Month in Review - July 2026

July was a milestone month for Tabay’s Mindful Kitchen as it was our first month serving the Bozeman community. From our grand opening and 4-year anniversary on July 1 to weekly service at Billings Clinic Bozeman, we spent the month welcoming new guests and beginning to build the TMK experience in our new Montana home.

Month at a Glance

Here are the highlights from our first month of service:

• Service period: July 1 through July 27
• Total service days: 22
• Five-star reviews received: 62
• Most-ordered item: Old Faithful Fries
• Most popular entrée: Bobcat Classic
• Most popular drink: Persian Cherry Drink
• Most popular dessert: Yosemite Soft Serve
• Most popular souvenir: Tabay’s Adventure Sticker
• Roundup donations raised: $210.02
• TMK Conservation Fund donation: $332.89 sent to the National Park Foundation

Service Highlights

We kicked off our first month in Bozeman with a grand opening celebration on July 1. After a lot of anticipation around our relaunch, Bozeman welcomed us with open arms, and we are incredibly grateful to be able to serve such a wonderful community! July 1 is a very special day for us at Tabay’s Mindful Kitchen. That was the day of our first grand opening in California in 2022, our second grand opening on Maui in 2024, and now our third grand opening/4-year anniversary as we start this new chapter in Montana.

A few days later, we celebrated the Fourth of July and America’s 250th birthday, serving plant-based classics and honoring the public lands, landscapes, and natural wonders that inspire the TMK experience.

In addition to serving at our regular location, we began weekly lunch service at Billings Clinic Bozeman, where we got to make new friends and see new faces while serving patients, visitors, and the clinic’s friendly staff.

We also became members of the Bozeman Area Chamber of Commerce and look forward to becoming even more involved in the local community as TMK continues to grow.

Service Days

We were open for a total of 22 service days during July, beginning with our grand opening on July 1 and ending with our final service day of the month at Billings Clinic Bozeman on July 27.

We stuck with a weekly schedule of Wednesday through Sunday from 11am-8pm at our regular location, a schedule we plan to keep in the months ahead. In addition, we added service days at Billings Clinic Bozeman throughout the month on Mondays from 11am-1pm.

We remained closed on Thursday, July 9 to celebrate BabaJoon’s 82nd birthday at Yellowstone National Park.

Service interruptions and unexpected closures:

We had 1 unexpected closure and ended service early on two occasions during the month of July.

On July 13, we shut down early while serving at Billings Clinic Bozeman, when part of our generator unexpectedly exploded. We worked on repairs throughout the following week, but the generator was not ready in time for our scheduled clinic service on July 20, leading us to cancel that day’s visit. Fortunately, the issue was resolved soon afterward, and we were able to resume off-site service without further complications.

As Tabay’s 21st birthday trip approached, we also began reducing ingredient replenishment so we could keep our food fresh and avoid unnecessary waste before closing for the trip. On July 26, we ended service one hour early after selling out of most of the menu.

Menu Updates

We’ve worked hard to bring you vegan versions of your favorite foods, and you showed up and showed us that Bozeman was ready for an oasis in the vegan desert! We now know how much plant-based food was needed here, and we are ready to meet that demand! As we continue to refine our systems, work with suppliers, and adjust to the demand in our new Bozeman home, our goal is to keep your favorite menu items consistently available so you can always enjoy a good vegan meal.

Top Sellers

Top 5 Entrées:

1. Bobcat Classic
2. Maui Burger
3. Badlands BBQ Bacon Burger
4. Big Sky Burger / Black Hills Steakhouse Burger
5. Persian Wrap

Honorable mentions:

• Sedona Chick’n Sandwich / Great Basin Buffalo Chick’n Wrap
• Persian Burger / Colorado Plateau Chick’n Wrap
• Saguaro Spicy Chick’n Sandwich

Most ordered item: Old Faithful Fries

Most popular by region:

Burger Basin: Bobcat Classic

Chick’n Canyon: Sedona Chick’n Sandwich and Great Basin Buffalo Chick’n Wrap

Breakfast Bay: Haleakalā Sunrise Sandwich

South Unit: Grand Canyon Crunch Wrap

Persian District: Persian Wrap

F!sh Falls: Everglades F!sh Tacos

Hot Dog Highlands: Denali Dog

Chili Peak: Great Plains Chili Cheese Dog

French Fry Fossil Beds: Arches Animal Fries

Refreshment Springs: Persian Cherry Drink

Dessert Desert: Yosemite Soft Serve

Specials

On July 16, we introduced Fried Ice Cream as a one-day special, and it was a hit! By popular demand, we plan to bring it back on the menu as a longer-running special in mid-August.

Vanilla ice cream with Crunchee™ Bar chunks, deep fried and served with vegan “cool whip” and topped with chocolate syrup, rainbow sprinkles, and whipped cream!

New Menu Items

This month, we added Gluten Free S’mores Bars from Break Free Candy to our dessert offerings. We already feature three of their other candy bars, but this one is especially fitting for a food truck inspired by camping, road trips, and the great outdoors. It quickly became our most popular packaged dessert and a favorite among many sweet-toothed visitors.

Retired Menu Items

Two menu items from the South Unit will be retired in an effort to simplify the menu to make training more efficient. The two items will be Mesa Verde Mexican Pizza and Chaco Canyon Chimichangas.

As our staff gains more experience, these items may return as limited-time specials or eventually find their way back onto the permanent menu.

Souvenir Shop

As our first month started off, the TMK Gift Shop became an emerging part of the experience. We enjoyed watching our souvenirs find their way onto laptops, water bottles, and road trip collections. Our most popular souvenir was the Tabay’s Adventure Sticker, and for good reason… it’s pretty awesome!

To complete the gift shop experience, we are excited to offer passport stamps, our most favorite of all road trip traditions! Just bring your national park passport book when you visit us at the food truck and we’ll stamp it for you so you can always remember the day you ate at Tabay’s Mindful Kitchen.

We also added a new souvenir as the month came to a close: the TMK Collector’s Edition Patch.

This iron-on embroidered patch makes a great addition to the TMK Gift Shop, giving visitors another way to commemorate their trip to Tabay’s Mindful Kitchen. Because it arrived near the end of the month, August will mark its first full month in the Gift Shop.

There are more souvenirs on the way, and we look forward to revealing them as we continue to build the gift shop experience.

Conservation Fund Updates

Through register roundups during July, TMK visitors contributed $210.02 to support the National Park Foundation. We are incredibly grateful to everyone who chose to round up their purchase and help support the preservation and protection of national parks, forests, public lands, and the places that inspire so much of the TMK experience.

We made our own contribution to the National Park Foundation for the month of July, totaling $332.89. As we continue building out the TMK Conservation Fund, we’ll continue to publish more detailed reports on our monthly donations to help preserve and protect our parks, forests, and public lands.

Reviews

We are very grateful to have received 62 five-star reviews this month! It makes us so happy to see everyone enjoying our food and sharing their excitement about our opening.

Excellent food and service. We ate here 5 times over the first 4 days they were open. Breakfast, lunch and dinner all great!! And on top of that, the service is excellent. Tabay has an amazing family!

- David U.

Came by on their Grand Opening and had the best veggie patty burger I've ever had!! Congrats Bozeman, you just scored a great vegan food truck!

- Whitney Mongé

I don't normally leave reviews. We searched vegan in Bozeman and were led to Tabay's place. Several days later on our road trip we are still talking about it. Fantastic food, plus we met and spoke with Tabay and his mother and they are as awesome as the food they make. Very nourishing for body and soul.

- Alden C.

I should have taken a picture of my meal. I went with the Black Hill Steakhouse Burger and I figured I would get a double because typically cheeseburgers from food trucks are a little "wimpy"... Nope. Not this one. I am glad I skipped the fries because the burger almost took me down.

For those that aren't aware, this is a vegan burger and if you don't know it is, you wouldn't be able to tell. The food was juicy. The bun was toasted perfectly. The sauce was the perfect blend of spice...

Tabay has a great personality and it's clear he truly cares about the food he's serving, as well as being a genuine soul in our community. And the personal message on the To Go containers just reflects what a genuine soul he is.

Solid food. Great price. 10/10 will be back again.

- Patrick Hill

This place is a wonderful gem in Bozeman. I honestly didn’t know what to initially expect (I personally am not vegan) and I have so far been blown away by how good the food is.

Ive been by for the “Persian Wrap” and the “Great Basin Buffalo Chick'n Wrap”. Both were pretty good portion sizes with quality ingredients and at a reasonable price, which generally feels hard to find these days.

Tabay, Sahel, and Larry are a very friendly and welcoming family alongside the rest of the staff! You can tell they put alot of thought, energy, passion, and time into the food they make.

Great work to you all, I’m looking forward to my next stop by!

- Matthew Thomas

Just tried this vegan food truck and I was seriously impressed. The animal fries were amazing, honestly even better than In-N-Out’s. The burger was also delicious, full of flavor, and you wouldn’t guess it was vegan. Definitely worth checking out!

- Onkar Singh

Tabay’s food truck is hands down- AMAZING! I’ve already been here many times since he opened in Bozeman and I have been impressed with the service, attention to detail, food quality, and options. I am so glad there is a vegan restaurant in Bozeman!!

I can tell there has been a lot of thought put into making the experience enjoyable to eat or order food at the food truck. From the camp chairs and camp “fire”, to the menu items, to the employee outfits and the menu themes (and the passport book stamps!)- everything has all been so joyful and purposeful.

I can’t stop raving about the food. Everything is delicious and filling. There are so many options to fit what you’re feeling and best of all- it’s all vegan! I can’t wait to come back and try everything on the big menu!!

- Camille Sampley

Visitor Log

This month also marked the introduction of the Tabay’s Mindful Kitchen Visitor Log, a hand-designed guestbook created to capture the spirit of the journey and preserve the thoughts, drawings, memories, and messages left by those who stop at the truck.

We encourage you to look through the book while waiting for your food and even leave a contribution of your own to become part of TMK history.

Looking Ahead

We will begin service Wednesday, August 12, after returning from a trip to celebrate Tabay’s 21st Birthday! In honor of Tabay’s birthday, we plan to bring the Fried Ice Cream back on the menu as a special for the whole week following our return.

Another special to keep an eye out for will be Vegan Calamari, served with house-made tartar and cocktail sauce! As Bozeman’s Vegan Basecamp, we work hard to bring you a diverse array of flavors and dishes to give you a plant-based experience that feels far from dull. We are excited to continue bringing you vegan meals that take you back to all your favorite flavors.

But the food is only part of the experience. We look forward to beginning our “Ranger Programs” at the truck including educational talks, community yoga classes, and even sushi nights! We’ll announce more about each month’s program schedule soon.

To ensure Tabay’s Mindful Kitchen can stay open regularly as Tabay begins his academic journey at Montana State University this fall semester, we are training a team to keep the truck running and keep your favorite plant-based meals as accessible as possible, even as Tabay starts his busy college schedule.

You can find even more real-time updates about upcoming public events, our next wave of new TMK souvenirs, and menu releases by following @TabaysMindfulKitchen on Instagram and Facebook.

Thank you all for making our first month in Bozeman an unforgettable one! We can’t wait to continue serving you in August!