Vetted Kitchens: From Food Truck to Calling

A KCN Business Feature: How Kris Vandenberg learned to lead with faith through Vetted Kitchens

Kris Vandenberg has spent more than 25 years in kitchens. But his journey into entrepreneurship didn’t begin with a business plan. It began with a desire to build something of his own.

After serving in the Army from 1997 to 2008, Kris pursued a history degree while working as a cook at a bar to pay the bills. Somewhere between long shifts and late nights in the kitchen, something unexpected happened. Watching the Food Network and experimenting with food began to spark a deeper interest in the culinary world. What started as a job slowly became a calling, eventually leading him to culinary school.

Still, Kris’s path into business was far from straightforward.

In 2012, he moved from Illinois to Austin, hoping to build a life in the restaurant industry. The transition was difficult. Jobs were inconsistent, money was tight, and he spent time living with his brother while trying to find stability in a new city. Eventually, he joined the management training program at Pluckers, rotating through both front- and back-of-house roles and learning the mechanics of running a restaurant.

During that time, Kris and his brother shared a dream of opening a sports bar together. But the financial barrier to entry was steep, and suitable spaces were hard to find within reach.

So Kris pivoted.

Instead of opening a sports bar, he decided to start with something more attainable: a food truck.

A Season of Searching

Around this time, Kris began reconnecting with his faith. The journey started years earlier in a jail cell.

Shortly after moving to Austin, Kris struggled with alcoholism that had followed him from college and his time in the military. Within his first year in the city, he received two DUIs, the second landing him in jail. Sitting alone in that cell, completely broken, Kris says he had a moment that changed everything.

Within three days, he felt God speak clearly to him, assuring him that everything would be okay.

That moment didn’t instantly fix everything, but it started a slow transformation. Over the next several years, Kris pursued sobriety and began rebuilding his life. On January 1, 2017, he fully committed to sobriety and started reengaging with church and Christian community in Austin.

As his faith deepened, so did his conviction that his work could carry a larger purpose.

Around that same time, he joined a small group at church where he met Pedro, a food truck owner who would play a key role in helping Kris launch his own venture.

Building Vetted Kitchens

With Pedro’s guidance and a connection to a food truck builder, Kris launched his first mobile kitchen. He even purchased a 40-foot bus and converted it into a food truck.

It was ambitious, but it was also unpredictable.

In the early years, Kris took any job he could find. Weddings, nonprofit events, private gatherings, and festivals often required him to drive two or three hours just to secure enough business to keep going. The work was constant and the margins were thin.

Then the truck started breaking down.

Without financial reserves to cover major repairs, Kris had to learn to fix the vehicle himself just to stay operational. When revenue slowed, he relied on credit cards and loans to keep the business afloat.

At one point, the financial pressure forced a painful decision. Kris had to call his sous chef into the office and explain that he could no longer afford to keep him on salary. The role had to shift to hourly.

The reality of entrepreneurship hit hard.

When the truck broke down again in 2019, Kris experienced severe anxiety and lost nearly thirty pounds from the stress. At that point, he was relying mostly on his own strength to survive.

Then COVID arrived.

Three months before the pandemic, the truck had broken down completely. Soon after, it was broken into three separate times. At first the setbacks felt devastating, but looking back Kris now sees the timing differently.

What felt like collapse was actually a pivot.

A New Direction

When the truck could no longer move, Kris began using it simply as a kitchen while shifting his focus toward catering and private chef work. Through his travels and nonprofit partnerships, he had developed strong relationships with several veteran service organizations. Those relationships soon became the foundation of a new business model.

During the pandemic, Kris also began operating out of the kitchen at Austin Oaks Church, where he served in ministry while building his catering business on the side. From 2020 through 2023, the church kitchen became both a workspace and a community.

Over time, however, space limitations and new permitting requirements forced him to search for another location. During that transition, a man at church noticed Kris working alongside his service dog and introduced him to a new opportunity with the local Veterans of Foreign Wars chapter. Today, that connection has grown into one of the nonprofit partnerships he serves regularly.

What began as a food truck business had gradually transformed into something broader: Vetted Kitchens, a catering and community-focused culinary venture rooted in service.

Faith at the Center

As Kris’s faith matured, it began shaping not only his life but also his business decisions.

One example came during a difficult negotiation with Austin Oaks Church about continuing to use the kitchen. Feeling rejected and hurt, Kris initially wrote an email filled with frustration. Before sending it, he felt convicted to pause.

Instead of responding with anger, he rewrote the message with humility and gentleness.

Moments like that began reshaping how he approached leadership.

Another shift came in 2023 when Kris reevaluated the kind of food he served. Early in the business, he focused on the cheapest ingredients possible to keep costs down. Over time, however, he felt convicted that the food he served should nourish people, not just fill plates.

Today, he intentionally sources healthier, more nutrient-dense ingredients, believing that food itself can be an act of care for the community.

“It’s a way to serve people better,” he explains.

The Role of Community

Kris had heard about Kingdom Capital Network for years through friends like Pedro and others in the Austin business community. Eventually, he connected with KCN Founder, Steve Teng, and decided to join the program.

Interestingly, Kris did not initially join to grow his business.

His motivation was different.

He wanted to build community and learn how to help other entrepreneurs integrate faith and work. His long-term hope was to become a mentor for other business owners facing similar challenges.

What he discovered through the program surprised him.

The concept of redemptive work deeply challenged his thinking. Previously, Kris admits he often followed the path of least resistance, focusing primarily on financial survival. Through the program, he began to see his work as part of God’s larger redemptive story.

That shift changed how he built relationships, how he approached customers, and even how he viewed his own struggles.

Where he once assumed people were out to take advantage of him, he now finds himself extending trust more freely.

The community within KCN also gave him something he hadn’t experienced before: a space where entrepreneurs could openly wrestle with business decisions and faith at the same time.

That encouragement gave him the resilience to endure the most difficult seasons of entrepreneurship.

A Table for Community

Today, Kris’s vision for Vetted Kitchens extends beyond catering.

He sees food as a catalyst for community. When people gather around a table, conversations deepen, barriers drop, and relationships grow.

For Kris, that space often becomes an opportunity for discipleship.

“We’re all here to lift each other up,” he says. “And food is one of the ways we can do that.”

Through his work with veteran organizations, private clients, and community events, Kris hopes to create spaces where people feel seen, supported, and welcomed.

Looking back, the journey from a broken food truck to a growing catering business reflects something deeper than perseverance.

It reflects transformation.

Today, Kris encourages other entrepreneurs to surround themselves with mentors, peers, and people they can pour into as well.

“Always be mentoring someone, be mentored by someone, and walk alongside peers who are learning with you,” he says. “You never stop growing.”

Because for Kris, success is no longer measured only by revenue or expansion.

It’s measured by the lives gathered around the table.

To learn more about business owners like Kris or how you can join or support Kingdom Capital Network, reach us at info@kingdomcapitalnetwork.org.