- July 8, 2026
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When Josh Barth, 46, consistently found himself missing out when his favorite food trucks were near him, he didn’t just grumble and move on. He started a business.
That frustration with pop-up schedules became the inspiration of FoodTrukt, an app designed to connect customers with nearby food trucks.
“In the back of my mind I was like, ‘There's got to be a better way to do this,” Barth said.
Barth, the CFO, and Adam Ott, the CEO of FoodTrukt, both have software backgrounds. They both worked at Vertex, a corporate income tax software company, for 16 years from 2005 to 2021. Barth had tested video game apps created by Ott and said they decided to work together to create Foodtrukt.
They researched the competition and found a few current apps, but they weren’t impressed by the functionality. The main purposes of the app is for food truck owners to post their location and “go live,” which drops a precise pin of where they are selling their product. They can also post their menus and schedules.
“You could be driving to drop your kid off at a soccer game, and there might be the best barbecue you've been wanting to try down the street,” Barth said. “If you follow them, you'll get a proximity alert.”
“Sometimes people say they are at the farmers market, but you don't know if they're over at this end or that end,” Ott said. “It's good to see that green pin.”
Amber Hanratty, the owner of Dirty Sara-Soda, which launched in January, was one of the first food truck owners on the app. She discovered it when Barth sought her out after seeing Dirty Sara-Soda on social media.
“He told me their vision of what the app can offer the food truck community, and since I was so new in the business, I was all in!” Hanratty said.
Hanratty said being on FoodTrukt has definitely helped her business and she tells her customers about FoodTrukt often. She said a customer from Port Charlotte downloaded the app in order to locate her and come get some drinks.
Barth said they are trying to put a platform in the hands of local food truck owners that allows them to communicate. Besides the live notification, they can also send out messages to all of their followers about anything they want; it could be they are closing early, if they offer specials or any other beneficial information.
He said it is not a replacement for social media. They still encourage individual food trucks to have an active social media presence. However, social media isn’t everyone’s specialty.
“This is an addition to dovetail what they're already doing,” Barth said.
Barth said newer food truck operators tend to jump on the bandwagon of using FoodTrukt faster because old fashioned ways of running a business are not ingrained in them.
Danielle Hansen, the owner of Zogi’s Shaved Ice & Lemonade, said she has looked into using other food truck apps in the past but believes FoodTrukt stands out with how well it represents the local area.
She said as food truck owners, you only want to invest time in updating an app — posting schedules, menus, photos — if it will truly connect you with the community.
“What we've seen so far is that local vendors have collectively gotten behind FoodTrukt, and that makes it worth the investment,” Hansen said. “We genuinely believe it's helping customers find local food trucks and helping food trucks stay connected to the Lakewood Ranch community.”
Although FoodTrukt was created with the local market in mind, it has already been used in nine states solely by word of mouth. They received a message from a food truck owner in Utah on a location/ZIP code-related issue before they knew it was outside of the Florida market.
“I see the potential for us to absolutely go nuclear nationwide,” Barth said. “It only takes one viral moment, and that's why we're staffing up to help with the flood.”
Barth described FoodTrukt as “a passion project that's starting to bloom too much bigger,” so he and Ott knew they needed to bring in more help. Gabby Collazo, Karlie Becker and Cassandra Nacioneles make up the marketing team.
The app is completely free for consumers looking to try new food trucks. For food truck owners, there are three versions of the app: the free version, a $4.99 monthly subscription or a $14.99 monthly subscription.
Sarasota’s Karinna Khokhlan discovered FoodTrukt through friends’ Instagram stories. She works in the food industry — as a server at Captain Curts — so her schedule varies. She often works nights and weekends and kept missing trucks she has wanted to try. With Foodtrukt posting schedules and locations, she is able to plan out when she can check out new trucks.
“It’s been very convenient to my life,” Khokhlan said. “I love supporting local and trying new things, especially family owned vendors.”
