Fresno food truck needs community's help after being hit by semi-truck

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A Fresno business is asking for the community's help to repair or replace its food trailer.

Fresno Gumbo House has been serving up gumbo and seafood platters since 2015. Last year, the owner, Chef 19, purchased a trailer to increase business.

He took the trailer to Victorville in Southern California to have a design with his logo and menu added to the trailer. There were delays in the printing process, so he decided to bring it back to Fresno to get back to work.

While driving west on Highway 58 Sunday afternoon, a semi plowed into the back of the trailer, causing it to flip over and spinning the truck hauling it out of control.

"I'm merging into the next lane and before I could get all the way over in the next lane, I got hit by 77,000 pounds," said Chef 19.

Chef 19 says he and his family have dreams of one day opening a brick and mortar restaurant -- and maybe even expanding to franchises.

Having the trailer helped advance that dream.

Now, he's forced to take a step back and focus on raising money to either repair the trailer or purchase a new one.

"Whatever help we get, it would be highly appreciated -- we're going to just keep grinding and save every dime, every penny," he said.

Fresno Gumbo House created a GoFundMe page to help raise money to repair or replace the trailer.