THE owner of a popular food truck has paid tribute to the local community, saying she has been overwhelmed by the amount of help since a fire destroyed her business last week.

An electrical fault is initially believed to be the cause of a fire that ripped through the Brunch Box – which resulted in the ceiling “melting” – in the early hours of Tuesday, November 19.

The Brunch Box is busy breakfast and burger takeaway van run by Louanna Norman in Llandrindod Wells.

Despite everything, Louanna was back open and cooking on gas by Monday (November 25), thanks to the generosity of the Llandrindod community, who have helped get her back on her feet.

“I’ve been overwhelmed by the response from people,” Louanna said.

“I’ve had hundreds of messages, there’s so many I haven’t even got through yet. It feels like everyone’s come forward, with anything we’ve needed, any help; it’s been amazing.

“Lee Percy came to me straight away and offered us his trailer and James Rees has supplied us with the replacement trailer, while Hint of Tint said that once we get a new trailer they’ll do the signage for nothing.

“We opened back up on Monday and everyone whose been has given us the change back from their orders and told us to keep the money; it’s been lovely.

“It’s the sort of community Llandrindod is. Luckily, we can still trade, and we’ll keep going and get back up and running.

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“Everything’s a bit different. We had the menu and prices on the side of the van before, and this one’s smaller so we’re tripping over each other in there, it’s been tough.

“But we wouldn’t be back up and running if it wasn’t for the community; we’re lucky we’ve got this van.”

Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service believe an electrical issue might have sparked the fire, while insurers visited Louanna on Wednesday, but it’s too early to tell.

The Brunch Box, which Louanna has run for the last three years, is still located just off Spa Road, on Tudor Lane, parked on a grass verge on the approach to Bargain Buys.

Louanna has no idea for how long she’ll be using the borrowed trailer for, but it’s likely to be for the foreseeable future.

The replacement trailer was made available to Louanna on Tuesday, the same day the fire occurred, but she admits she was not in the “right head space” to re-open until this week.

“We’ve done so much to the van since we’ve been here and we’re gutted,” she said.

“We’ve been very lucky that someone gave us this van, because if we didn’t have one we wouldn’t be able to trade until the insurance got sorted out.

“It’s just smaller so it’s been a trying week. We’ve been able to keep going but I just haven’t really been in the right place.

(Image: NQ)

“When it arrived it had nothing in it so I had to order new equipment, knives, chopping boards, as well as food.

“We lost the trailer and everything in it. It was completely burnt out on the back side, the ceiling had all come down because it melted.

“There was a lot of smoke damage and there was nothing we could save. We lost all the stock, as well as utensils and fryers.”

Visit the Brunch Box on Tudor Lane for a tasty treat. Alternatively, check out the Facebook page, call 07843 948411 or email lousbrunchbox2018@gmail.com.