His Kansas City food truck sells massive baked potatoes. Now he’s opening a restaurant
Thomas Clark’s cuisine is no small potatoes.
Literally. His food truck — TC’s Fully Loaded — sells massive baked spuds.
The Mr. Krabz potato ($24), for example, is filled with crab, shrimp, green onions and creamy cajun sauce. The KC potato ($18) is piled high with burnt ends, cheddar, barbecue sauce, green onions and sour cream on the side.
There’s more potatoes on his menu: some stuffed with crawfish and cajun sauce, others topped with broccoli and cheddar cheese.
After five years of selling his whopping taters, Clark will finally have a brick-and-mortar location at 1407 Southwest Blvd. in Kansas City, Kansas. The restaurant will open Sunday, Oct. 20, and will serve customers via a walk-up window.
It’s crazy for Clark to think about. Running a restaurant was never part of his life plan.
“I’m more of a foodie, I would say. I just got into the restaurant business,” Clark said. “I like to eat more than I like to cook.”
Clark’s tater journey started after moving to Kansas City from Alabama several years ago for a job post-college. When he arrived, he noticed an alarming lack of baked potatoes.
“Back home, all the barbecue joints have baked potatoes you can get,” Clark said.
So he started making them at home for himself, then for friends. And, raised in a family that loved to cook Southern food, Clark knew how.
Word got around about Clark’s culinary skills, and more people began requesting his potatoes. People would message him on social media to put an order in, and he’d run out to the bus stop at 27th Street and Troost Avenue for the potato drop.
When Clark bought a food truck a few years ago, business began to boom.
He started bringing the truck to community events, and eventually First Friday. (Clark said that’s the “best day of the month.”) More people began to take note of his cuisine.
Food reviewers on social media even broadcast his hot potatoes, and the internet ate up his unique concept. Not only are the baked potato offerings in Kansas City are slim, but most places offer the potatoes on the side — not as an entree.
Today, his 14,000 followers on Instagram wait for his announcements to find out where his truck will be next.
But after opening his restaurant, he’ll be open 5 to 9 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays. His food truck will still be open for lunches and events.
At first, his food truck and restaurant offerings will be the same. Clark added that he might eventually add a few non-potato items to the menu — crab cakes, maybe.
Long term, he’d love to open TC’s Fully Loaded locations in major cities, like New York, Los Angeles and Houston. But for now, he’s focusing on Kansas City.
Whether he’s handing out potatoes at a bus stop, from a food truck window, or behind a counter, Clark said he enjoys building relationships with customers.
“Serving the community is really fun,” he said. “Trading food with other food trucks, talking to customers … It is rewarding.”
