AUSTIN, Texas — An Austin business owner is asking for help from the community after thieves stole his food trailer right after Christmas.
It happened just after midnight on the morning of Dec. 26. Two men stole the Lots of BBQ trailer from the Ghostline Kitchens parking lot in southeast Austin.
For Roy Lotz, that food trailer was his livelihood. Making it in Austin’s competitive barbeque scene isn’t easy, and it is even harder for a deaf business owner like Lotz.
He grinded and worked hard for a decade to save enough money to open a barbeque truck, which was his dream.
“The barbecue business is not high[ly] profitable. It does take a lot of time to invest and save to be where I am today,” Lotz said. “That took a lot of time, blood, sweat and tears.”
Surveillance video captured the moment two men stole the trailer. In the video, you can see two men case out the parking lot, then leave and return in a green pickup truck before hitching up the trailer and driving off.
The next morning, Lotz came to get something and found the empty space.
“I realized my trailer was not here, and I was just at a loss of words. I felt so sick to my stomach,” Lotz said. “How is it humane for somebody to do to somebody the day after Christmas? It’s unfortunate and sad for somebody to do something like that.”
A few days earlier, someone stole two generators, one gas-powered and one electric, from Lotz. He said the loss is devastating.
“I was just really sad. I can’t describe the feeling I felt because that was everything to me,” Lotz said. “I just felt so violated. They just took something from me within a second.”
After years of hard work, he bought the food trailer in September for $40,000. He is still paying it off. He remembers how happy he felt when he first drove off with it.
“I was so proud of myself. I felt everything I worked for coming true. My dreams are coming true,” he said. “Ten years of all this hard work, and then four months later, these guys just come up and just take it from me like that. It’s disgusting.”
Lotz is now left trying to figure out how to support his family, including his 1-year-old son.
“They’ve taken my business. They’ve taken all my events that I’m having to cancel now. I was relying on that income,” Lotz said. “I can still do some catering here and there, but I’m very limited compared to what I had here in the near future.”
Lotz said he may go back to running pop-up or canopy tents, which is what he did before he got the food trailer. He is still trying to figure out how, or if, he can financially recover from this.
“Now I’m losing all these gigs, and I’m scared that I’m gonna lose more clientele,” he said.
Insurance will cover the trailer but not the $15,000 worth of equipment in it, such as a refrigerator, barbecue appliances, a warming cabinet and cookware.
“I’m going to have to save up and do it all over again,” he said. “I have no choice.”
“Barbecue income right now, it’s not high profit. It takes time to get your earnings, save and get to a point where I was getting to,” he added. “Right now, I don’t know how that will impact me.”
There is a GoFundMe page to support Lotz and his family as they try to get back on their feet.
Lotz also said he filed a police report with the Austin Police Department. He is asking anyone who has information on who may have taken his truck to contact the police.
“The people who took it, just make it easier if you can,” he said. “Bring it back. That would be the greatest thing you could do for me and my family.”
Even if he does have to start over, Lotz said he has no plans to give up on his dream.
“I’m stubborn and have a strong mindset. I’m going to keep going, and I’m going to do what I enjoy doing,” he said. “I don’t like how I feel right now and how they made me feel, but these guys are not going to ruin my dream.”