The founders of Stuffed! Burgers and Frat Boy Donuts have moved on to greener pastures, but fret not, the San Diego-born concepts have been taken over by local food purveyor, Food Trucktopia, who will continue to operate the Liberty Public Market eateries and will be opening the previously-announced downtown branch of Frat Boy by month's end.
We broke the news late last month that the Pacific Beach locations of Stuffed! and Frat Boy Donuts shuttered, but we didn't have the full story at the time. Once we heard that the Liberty Public Market locations also were closed, albeit temporarily, we checked in with co-founder Alex Gould who explained that he was forced to shutter the PB outposts not due to lack of business, but rather because of major legal issues with their former landlord.
"We were working on the sale of the entire business for a few months now," explained Stuffed! and Frat Boy Donuts co-founder Alex Gould. "We sold off the Green Flash Gastrotruck to Food Trucktopia earlier this summer and were planning on selling both Stuffed! and Frat Boys also, but we then got into problems with our landlord in Pacific Beach and had to close those branches. Simultaneously, I got an incredible job offer in the Pacific Northwest, which I could not pass up."
"As of Monday, October 15, the full transition will be complete," continued Gould. "David Spatafore and LPM have handled this most graciously. We look forward to the new owners bringing the brand to where we always thought it would go and taking it to the next level."
Founded as a food truck in 2013 before going brick-and-mortar with a stall in Liberty Public Market since late 2015, STUFFED! is a San Diego-based juicy-Lucy burger concept from AG Industry Concepts, which was started by Alex & Tori Gould. In Fall 2017, the company expanded into a new retail complex in Pacific Beach with a second STUFFED! location and the first outpost of Frat Boy Donuts, which debuted another branch in Liberty Public Market earlier this year and was announced to be expanding into downtown San Diego's East Village. The former STUFFED! food truck was repurposed into Green Flash Gastrotruck.
"We want to make the transition as smooth as possible," commented Food Trucktopia co-founder Ornela Toombs. "Most managers and employees we hope will stay on board and business should be back on track this week. We also hope to have the downtown Frat Boy Donuts location opened by month's end."
Stuffed! and Frat Boy Donuts have reopened within Liberty Public Markety, and the downtown location of Frat Boy Donuts aims to open at 445 10th Avenue in San Diego's East Village by the end of October. The company is also in the process of applying for a beer and wine license for the downtown branch.
For more information about Food Trucktopia, visit them online at foodtrucktopia.com.
