A FAMILY business based in Chepstow has been left in ruins after it went up in flames last week, on the evening of January 7.
Only Food and Sauces is a family run food van located in Bulwark Industrial Estate – owned by husband and wife duo, Kyle Gettings, 38, and Kelly Gettings, 35.
The pair say they are “heartbroken” that the business, which they have poured their hearts and souls into for over a year, has burned to the ground.
“I couldn’t believe it when I arrived at the site to see it all up in flames,” said Kelly.
“I was in shock I think – it did not properly sink in until the next day.”
“Kelly called me and she was frantically crying. I just thought ‘what on earth has happened?,'” said Kyle.
“When I arrived I pushed passed the police and fire service to get closer and see. When I saw the damage I could not believe my eyes.”
“It also killed me to see Kelly and the kids so upset that day.”
The van was damaged beyond repair (Image: Kyle Gettings) The couple founded their business around 13 months ago, to demonstrate to their two young children, Angel and Braxton, aged eight and 13, the values of hard work, perseverance and entrepreneurship.
Together since they were aged 16 and 19, they both described they both described their financial struggle “in the early days.”
“Some nights we would sit waiting for the benefits payment to drop, just to be able to feed our children,” they said.
One day they decided “enough was enough” and made it a mission to make something of themselves, for the sake of their family.
“My kids are my motivation, they are my heroes,” Kyle said.
Since opening, both have worked 90-100 hour working weeks, with some days staying open until 1am for customers.
They started a TikTok page, inspired by the likes of Spudman and other food creators on the app, to advertise their business.
Receiving over 400,000 views over the past few days, their followers love to watch them cook, interact with customers, and bicker with each other about “who knows best.”
After enduring their own struggles, they also used the food van to give back to the community.
Over Christmas they did a treasure hunt around Chepstow, whereby the lucky finder of their golden ticket was gifted an Xbox or PS5.
They also give around 40 meals per week to the homeless, living in the streets of Newport, Bristol or Cardiff every Sunday.
The couple are trying to remain positive throughout this challenging time and have thanked both the community of Chepstow and their online community for their “overwhelming support.”
Their videos of the incident actually reached the TikTok sensation the ‘Spudman’, who has almost four million followers on the platform. He has reached out to the family offering them support.
To support the couple in their journey to rebuilding the business, you can donate to their fundraiser, here.
They will be posting regular updates on their road to reopening on their TikTok account, which you can follow, here. Any news of them reopening will also be shared to this platform.
The authorities are currently unable to identify what caused the fire, but the couple said they are sure they are working hard to get to the bottom of it.