A Kelowna couple’s dream of opening a food business has turned into a nightmare after their custom‑built trailer was stolen just weeks before its launch. Shanky Mishra says he and his wife had hoped to debut The Pasta Station in May, offering a build‑your‑own pasta concept where customers could choose their noodle shape, sauce, protein and cheese. After the trailer was stolen from a storage facility on April 12, the couple is now left with an outstanding loan of $75,000—a debt Mishra says could take more than a decade to repay. “We are devastated,” said the 30-year-old, who estimates the couple invested about $90,000 into the business. “We’re not going to be able to have family or buy a house. We’re just going to live paycheque to paycheque for a long period of time.” Mishra says the couple moved from Rossland to Kelowna last year to pursue a larger market, and secured a loan from Futurepreneur, a federally funded organization that supports young entrepreneurs. Both Mishra and his wife are trained chefs with years of experience in hospitality, and they had dreams of eventually growing the concept into a global restaurant brand. To make that happen, Mishra says he was working two jobs—one at Union Gospel Mission and another at a local resort—while also spending long nights finishing the trailer. “I would come home, change, go back to the trailer, start working and come home at 2 a.m.,” he said. “I repeated that same cycle for four or five months.” Kelowna RCMP issued a public appeal for help locating the trailer on Friday, nearly two weeks after the theft was reported. Mounties describe the trailer as a light mint‑green 2022 Royal box trailer with the markings “The Pasta Station TPS” on both sides and the slogan “build it, taste it, share it, build your own pasta” on the back. “Police believe the colour and word markings of the trailer could have since been altered. Police also believe a white Dodge-Ram full-size pickup truck was involved in the heist,” RCMP said in the statement. Anyone with information about the trailer’s whereabouts is asked to contact Kelowna RCMP at 250‑762‑3300 and reference file number 2026‑21636.
