A Florida food truck owner says her park asked to see her sales system after 10 years, and when she wouldn’t sign she had until midnight to leave

Gabriella Santos, who ran the Los Cipotes food truck at Kissimmee’s World Food Trucks for about 10 years, says she was told to move out by midnight Thursday after a lease renewal meeting earlier that week, according to ClickOrlando. As her social media post gained traction, it drew millions of views and calls for a boycott of the park.

Santos says the meeting centered on a request for access to her point-of-sale system. She recalled asking why a manager needed it and being told, “Oh it’s because that’s how we’re going to balance how much your rent is going to be.” Her account of the meeting and the deadline to leave has not been independently verified.

World Food Trucks has disputed part of what Santos said. The park rejected one specific claim outright, so the two sides now differ publicly on how rent is set. As the claims conflict, the details of the lease conversation and the timeline for leaving remain unconfirmed.

World Food Trucks says its vendors pay a fixed weekly rent rather than a share of sales

Santos’s post also referred to a figure of 60 percent that the park rejected. She later said the number reflected her impression of the arrangement, stating, “What I said was that they wanted 60 percent of my business because that’s how I feel.” However, World Food Trucks held its position, answering, “That claim is completely false.”

@loscipotesfood

In a statement, the park said, “Our vendors pay a fixed weekly rent, rather than a percentage of their food sales, and we remain committed to clear communication with our vendor community.” However, the statement as reported does not address the hours-long deadline Santos described. Santos describes a conversation about her sales, while the park describes a flat weekly fee.

Beyond the lease conversation, Santos cited a list of frustrations that she says built up over time. They included safety concerns, rising operating costs, a lack of vendor support, vendors paying out of pocket for events and new fees. She also pointed to falling sales as more trucks joined the park, which has added vendors in recent years, though the statement as reported does not respond to those points directly.

Disputes over money at food businesses often draw attention online, as with a 266 percent restaurant tip that a customer says appeared on her bank statement. In Santos’s case, the post describes a business she says she spent 10 years building at a single location before being asked to relocate.

Photos obtained for the report show Santos’s former space now surrounded by tables. As the park has grown from its first trucks in 2015 to more than 100 vendors, it has become known as a hub for Latin food businesses in Central Florida, with a mix of Mexican, Venezuelan, Arab, Chinese and Colombian menus.

Nadeem Battla, the park’s president and CEO and the son of Pakistani immigrants, described it in an earlier interview as “a little mini-United Nations here,” with vendors from countries around the world. One early vendor, La Fiebre del Sabor Criollo, run by Puerto Rican immigrants Damaris Torres and Edgar Cruz, has since grown to four trucks at the location.

The park occupies a parking lot off West Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway in Kissimmee and is described by its operators as a place where immigrants can pursue their own American entrepreneurial dreams. Battla has said, “For me to be able to help the next generation of immigrants has just been an absolute blessing to me.”

Further statements from the park or from Santos could clarify the lease terms and the timeline as the post keeps circulating, although the two accounts differ on at least one major point so far.