was badly damaged by another food truck that was being stolen, collateral damage to an unfortunate crime if you will. The stolen food truck was driven recklessly (with their service window out) through a small gate opening and hit Barya's food truck driver side damaging the frame, window, side mirrors and the front windows. To make matters worse, the insurance company insuring their policy made the decision to stop insuring all food trucks on Nov 8th and dropped their coverage on them while they were away, which pretty much means they’re on their own until they can find new coverage. To give you a sense of what happened, footage and photos of the event will be included.

Off the Grid kindly made a video to show footage and damage. Please click the link below to view.

https://youtube.com/shorts/o0CLlFyfCnw?feature=share

This gofundme page was created to help raise funds to cover the repairs on the truck and 2 months of commissary rent ($1850 x 2 = $3700) . The windshield will have to be replaced completely as well as the side frame and driver windows/side mirrors. That side of the truck will also have to be rewrapped. The food truck's back up camera wiring system was also ripped out during the collision. Their 2024 Santa Clara County Health Permit inspection was scheduled for 12/6/2023, but now their permit inspection is cancelled because they need the truck fixed in order to even think about moving forward. The 2 months of rent is to help them stay afloat while they will be out of work, trying to figure out the repairs. On top of all this, the winter season is a particular hard and slow season for food truck vendors.

I ask you as a fellow foodie, even if you've eaten with them once and enjoyed the experience, please donate whatever you can spare, and share this post with your fellow foodie fans.

Another way you can support? Book a catering gig with them or buy some merch today. Email/DM and they will be able to help you. I know a lot of you love and miss those Birria Lumpias and Bistek Rice bowls, myself included, so be a part of getting Rod and Selina back on the road and feeding the masses today!