Published on Show Me Mizzou Dec. 17, 2025
Story by Jon Hadusek, BJ ’12
Photos by Abbie Lankitus
Three days a week, the enticing smell of food sizzling on a flattop grill permeates Speaker’s Circle as it wafts from the yellow food truck parked at a nearby curb.
Since first firing up their griddle last year, the Melt Masters have made the location a semi-permanent residency. They sling hot sandwiches on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. For students looking to grab a bite between classes, the truck is a cheese-colored beacon of hope.
The Melt Masters began with three friends who understood mid-lecture hunger because they lived it. Co-owners Connor McHugh and Sam O’Neill are still Mizzou students, and Kobe Messick, BS Ed ’25, had just graduated when the idea took shape. All three were working in a bustling Student Center kitchen when they started sketching out a business idea they wished already existed.
“We were basically like, ‘We cook all day for a living. We might as well cook for ourselves and make something cool,’” McHugh says. In true DIY fashion, the trio spent a summer retrofitting a horse trailer with professional kitchen equipment and documented it all on Instagram (@themeltmasters). The final touches were that cheddar-colored coat of paint and a prominently displayed Melt Masters logo: a smiling, googly-eyed grilled cheese face. The converted truck soon popped up all over Columbia and offered, among other menu items, the signature Master Melt sandwich, which stacks a quarter-pound beef patty, Swiss and cheddar cheese, grilled onions and house sauce on marble rye.
Things were running smoothly until April, when thieves hit the Melt Masters truck and another food truck parked in the same lot during an overnight burglary. “Our money was stolen, all our merchandise, lots of equipment,” McHugh says. “Everything that wasn’t stolen was intentionally destroyed.” Thankfully, an online fundraiser to replace equipment raised enough money to get the truck operating again. McHugh described the community support as both immediate and incredible.
The Melt Masters plan to continue expanding their menu — a chicken Philly is the newest offering — while serving up favorites such as the Master Melt. Long term, the crew hopes to add a second truck or even expand to a brick-and-mortar location downtown.
To read more articles like this, become a Mizzou Alumni Association member and receive MIZZOU magazine in your mailbox. Click here to join.
