Community Rallies for Vegan Food Truck Destroyed in Fire

Update: In June, Nom Eats’ food truck caught fire. While they didn't anticipate going back into business soon, the vegan eatery started serving again on Thursday.  But they're doing things differently.

Nom Eats is cooking again, and people are lining up to eat their food once more.“I just wanted to be one of the first ones to grab some of their food,” said Nom Eats customer Tiffany Austin. “They posted yesterday that they're going to be out with their tent serving food again. So naturally I got very excited and had to come support because they're unbelievable,” said Nom Eats customer Celeste Rivera.“The fact that they are out here and still making some awesome food for everyone is awesome,” said Nom Eats customer Daniel Walker.

A little more than a month ago, Nom Eats suffered a huge setback when their truck burnt up. The fire allegedly started in a set of oily rags that combusted.“We have been working in the truck for 4 years. It’s kind of a second home to us,” said Nom Eats co-owner Carly Gurinskas.

The owners say it'll cost over $40,000 to buy a new truck. Using Gofundme they were only able to raise about half that amount. “Once we found out how much it would be to restart another truck or even renting a truck, it was too much,” said Gurinskas. So they decided to start cooking for their customers again using a grill in a pop-up tent.“We basically created the inside of a food truck in a tent. In the food truck we just had a flat-top grill which is what we have in the tent,” said Gurinskas.

Once people learned Nom Eats was back open, they eagerly lined up.“This feels so good that people care so much. Which is why we wanted to do anything we could to get back out there,” said Gurinskas.

Nom Eats’ love of their customers and quality of their food has people like Celeste Rivera coming back again and again. Even after a month of being out of business.“I already know it’s going to be good,” said Rivera.

Nom Eats will be setting up their tent at Food Truck Friday, and the Feed The Camel food truck event set for McKinley arts center on Wednesdays during the summer.

Update: Most of the interior is charred soot or blobs of plastic-goop,” said Nom Eats food truck co-owner Ian McIntosh. The inside of the Nom Eats food truck caught fire on Monday evening. No one was inside. When fire crews arrived, a friend who lived nearby contacted the owners.

“He said Nom Eats is on fire. And I was like ha-ha. What does that mean? Weird joke, what does that mean? And he was like the neighbor says it’s on fire you need to get over there right now,” said McIntosh.  

The owners arrived at the location to find firefighters all over. “It was definitely a lot worse than I thought,” said McIntosh.

The food truck started up, in 2014. “We used to travel to Portland a lot and San Francisco. There are way more vegan options there, so we just wanted to bring some of that here,” said McIntosh.

The sight of the burnt out truck was overwhelming for the owners. “I did not know what to do or how to process it,” said McIntosh. 

He says it took firefighters only 20 minutes to get it under control. He believes the flames started in a pile of clean-up rags with vegetable oil on it. “It was so hot out yesterday. It caught fire on its own. And they happened to be on a 5 gallon jug of vegetable oil,” said McIntosh.

He says they have learned a lesson from all of this. “Be aware of how sunny and hot it is,” said McIntosh. Nom Eats won't be serving this summer. But a GoFundMe account has raised more than $16,000 in less than 24 hours, to buy a new truck or something else. “Maybe this is a sign it’s time to go to the next step. Whether it is a restaurant or a new food truck,” said McIntosh.

Our community is coming together to help get a popular vegan food truck up and running again after a fire melted most of it on Monday night in Reno. 

A GoFundMe page says Robyn Gurinskas, Carly Gurinskas, and Ian McIntosh started Nom Eats vegan food truck in October of 2014. 

They say the fire melted the roof, right of the truck and blew out the windows. 

The GoFundMe page that was created has already raised more than $9,000 toward its $10,000 goal. 

If you want to help them, click here. 

The fundraiser page did not say how the fire started.

One of the co-owners tell us they have the insurance on the truck, but they don't know how much insurance will eventually cover. 

We're talking to the truck's owners for Tuesday night's newscasts.