Scott Sims, owner of food truck Smash Daddy’s Burgers, Fries, Etc, tells the Indiana Capital Chronicle his mobile establishment has been banned from the statehouse’s weekly market for having the temerity to bear the the words “You’ll love our meat in your mouth” printed on the vinyl livery on the side of the vehicle after officials “received several complaints regarding the slogan.”
“Participation of food trucks and other vendors at the Statehouse Market is by invitation and is at the discretion of the State Personnel Department. We routinely evaluate vendors based on a variety of operational and programmatic considerations, and we reserve the right to modify the vendor rotation or discontinue participation at any time,” State Personnel Department comms director Kirollos Barsoum told the Chronicle also had “no responsive written records” of complaints.
Sims said he’d only heard that a Christian school and the state government had taken offense, which will cost him between $4,000 and $5,000 in lost sales during the two Thursdays his truck is now barred from participating in. “I mean, we make burgers and hot dogs, so you’ll love our meat in your mouth,” Sims said. “But I’m sure, and as they did, some people took it the wrong way.”