Grub Truck opened at 10 p.m. Thursday night but only stayed open for 40 minutes due to hundreds of people and their inability to follow social distancing due to COVID-19 concerns.  

“Sorry folks, hundreds of people on the street and not much social distancing. Shut it down,” Grub Truck posted on their Twitter at 10:41 p.m.  

Sophia Anne Moore, a Grub Truck employee who was handing out food to ordering customers with gloves and a mask, said they were getting complaints that the long lines of people were going to cause a pandemic.  

Earlier in the day, Grub Truck let their customers know via social media they would be giving away free food to anyone who came out — not allowing their already prepped food to go to waste.  

John Fletcher, the owner of Grub Truck said, “We’re just shutting down for a few weeks or a month or two.” 

They had prepped a week’s worth of food, which Fletcher said would have been a regular night’s worth a few weeks ago. Fletcher didn’t want the food to go to waste, so they decided to give it away. 

Grub Truck was able to serve because food service is considered essential and offered a takeout and minimal contact option under Gov. Brad Little’s Stay-at-Home order.  

After laying off three of his part time employees and the remaining staff losing 25% of their hours, Fletcher said it was more of a risk to stay open than to close.  

Before 10 p.m., when Grub Truck was scheduled to open, there was a line of people stretching down from the Drug Store to Bloom. But when the time hit 10 p.m. the line was passed The Breakfast Club.  

We are here at @GrubTruckers last day of service for awhile due to COVID-19. The line is goes from Grub Truck to Breakfast Club and there are over 100 people in line. @uiargonaut

Grub Truck is giving away food until they run out. pic.twitter.com/Dj4qqhPCGo— Alex Brizee (@alex_brizee) April 3, 2020

Duncan Jones, a Moscow resident, said when he got to the truck he should have gotten there sooner. 

“I think I was only in line for probably 40 minutes or so, it wasn’t it wasn’t even open too long before they shut it down,” Jones said.  

Jones was the 41st customer, and the final customer Grub Truck served for the night.  

Despite asking for customers to practice social distancing in their posts and attempts to get people 6 feet apart, people did not listen.  

Shelby Larsen, a University of Idaho student, said she left her apartment about five minutes before 10 p.m.  

The line was past La Casa Lopez when she got there. She had gotten to Friendship Square when Grub Truck announced they were shutting down.  

“We’re about to be alone for the whole summer and so it’s like ‘OK, let’s get Grub Truck as a last hurrah,'” Larsen said. 

Dustin Blaker, a Moscow Police Department Sergeant, said the MPD was aware of the situation and monitoring it, but it wasn’t a large concern as people were outside.  

Blaker added it was a bit impossible to control a crowd that size and ask those waiting in line to stay six feet apart.  

“It’s more just a common sense thing. If you can, avoid being around other groups,” Blaker said. “It’s almost impossible to tell people not to be anywhere near anyone else.”  

Grub Truck’s food did not go to waste, though. They donated the remainder of their food to the Moscow Fire Department and Gritman Medical Center.  

Alex Brizee and Kali Nelson can be reached at [email protected]