22-04-2025
‘Brat' back: Tasty Kraut returns following food trailer explosion
SAN ANGELO, Texas (Concho Valley Homepage) — Four weeks after the Tasty Kraut German cuisine food trailer exploded, the business has been brought back to life to serve San Angelo residents once again. Here's how the owners rebounded from a 'wurst'-case scenario.
The Tasty Kraut food trailer exploded during the night of March 23 while being stored at the Affordable Self Storage site on United States Highway 67. Although it was reported by the Dove Creek Fire Department that no one was injured by the blast, photos shared online by The Tasty Kraut showed that the trailer sustained extreme damage.
'There's nothing left,' the business said in a Facebook post published the morning after the explosion.
The Tasty Kraut — which Holger Buchwalder, husband of business owner Pia Buchwalder, told Concho Valley Homepage was his family's 'future here in the United States' — was only a few months old at the time of the explosion, having been opened by the Buchwalders in January 2025. The explosion occurred just after The Tasty Kraut's first week in San Angelo, with the business operating in Mertzon before that time.
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The loss didn't deter the Buchwalder family, however. Holger Buchwalder said that it is his wife's dream to provide West Texans a taste of Germany, a dream that has been decades in the making.
'She's a chef for over 30 years, so her dream is to bring German food to West Texas,' Holger Buchwalder said. 'So it's not only the business side of it … it's also fulfilling part of a dream.'
Holger Buchwalder shared that the people of San Angelo helped them along the way, with thousands of dollars in donations from a GoFundMe fundraiser assisting in the purchase of a new food trailer and support from the community aiding in the business's recovery. The Buchwalders also received support from overseas, as friends and family in Germany spurred them along.
Weeks after the explosion, it was announced that The Tasty Kraut was going to resume operations in a new food trailer on April 22, bringing back its usual menu of German foods as well as a new item: 'Bratkartoffeln,' also known as German fries.
Holger Buchwalder said that, with The Tasty Kraut now back in operation, the business will begin to spend more time in San Angelo. He said the explosion was a bump in the road for their food trailer.
'It was just one stone in our way, we just get over it and do it again,' Holger Buchwalder said.
The Buchwalders haven't forgotten the people who got them to this point, though. Holger Buchwalder stated that his family is making plans to give back to the San Angelo community. He also thanked the town's residents for the outpouring of care they received in the weeks following the explosion.
'I can't thank enough for all of the help and all of the support,' Holger Buchwalder said. 'I don't have any words to thank the people. That's why I want to come up with something to show appreciation.'
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