Minnesota Local News
One Year on the Road ~ and Papa’s Just Took Home Platinum & Gold!
A year ago, we were the new food truck pulling into communities hoping people would give us a try.
Now, after just ONE YEAR on the road, Papa’s Camping Pit Stop has earned PLATINUM in Burgers and GOLD in Food Trucks in the 2026 St. Cloud CommunityVotes awards!
We’re Tyler and Nikki, a husband-and-wife team from Buffalo, Minnesota, building Papa’s together. Tyler is the chef behind the food~ handling the prep, creating the food and smashing the burgers~while running the business itself is very much a team effort.
When we started, we had no idea what our first year would look like. Then people found us… and they came back. They started following our schedule, bringing friends and family, finding us in different towns and inviting us back to events.
We’ve had the sold-out nights and ridiculously busy days where we couldn’t believe how far Papa’s had come. But we’ve also had the days with barely any sales where we looked at each other like, “What the hell are we doing?” ? That’s been part of year one, too. We’ve learned as we go, changed things when they weren’t working, celebrated the really good days and kept showing up after the not-so-good ones.
And somehow, through all of it, this little food truck just kept growing.
That’s what makes these awards mean so much to us. They came from the people who stand at our window, eat our food, follow our schedule, share our posts, tell their friends and keep coming back.
A year ago, we were just hoping people would give Papa’s a chance.
Turns out… you guys REALLY like our burgers. ? And we’re pretty proud of that. ❤️?
Honestly, one of the coolest parts of Papa’s has been the people we’ve met along the way.
We’re both Buffalo born and raised, and we love getting to take our little family business into communities all around us. From campgrounds and breweries to fundraisers, benefits, local businesses and community events, we’ve gotten to be part of some pretty awesome things this first year.
We’ve also learned really quickly how much small businesses support other small businesses. We’ve met so many great business owners, event organizers and people who have taken a chance on Papa’s, shared our name and helped us grow.
But nothing beats hearing, “We saw you guys were going to be here, so we came.”
Seriously… that NEVER gets old.
When someone follows us to another town, brings their family back, tells a friend about us or an event asks us to come back next year~that means something to us.
We might be the ones inside the truck, but the communities showing up outside that window are what have made Papa’s what it is.
And after only one year, we’re just really damn thankful people keep showing up. ❤️