Posted by There’s a battle going on right now in Montgomery, Texas: a battle of the meats. A 16-year-old, Jacob Irving, decided to open a hot dog food truck. Irving is also selling crinkle-cut fries and funnel cake with a choice of toppings, per the local newspaper, Community Impact, in Houston. The hot dogs can be served with onions, jalapenos, cheese, sauerkraut, and even homemade chili, per the food truck’s website. That’s already pretty industrious for a teenager.
In fact, of running the business, Irving told Click2Houston, “I definitely don’t get the normal luxuries of (being) a teenager, but I get a lot of freedom that comes with being an adult too.” But this isn’t just the story of a hardworking teen. Irving started operating the truck, which he calls Pop Pop’s Dandy Dog truck, across the street from a restaurant called Old Montgomery Steakhouse.
The steakhouse is owned by a man named Wayne Klung. He was not enjoying the food truck patrons taking up space in his parking lot and coming into his restaurant to use the bathroom. So, Klung decided not to take the competition lying down and made a plan. According to Delish, he started advertising and selling $1.50 hot dogs at the restaurant, and on top of that, free ice cream for kids! Though this seems like an innocuous solution, especially since the truck was using Klung’s property, Irving was not happy and escalated the battle.
A different type of food fight
From there, Jacob Irving did not let the rivalry lie. Instead, he began threatening Wayne Klung! Klung claims that he definitely didn’t mean for the dispute to escalate; rather, he said that he just wanted to show the young man that competition is a part of the business lifestyle. “My point on the thing is basically to tell the kids, ‘Okay, in life it’s never fair.’ If you want to be in competition, there’s going to be competition everywhere,” he told Click2Houston. Klung elaborated, saying he felt like he was receiving unfair flack for the way he handled the situation. He has owned and operated the Old Montgomery Steakhouse for more than two decades
The attention that the situation has gotten has only increased the business for Irving. In fact, the business closed on Thursday, June 16, because it was sold out of its food supplies, according to its website. The hot dog truck is an emotional project for Irving, who told Click2Houston that he opened it in his grandfather’s honor, using the same recipes and logos that his grandfather had used in his own hot dog restaurant (via KHou). Meanwhile, the Taylor Organization, a community support group in Houston, has stepped in to offer mediation to the two parties. The president of the Taylor Organization, Allen Taylor, was quoted as saying, “It’s all a misunderstanding and now it’s fixed,” per Delish.