Kratochwill is planning a menu for the Taste of Madison, Aug. 31 and Sept. 1, that he promises will be the "most unique, never seen anywhere else on the planet... I got to step forward and do this."

Pots-n-Tots has won five Taste of Madison ribbons in four years. One year at the Labor Day weekend event, he sold more than 850 pounds of tots.

Kratochwill started the cart in 2014 and painted its distinctive Napoleon Dynamite image himself. He also painted the iconic American Gothic couple on one side. He got help building the cart from his father, a retired art educator at Madison Area Technical College.

When he opened a short-lived location at West Towne Mall last year, he stopped vending on the Capitol Square with the cart. Instead, he used it to cater corporate lunches and other private events.

Kratochwill said he was entering the Beltline from Verona Road last Wednesday at 50 mph when a car cut him off. He swerved into another lane, which caused the cart he was towing to tip. The cart flipped on its side, wrecking it and all the food inside.