We recently connected with Phillip Newman Mandy Morris and have shared our conversation below.
Phillip Newman, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?
We feel as though people generally have a negative opinion of the vegan community. This could be for a lot of different reasons, but ultimately, we believe that people feel like vegans are judgmental and pretentious. We set out to change that mindset. We wanted our food, atmosphere, and staff to be approachable and accessible for all people. We knew we needed to start with the name. Calling ourselves Tree Hugger Kitchen shows everyone that we don’t take ourselves too seriously. We’re just a bunch of tree huggers making delicious street food. Come on by!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
We started our food industry journey in Los Angeles. We’re from Kansas City originally, but we wanted a change of pace so we moved out to the best coast to enjoy the sunshine for a few years. While we were there, we opened up a Hawaiian Style Shave Ice truck through the national brand, Tropical Sno. After a couple of successful seasons, we decided to move back to good ol’ KC, but knew we had to drag that beautiful food trailer back with us. After a couple more Summers, COVID hit. We were entirely event based, so due to the pandemic, all of those events got cancelled, and our shave ice trailer was just sitting in our backyard collecting dust. We decided to take the plunge, sell the trailer, and use the funds to buy a fully fledged food truck and call it the Tree Hugger Truck. We had been vegan for a few years, and Mandy had developed some amazing recipes over that time. We were like, “Well, WE like our food! Let’s see if other people do too!” We had connections over at The Black Box Theatre in the West Bottoms in Kansas City, and they had an extra lot that was just sitting there. They offered us a permanent spot there, and we were able to use the lot to string up lights, set up patio tables and chairs, and give people an outdoor, socially distanced space to enjoy the normalcy of life while still abiding by the CDC regulations in place at the time. We opened in August of 2020, and by May of 2022, we were able to sell the food truck, and open up our new brick and mortar. We are now serving all your vegan street food favorites under the name Tree Hugger Kitchen in Riverside, MO! Some of our top sellers are our Buffalo Mac Wrap (Mac n’ chz, bac’n bits, tater tots, jalapeños, buffalo aioli, and sour cream wrapped inside a tortilla) and our KC BBQ Sammy (BBQ jackfruit, coleslaw, jalapeños, and fried onion strings on a sesame seed bun). We are so proud to not only give vegans another food option in the midwest where vegan options are limited, but to also open up the minds of those who don’t totally understand how good vegan food can really be!
How’d you meet your business partner?
Mandy and I met in 2011 doing a production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at a dinner theatre in Overland Park, KS. It was supposed to be a showmance that would end when the show ended, but we just couldn’t bring ourselves to call it quits. We moved out to LA in 2013, got engaged on the Santa Monica Pier in 2014, and got married in San Juan Capistrano in 2016. We are partners for life, and wouldn’t have it any other way.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
We constantly pivot. We moved out to LA with the intention of pursuing film/TV, but found that we were unhappy in that industry, so we pivoted and got the shave ice trailer. We decided we wanted to buy a house, but didn’t want to drop half a million dollars to do it, so we pivoted and moved back to KC. The pandemic hit so we pivoted again when we sold the shave ice trailer to get the food truck. Then we pivoted yet again to move out of the food truck and into our brick and mortar. Flexibility is the greatest asset for any new business owner. If something isn’t working, change it!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.treehuggerkitchen.com
- Instagram: @treehuggerkitchen
- Facebook: Tree Hugger Kitchen