Former owner of Wuddup Dog in Cambridge not giving up on serving food

The former owner of a well-known Cambridge diner was forced to choose between keeping his business or himself alive.

Todd Johns was the man behind Wuddup Dog, which he had to close because of his worsening health conditions. The hope was to sell it to someone who could keep the Cambridge staple going, but that never happened.

"I'm doing inpatient dialysis three days a week at Grand River Hospital," Johns explained. "They hooked me up and they filter and clean my blood for me because my kidneys aren't doing it.

He also has retinopathy in his right eye, which he describes explains is like looking through a sheet of wax paper. Near the end of summer, Johns said he finally reached his breaking point while working at Wuddup Dog.

"I walked away from it mid-August. I had seizures at work from the diabetes," he said. "There was outstanding debts and payroll and ultimately I have no choice but to file bankruptcy and start over from scratch."

But Johns isn't ready to give up on making food for the community. He is starting over by going back to his roots.

"I started as a hot dog cart in a parking lot out front of a bar and here I am with a trailer in front of a bar in a parking lot," Johns said.

The former Wuddup Dog owner is now planting his feet and a trailer out front of Rhythm and Brews in Cambridge. It's there where he has been working tirelessly to get his new food truck up and running. He said thanks to Andrew and Monica from the brewing company, he will be able to sell food out front on a more permanent basis in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, he still has to lay down the flooring, install a sink and get a few more key parts hooked up. When he does, the new food truck will operate under the name Wicked Trailer Foods.

"So far I'm thinking hot dogs, burgers, sausages, Mexican street corn," Johns said. He later plans to incorporate fries, poutine and some desserts.

As Johns waits for not only a new kidney but a new pancreas, he points to his 5-year-old daughter as his source of motivation.

"My biggest fear right now is just not being there for Ryleigh. That's what keeps me going because I have to be there for her. I have to make sure she's taken care of, because I'm all she's got," Johns said.

This new venture for Johns will have a slightly different feel than Wuddup Dog, which the people of Cambridge grew to love. But with the familiar red and yellow walls seen in the diner, now popping up in the food truck, Johns is making sure not to veer too far from what he knows best. A big part of that is making sure he doesn't waste any time, considering he's unsure of how much time he has left.