Kamloops’ newest Indian food truck may have never come to fruition if it wasn’t for a stroke of luck at a casino.

Tristan Dyck and Jordan Dhillon launched The King’s Kart, a food truck specializing in Indian kebabs, earlier this month.

“I’ve been working in the restaurant industry for eight years,” Dyck said. “My business partner Jordan and I sat down for a beer and got to talking and created a lifelong best friend bond. We knew from that day we were going to start a business together in the future.”

It took months of hard work and their combined financial savings for the former Boston Pizza employees to build the truck and get it rolling.

Dyck said after overcoming several unforeseen hurdles along the way, it was the winnings of Dhillon’s gambling that pulled the project through to completion. 

“We quit our jobs, took all our money and committed to open in the summer,” he said. “Everything went wrong and it took longer and longer until finally we were running on our last dollars.

“Jordan went to the casino and he won $4,000, then $2,000, and made two more $500 wins. He was out gambling making money and I was back and forth to the hardware store finishing the truck.”

READ MORE: Penticton’s Crazy Corn Man known for colourful personality (and great corn)

Dyck used his experience working in multiple trades to take the bare bones cart and turn it into an operating business.

They started attending events this month and plan to stay in the Kamloops area for the near future.

The King’s Kart food truck in Kamloops offers kababs on crispy wraps with vegetables and homemade sauce.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Tristan Dyck

Dyck said so far customers are raving about the kababs.

“We make chicken, beef and vegetarian kebabs,” he said. “They go into a paratha, a crispy wrap, and those are loaded with veggies and homemade sauce. The spices on the meat are to die for. We are getting amazing feedback.”

READ MORE: Date released for Amazing Race Canada featuring Kelowna, Vernon

Most of The King’s Kart ingredients are sourced from a local Indian grocery store in town and the vegetables are sourced from NuLeaf.

When the colder weather comes, Dyck is hoping to rent out kitchen space at The Stir, a communal food hub on the North Shore, to continue cooking and doing business.

“I want to say thank you to everyone who has been coming out grabbing food and supporting us,” he said. “Thank you to everyone who has been helping us get up and running and do the best we can.”

Dyck posts the weekly schedule of locations and updates for The King’s Kart on his Instagram page.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Shannon Ainslie or call 250-819-6089 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won’t censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.