There will soon be a new kid on the 1300 block of Morganton. The Haymount Truck Stop has traveled a long road to reach its Dec. 8 groundbreaking.

When two entrepreneurs, active duty Fort Bragg soldier Jordan Sherrod and his business partner, Chris Beaty, began brainstorming their new business, the idea was simple; create an ideal patio space.
With a cold season that lasts a little over two months, Fayetteville generally boasts warm and temperate, although famously erratic, weather.

“Since I have moved here, I have noticed the weather is great ... ten months out of the year, but there is no patio space; there is no good patio location,” Sherrod said.

And so, Sherrod and Beaty set out to fill that niche; to create an outdoor gathering space that promises to offer the prime patio experience, Haymount Truck Stop.

Planned as a unique culinary and entertainment experience, Haymount Truck Stop will be a landing pad for a maximum of four food trucks and offer patrons a bar, an arcade and an outdoor gathering space set for private events and yoga classes.

The venue will also provide food truck vendors with a limited commissary kitchen, storage space and electrical hookups.

Sherrod and Beaty have carefully chosen the future home of the Haymount Truck Stop. Located at the former Haymount Auto Shop, on the corner of Morganton and Broadfoot, Haymount Truck Stop should complete its metamorphosis by the spring.

When Sherrod and Beaty first began their Haymount Truck Stop journey, they encountered unexpected obstacles. As city code stood last spring, food trucks could not be situated within 100 feet of another restaurant and needed to be 50 feet from one another. This code created a problem with their location, which is just under an acre; they only had space for two food trucks under the preexisting city code. So, Sherrod, Beaty and their project manager Stephanie Pirruccello set out to reshape the rules for themselves and future businesses like them.

“I actually physically wrote a new law,” Sherrod said.

He created the rewritten ordinance in the fall and submitted it to the city, but the process did not end there. It passed through many different departments throughout the city.

“I submitted a version, and then the city took that and rewrote it to fit within code,” said Sherrod.

The question was, how could the rules be written to allow a space’s primary function and purpose to be food trucks, and how could the Haymount Truckstop provide a safe and city-compliant environment for their patrons.

To meet this challenge, Sherrod took code from other areas, other cities and reworked what had been written in different places to create a version of a new city code that might allow for more food trucks in smaller areas.

Then the city passed this new law through each relevant department, which made appropriate adjustments.

The city as a whole helped the Haymount Truck Stop craft an ordinance that was both safe and workable.

The process took several meetings before the new codes were ready for a vote.

Sherrod and Pirruccello credit the city staff for their help, support and moving the new ordinance through the planning commission.

Alicia Moore, a senior planner, was assigned to help Haymount Truck Stop through the process.

“Alicia Moore helped us navigate the entire process of requesting the inclusion of Food Truck Courts in the city’s Unified Development Ordinance. Her robust knowledge of the city’s regulations and requirements for zoning, planning, parking and safety was invaluable and ultimately helped us secure the City Council’s approval,” Pirruccello said. “We couldn’t have done it without her!”

The benefit to the community will stretch beyond the Haymount Truck Stop.

According to Sherrod, the City of Fayetteville has incorporated a multi-food truck function into their discussions about a maker space at the Murchison Gateway. The Fayetteville City Council unanimously agreed in early August to explore the possibilities of a maker space at the junction where Rowan Street, Bragg Boulevard and Murchison Road meet.

Sherrod hopes the possibilities won’t end there.

“We have a mentality of a rising tide lifts all ships,” Sherrod said. “I am very pro-business. I have an MBA in entrepreneurship. I love business. I love business owners; helping them out and doing what I can to help things to grow.”