Twitter Helps Chef Find Stolen Food Truck

(Photo Credit: Fox 8 News Video Still)

CLEVELAND — When chef Chris Hodgson heard his popular food truck was missing, he thought someone was pulling a prank on him. But after checking with some likely culprits, he realized that wasn’t the case.

“We woke up this morning, I got to work and one of my guys said to me ‘Are you having Dim and Den Sum serviced?’ and I said ‘No, it’s down in the basement.’ And they said ‘It’s not down there.’ And we kind of realized that the truck went missing,” Hodgson said.

“I called everyone that I knew and saw if any of the other guys were playing a joke on me. We quickly realized that it wasn’t,” Hodgson said. “We sent out tweets about it. We have a fan that actually lives on this street and they sent us an email that said ‘I see your truck across the street.’ We drove down here and found the truck parked right here.”

Hodgson found the truck Monday morning at East 46th Street and Central Avenue. He believes it was stolen Friday night.

“She’s a little bumped and bruised and they took what they could get,” Hodgson said. The items missing from the truck include a generator, propane and steam tables.

“We’re glad to have the truck back in our possession. It’s in such high demand that I guess thieves have to steal it,” Hodgson joked.

Hodgson hopes to have the truck back on the streets by the end of next week.

“It was my original baby. She’s close to my heart and I felt my heart sink when I realized she wasn’t around,” Hodgson said. “We’re just happy to have her back.

Chris Hodgson made a name for himself when he launched his Dim and Den Sum food truck in May of 2010. He got national attention as the runner up on Food Network’s “The Great Food Truck Race” with his Hodgepodge Truck.  He opened a brick and mortar restaurant called Hodge’s in March of this year.