TIMMY Campbell is no stranger to adversity. One morning last November, the food truck owner, known affectionately to his customers as “Tha Corn Man,” showed up to start breakfast service at the corner of 25th Street and Central Avenue in Fall Creek Place only to find that his trailer was nowhere in sight. A month later, police recovered the vehicle, but it had been stripped, with the generator cut off and the inside vandalized.
This wasn’t the first setback for the Texas native, whose previous career was cut short in 2017 by a groundless legal charge that was later dropped—too late to repair the damage that had been done. After two years of court visits to clear his name, Campbell decided to start anew by turning his passion into his main enterprise.
He bought a canopy and a grill and headed to the Marion Country Fair, where he set up a stand serving a dish he loved growing up in Houston: Mexican street corn, otherwise known as esquites. While the investment meant spending the first few months sleeping in his car, Campbell soon gained a following.
Now, Campbell serves up his famous layered street corn cups from his food truck and catering business. “I’m one of the only ones out here doing what I’m doing,” Campbell says. “People now recognize me as Tha Corn Man, and that’s always exciting.”
