‘I feel lost’: Food truck builder files bankruptcy after taking millions from customers

ORLANDO, Fla. — There is more trouble for an Orlando company that Action 9 first exposed earlier this year when complaints poured in from all over the country. One Fat Frog bills itself as the largest food truck manufacturer in the United States. Consumer Investigator Jeff Deal learned Florida Attorney General’s Office is investigating the company and that One Fat Frog has filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy.

The Action 9 team also continues to get complaints about One Fat Frog.

After the tragic loss of her young son, Zhyarah Rivera moved to central Florida.

Speaking in Spanish and translated to English, Rivera said, “So much sadness and so many situations have led up to this point.”

She decided to pursue her dream of owning a food truck business featuring her family’s Puerto Rican recipes.

She even had a name for the business picked out. “La Cocina de Ella… y ella soy ya,” she said. That translates in English to “Her Kitchen… and I am her.”

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Zhyrah Rivera turned to One Fat Frog, the Orlando company with a spiffy website, that touts it’s the nation’s largest food truck manufacturer.

Rivera told Action 9, “I went and made the purchase and after that they never called me, not even to tell me it was delayed.”

She claimed she paid a $7000 deposit in August of last year, then continued to make payments of more than $1500 for each of the next seven months.

But said One Fat Frog failed to deliver the truck as promised, so she halted payments and recently contacted Action 9.

“I never thought I was going to be deceived or that they wouldn’t supply the food truck,” she said.

And she’s not alone. Earlier this year, Action 9 received complaint after complaint from across the country about One Fat Frog not delivering after taking people’s money. Muyideen Olowu paid around $40,000 up front.

Olowu told Action 9 in January, “They’ve killed the dreams of so many people.”

The company had an “F” rating with the Better Business Bureau, and it is no longer even rated.

When the Action 9 team went to One Fat Frog for answers in January about Muyideen Olowu’s complaint, the company told Consumer Investigator Jeff Deal, supply chain issues coming out of Covid continue to impact build times, and the estimated delivery dates in the contracts are just estimates.

But operations manager Frank Connell also offered an apology. Connell said, “I feel sorry that we’re not able to perform like we intended to do with everything that’s happening with the economy.”

Still, Action 9 continues to receive complaints as the company goes through the bankruptcy proceedings. Court documents show in a June hearing it was revealed the company owner was in the hospital on life support and even though the company took millions of dollars in deposits from 600 customers to build food trucks, the company had just $40,000 cash on hand.

That’s left customers like Zhyarah Rivera frustrated and wondering if they’ll ever see their money or the food truck they paid One Fat Frog to build.

Rivera fought back tears and said, “Emotionally, I feel depressed. It was a dream. I don’t have an answer. I feel lost.”

Court records show a Trustee has been assigned to handle company finances and the Orange County facility as One Fat Frog goes through bankruptcy. The Trustee’s latest report showed it has around $52,000 in cash and an audit revealed it could sell its assets in a liquidation for around $1.9-million in a best case scenario. But the company could owe roughly $18-million for food truck customers and other creditors.

Action 9 reached out to company leaders and its attorney about the latest complaints, so far there has been no response.

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