Utah food truck owners flooded with support after truck vandalism with hate messages

LAYTON, Utah – The owners of a Layton food truck say they are overwhelmed and filled with gratitude for the way the community responded after their truck was vandalized with racist and hateful messages.

A Layton City representative said Layton City Police are currently investigating the vandalism.

Photos published on Facebook show the Yum Yum Food Truck covered in graffiti after the weekend incident.

Ben Pierce and his 21-year-old son, Brevin, run the food truck together. They are passionate about sharing Filipino food with the community, especially because Pierce said there aren’t many Filipino restaurants in Utah.

“We love new people who haven’t tasted it before,” Pierce said. He described enjoying watching customers walk away and take their first bite, then turn around to tell them how delicious it is.

In addition to sharing food, Pierce enjoys sharing what his family represents with the community.

“They can see how hard we work, how dedicated we are to our family, just like American values,” he said.

When Pierce went out to work on the food truck on Sunday in Layton, he found an entire side of the black truck covered in white spray paint.

“I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?'” He said. “At first … I thought it was just, you know, like scribbles.”

Upon closer inspection, Pierce could see that the white scribbles were in fact racist and vulgar words. In addition to the hateful words, someone wrote, “Leave our country.

This is what hurts Pierce the most to read.

“This is our home,” Pierce said, crying as he spoke. “It’s been home since… I’ve been here longer. My kids were born here. So that’s the hardest part, yeah.”

Even more difficult was knowing that this was not the first time that Yum Yum Food Truck had been targeted.

Last year, as Ben and Brevin were trying to get Yum Yum Food Truck off the ground, Pierce said their generator was stolen.

They replaced it with a bigger generator. Two days later, Pierce said, this new generator was also stolen.

“And then they broke in, broke the locks, broke the back door handles,” Pierce said of a third incident. “They cut the lock on that side, walked in and took our kitchen supplies. That’s all before we even opened.”

Neighbors like Dustin Robinson saw the most recent vandalism and wanted to do something to help.

“It turned into a lot of sadness and just heartache for them knowing that they had had multiple break-ins, break-ins,” he said.

Robinson and another person organized a GoFundMe campaign, and several companies offered their services for free, including a new logo for the truck and a full wrap.

“I think the most important thing is to know that they are loved, to know that the community has come together with them,” said Robinson.

Pierce was speechless at the support and called those who contacted him “angels.”

“Amazing, man. It’s so… we’re blessed,” he said. “I can’t even put words on it.”

Pierce painted the truck white on the side to cover up the hate messages. He plans to get it back on track and will be present at the Philippine Independence Day celebration this Saturday.

The family is asking people to come and support the Filipino community on Saturday at the celebration, which will be held at Jordan Park in Salt Lake City (1060 S. 900 West) from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.