A beloved elote truck was recovered after it was stolen. The owner credits the community for its return.

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- The owner of a popular group of elote trucks is speaking to ABC-7 after one of his trucks was stolen last Friday.

Jesus Rios, the owner of Elotes El Vaquero, said he first started his business almost 15 years ago. He said selling authentic Mexican corn runs in his blood, but he was the first in his family to bring this concept to the United States. 

Rios said he wanted to do something different. He said fresh ingredients and good customer service set his company apart.

Over the years, his business has largely expanded. Now, Rios is the proud owner of five different food trucks.

Last Friday, Rios received a phone call from one of his employees. One of his food trucks had been stolen.

"For the past, I don't know, for like 2 or 3 minutes, I thought they were playing a joke on me. And I said, There's no way the food truck is gone. So they checked again. I went to the place, and it was stolen," Rios said.

The owner compared the incident to having a child involved in an accident or dying.

"At that moment, I didn't know my name. I mean, it was that bad because I couldn't believe that that was happening to me at the moment," he said.

Rios immediately notified the authorities, but he also turned to social media. He posted a picture of the truck and asked the community to alert him if they saw it.

Rios went to bed that night but was anxious about his truck. He only got four hours of sleep.

The next morning, Rios woke up to several messages. Some customers said they had seen the truck in several different parts of town, and some also saw it going west, headed towards Las Cruces.

Rios, along with his family, headed to Las Cruces and was able to track down his truck. He said it was emotional seeing it for the first time.

Rios said the truck was all alone when he found it. He still doesn't know who took it.

"I called the police. And I told them, 'You know what? They found the food truck,' I said. They started laughing. At the moment, I didn't know why they were laughing. Everyone thinks that is funny. And there's no way that someone's going to steal a food truck."

Rios said the food truck was a disaster when he stepped inside.

"Whenever I showed up to the food truck, I opened the door, and it was a mess. The grease was all over, the warmer was broken, and the glass box where we put the churros and the heater was broken. And then the letters—some of them—were broken," he said.

Rios said his family all got to work. They were able to restore the truck to its former glory and even started selling corn that night.

"But it's changed my life. Yes. Not only my business, but my personal life with my wife, my parents, and my employees."

Rios said he learned many lessons through this experience, but he said moving forward he will be more attentive with all of his trucks.