Community rallies to save Staunton food truck Saucy Bird

Laura Peters | The News Leader

STAUNTON - Almost two years after opening his food truck, The Saucy Bird, Alex Glenn announced Monday he would have to close down and possibly sell his truck.

But, the community might just be able to save it with a crowdfunding campaign.

Glenn, a Staunton native, first opened his chicken tenders food truck in the early spring of 2017. His truck specializes in fried chicken tenders with an array of sauces he makes himself.

Glenn graduated from Robert E. Lee High School in 2007 and later went to college at Blue Ridge Community College and Bridgewater College. During his time in high school and college he worked in restaurants, but he's spent the past five years saving money and cementing a plan.

According to a Facebook post on the business's page, Glenn had a "traumatic ankle injury" that requires major surgery, meaning he has to sell the food truck. According to the post, he will be on bed rest for 6 to 10 weeks.

"Unfortunately, this is one of the major downfalls of owning a small business and the limited amount of affordable healthcare that is associated with it," the post said. "The fact of the matter is, I have no other option. Believe me, I know about financial assistance and steps that I will have to take to overcome this sudden event, and selling the trailer is my only viable option."

A day after his initial post, Glenn posted again on his business's Facebook that the outreach has been overwhelming.

"The people in the Staunton community have really stepped up to support The Saucy Bird during a time of need," he posted. "I will be forever grateful for the blessing delivered by every last one of you. I've got a long recovery ahead of me. Surgery is scheduled for Wednesday, October 31, then the real recovery begins. Thanks again to everyone, I cannot express that enough."

Glenn's truck was often stationed at various local breweries, businesses and festivals throughout the Shenandoah Valley.

"After working the corporate life for a few years after graduating, I hung on to the business plan I wrote at Bridgewater that outlined my food truck plans," the post said. "When I was able to secure a loan for the food truck, it was one of the best days of my life. I was finally making my dream come true by becoming my own boss. Little did I know that The Saucy Bird would become such an amazing outlet to meet and build relationships with so many people. My customers have truly been the drive to keep me going. The compliments, the raving, the repeat visits, and the amount of praise I received from my customers make this situation all the more painful."

Many commenters and supporters were trying to band together to help Glenn and their favorite food truck.

"I am so extremely sad and sorry to read this today! How can we all help to get you through this!? I'm immediately thinking of a GoFundMe campaign," Jenny Mitchell posted. "I just can't stand to think that your only option is to sell the truck and put The Saucy Bird in your back pocket when you've clearly worked so hard and built up such a loyal fan base. Your pride in your product and dedication to your business has always shown. You're an inspiration, Alex!"

So, they did.

Staunton resident Pete Stallings started a GoFundMe page called "Save the Saucy Bird." Within one hour, the page had raised $860 of a $5,000 goal.

As of Wednesday, more than $3,000 of the goal had been raised.

Read the full letter here:

I'm so sorry to have to deliver this type of bad news, but I wrote a letter explaining my current situation. Words cannot express the amount of sorrow I feel right now. I've worked hard for the last two years to bring Staunton the best food truck I could physically provide. Yesterday, everything changed. I suffered a traumatic ankle injury that will require surgery to repair. Due to the nature of the injury and the time needed to recover, I will be forced to sell The Saucy Bird(TSB)food truck. Unfortunately, this is one of the major downfalls of owning a small business and the limited amount of affordable healthcare that is associated with it. The fact of the matter is, I have no other option. Believe me, I know about financial assistance and steps that I will have to take to overcome this sudden event, and selling the trailer is my only viable option. With that being said, I've prepared a farewell letter to all of my wonderful customers that will further explain a lot about my life and the respect that I hold for each and every one of you. Please continue reading if you are interested in knowing the type of time and commitment that I put into each and every day working on the food truck. If you didn't know, I grew up in Staunton on Grubert Ave. I went to Lee High School. I learned early on the amount of hard work it takes for someone coming from a situation like to mine to succeed. I wasn't privileged, my family supplied the necessities, but the rest was up to me and I'm thankful for that. Hard work isn’t a punishment, but rather a mindset that will plant the foundation for a successful future. I wasn't handed a car. I didn't get a trust fund for college. I've taken care of myself and my responsibilities by working my ass off since I was 16 years old. I played three varsity sports and worked part time during high school to be able to buy a car. I worked through college as a cook when I went to BRCC and transferred to Bridgewater College in order to pay rent. I graduated with cum laude honors even after dropping out of college three times to save money for the following semester. It was hard to save money when you're juggling school, work, and keeping up with living expenses. I never complained because that doesn't accomplish anything, I just pushed through it all for hopes of a better future. I worked harder than I ever thought possible to get through school, that is until I started the food truck. After working the corporate life for a few years after graduating, I hung on to the business plan I wrote at Bridgewater that outlined my food truck plans. When I was able to secure a loan for the food truck, it was one of the best days of my life. I was finally making my dream come true by becoming my own boss. Little did I know that TSB would become such an amazing outlet to meet and build relationships with so many people. My customers have truly been the drive to keep me going. The compliments, the raving, the repeat visits, and the amount of praise I received from my customers make this situation all the more painful. I've dealt with my fair share of heartache while working TSB unrelated to my health. I lost serving locations, I was never notified about large local events even after I would inquire, but I still managed to act professional every time I stepped foot in the trailer because I knew my reputation was on the line. However, that didn't make me immune from being verbally and physically assaulted at times on the food truck. Yeah that happened. I had locations suddenly discontinue working with me over other's actions. That's tough to swallow too, I know. Situations like these often times made me question my decision to keep operating the truck. While difficult at the time, I never let the negative situations deter me from my goal of serving the best food that I could. My repeat customers were so supportive and they deserved a good reliable truck. I saw the potential of my business. TSB is a business that I built from the ground up and it’s going to be extremely difficult to let go. I knew my merchandising job wasn’t the future I wanted for myself, so I set out to make TSB my only full time job in May of 2017. I worked full time merchandising for six more months while I finished the trailer in time for my soft opening in March 2017. The Friday I opened, I woke up that morning at 2:30am to work my full time merchandising job until 12pm. At 12pm, I got off and went home to finish prepping the food and to work at Queen City Brewing I served from six until 10pm. After finishing up the most difficult shift I ever worked, I made it home to unload by midnight. I successfully worked a 21 hour day and it was the start of a new chapter. I was scared and excited for what would come from the truck. Queen City Brewing displayed unwavering support to TSB since my literal first day. I repaid Queen City with my loyalty. I went on to become their staple truck on Wednesdays and Fridays and for that I will forever be grateful. However, the continuous grind to stay profitable can become overwhelming when obstacles seem to be stacked against TSB’s favor, but I would always somehow persevere. I continuously worked to improve TSB, albeit by managing my time more responsibly, improving recipes, establishing more reliable supply chains, wasting little to no food, and setting up during profitable times. I learned a lot about the food truck business and about running a business in my two years. I surprised myself with the amount of work I put in weekly and was willing to do in order to deliver the product I desired. I'm a learner, a "do it yourselfer," and I'm proud of it. The food truck taught me how to be a better cook, an electrician, a plumber, an accountant, a maintenance worker, and most importantly, an ethical businessman. I rarely took a day off. I may not have served every day, but in order to operate a profitable business, off days were used for weekly preparation and maintenance. I decided this year to take Sundays off to support a healthier work/life balance, something that I sacrificed with this profession and many other jobs in my past. I've never been able to take more than two weeks off in a year since I graduated high school, often times only taking a week, sometimes no vacation at all. That all changed today because I will be on bed rest for the next 6-10 weeks. It definitely won't be a paid vacation because that doesn’t exist for me. If I’m missing another option please let me know, but these are the cards I've been dealt and I will be unable to survive without selling the trailer and everything associated with it. Only time will tell the future of TSB outside of the trailer, but I will cross that bridge when I get to it and I will continue to concentrate on rebuilding the future that I desire. I can’t thank everyone enough who supported me during this business venture and I am sincerely sorry for letting everyone down. It has been an amazing journey and only time can tell what the future holds. For the time being, I'll place The Saucy Bird name in my back pocket for a rainy day. Sincerely,

Alex Glenn

The Saucy Bird

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Follow Laura Peters @peterslaura and @peterpants. You can reach her at lpeters@newsleader.com or 213-9125.