KILLEEN, Texas (KXXV) — Every day, our neighbors from around Killeen stop at the Killeen Food Park to grab a bite to eat.
The co-owners of Simply Good Burger have leased the property for the past eight years and tell me those neighbors will have to go somewhere else soon.
”About a week ago, I was under the impression that I was going to sign a five-year lease,” said Benjamin O’Neal, Co-owner Of Simply Good Burger.
“When I got there, they pretty much said 30-day notice.”
They lease the property and sublet to the other food trucks, so folks like Tim Ferch and his wife are forced to leave as well.
25 News reporter Adam Schindler spoke with Ferch about having to leave the Killeen Food Park.
“Are you afraid it’s going to really hurt the pocketbook?" Schindler said.
”I know it will because statically speaking, based in trends, I know it will for the first couple of months,” Ferch said.
“So, did they give a reason on why you had to leave?”, Schindler asked.
”No,” O’Neal said.
25 News spoke to the property manager who did not go on camera but told us he believes the owner has other plans for the property and the decision wasn’t personal.
That’s not how it feels to the dozen or more small businesses that have relied on that location to operate.
”The Food Park was created because of giving other businesses opportunity that they normally didn’t have,” said O’Neal.
"It's bigger than just a food park you know, we’re a family.”
It’s a family that has leaned on each other
”Even if you don’t know where we are, you’ve got somebody that tells another person hey, go down that road and you’ll see a pink truck,” said Ferch.
“That kind of thing, that isn’t going to be around anymore.”
Ferch’s Thia Law food truck is joining the others having to find a new location down the road.
He told 25 News that he is heartbroken to see the family they have built being split up.
Ferch also says he will be relocating to South Clear Creek Road and hopes to see all his regular customers there.
Simply Good Burger has a restaurant on North WS Young and plans to relocate their food truck while trying to find a new location food park — a place O’Neal plans to open up to his new family and anyone else that wants to join them.
