Austin Food Stand the Mighty Cone Is Returning Finally

Mighty Cone’s new owner is hospitality company FSV, which is run by brothers and co-founders Faraz Vohra and Faseeh Vohra and also oversees Shawarma Point and smash burger truck Peace, Love, and Burgers. Expect the same beloved cone-shaped dishes — where conical paper is lined with a warm tortilla filled with fried chicken, shrimp, avocado, or a combination of two or three.

In 2022, Shawarma Point was using a portion of Mighty Cone’s commissary kitchen on East 12th Street to gear up for a busy fall event season. The Vohras got to know Mighty Cone’s then-owner Andrew Atsumi, who shared that he was looking to sell the business because of the impact of the pandemic. He put the food stand on hiatus in December 2022 — which explains why Mighty Cone wasn’t on ACL’s food lineup in 2023, much to the dismay of attendees. The response to the lack of Mighty Cone at the festival stood out to Faraz. “It’s such a big brand,” he tells Eater, “I think we have the capabilities to take over this brand.” He also recounts that C3 Productions (which produces ACL) called Atsumi about bringing Mighty Cone back for 2024. “ACL is not the same without Mighty Cone,” he said.

Faraz tells Eater that Atsumi promised Mighty Cone’s founder Jeff Blank that he wouldn’t change the flavors and formats of the food. Atsumi shared in a statement that he was looking for someone who would have “full dedication and a firm commitment to the legacy and history” of the business. Upholding those agreements was partially why he decided to sell the business to the Vohras. “I’m confident I’ve found that in the Vohra brothers and am excited to see what their energy, creativity, and commitment will bring to the sustained future of the Cone.”

Since FSV officially bought the business in March 2024, they’ve been testing out the recipes to make sure everything tastes exactly the same. They brought in Destany Jackson, who had previously been Mighty Cone’s director of operations and executive chef, to serve as the company’s new executive events and administration manager.

“ACL is not the same without Mighty Cone.”

To gear up for Mighty Cone’s return, FSV invited people from social media and Reddit who were bemoaning the absence of the restaurant at ACL 2023 to try out the food during a commercial shoot at Zilker Park in August. “Everyone was really happy,” says Faraz. “They said it tasted exactly like they’d had it for the last 15 years.”

In 2002, Mighty Cone was founded out of necessity to provide food for the first ACL. The festival co-founder Charlie Jones asked chef-owner Blank of then-Austin restaurant Hudson’s on the Bend to help curate the food court. As a result, Blank created Mighty Cone, which had been a staple of the festival for years. The menu is known for its Hot ’n Crunchy cones, with protein mains of fried chicken, shrimp, or vegetarian-friendly avocado.

In 2016, Blank sold Hudson’s and Mighty Cone to new owners Billy Caruso and sommelier Chris McFall. However, the restaurant closed three months later in early 2017. Mighty Cone remained open, but in the summer of 2017, they sold it to a new owner again, Stephen Tarleton, who opened two food truck locations. During that ACL, headliners Jay-Z and The Killers ordered from the stand — the rapper opting for chicken cones and the rock band getting shrimp cones. And then, Atsumi bought Mighty Cone in 2019.

The Vohra brothers opened the first Shawarma Point truck in 2013, and their restaurant business grew with a Rainey Street food truck, a new restaurant within downtown food hall Fareground, and catering services in Chicago.

Currently, Mighty Cone is gearing up for ACL as well as F1 Grand Prix. It’s also accepting events and catering gigs. After that, Faraz shares that the team wants to open a permanent food truck location somewhere in Austin, ideally at a brewery, but they haven’t begun that search yet.