Giant pothole on I-80 puts popular Rock Springs food truck out of business

A giant pothole on Interstate 80 and a stingy insurance company have taken out Tip’s Kitchen for good. What started as a retirement hobby for a Rock Springs couple turned into a popular food truck across southwest Wyoming. Now, after one hard hit, it may be finished forever.

Mike Tipton, co-owner of the small purple food trailer with his wife Kat, was driving home from an event late last year near mile marker 97 on I-80 west of Green River when he hit a large hole in the highway.

“I was tired,” Tipton said. “I just set the cruise control and was just driving. I forgot about the big hole in the interstate at the mile marker 97. And I hit it at 80 mph.”

The impact broke the trailer’s frame and dropped the fenders down onto its tires.

The couple initially hoped to save their business by moving equipment into a new enclosed trailer. But months of delays with their insurance claim changed that. Tipton said the insurance company questioned whether the damage was even from an accident.

“Four and a half months we were stuck in the process,” he said. “I’m still waiting for a check.”

The back-and-forth dragged on long enough that he eventually gave up on rebuilding. “I could have rebuilt this into a brand-new trailer for less than $15,000. But after they hesitated for so long, I don’t want the salvage, just keep the whole thing.”

Tip’s Kitchen opened in March 2022 after Kat suggested her retired husband needed a hobby. What they expected to be a part-time project quickly became much more. “Turned out to be a nine-day-a-week job,” Mike said.

The business lost money its first year, then climbed to break-even. They were one year from having it paid off.

Along the way, Tip’s Kitchen built a following across Rock Springs, Green River, Bridger Valley, Rawlins, Evanston and beyond. In 2022, it was a finalist in Sweetwater County’s Best of the Best competition for chicken wings. In 2023, the Rock Springs Chamber of Commerce awarded it the Small Business Rockstar Award.

Even after the trailer was damaged, Tipton said people throughout the region were upset to hear the business might not return.

The loss comes as operating a food truck was already becoming harder, with rising event fees and business costs. “Everybody’s got their hand out,” he said.

By early this year, with the trailer gone and insurance delaying payment, the Tiptons decided it wasn’t worth starting over. “All the yearly bills just kept coming in January and February, and it’s like, ‘Yeah, no. I’m 64 years old. Let the young kids do it.'”

The couple still plan to do some catering and rent commercial kitchens for select events. “We’re not gonna fall completely off the face of the earth,” Tipton said. “We got too many followers just to go completely away.”

But for the purple trailer that became Tip’s Kitchen, the future appears over. “It’s been great,” Tipton said. “I’m gonna miss it.”