J-School student melts away the competition
When Connor McHugh sees a problem, he can’t help but to fix it. So, when this senior noticed a lack of variety on campus in terms of dining, he decided to do something about it by creating a place to serve food for students by students.
McHugh’s journey creating his sandwich food truck Melt Masters actually began at Panda Express, where he worked 30 hours a week while still maintaining a rigorous course-load. At his campus dining job, McHugh connected with two co-workers, Kobe Messick and Sam O’Neill, who shared a similar passion and drive for creating food.
“If you’re working that much during school, you got to have a little something extra,” said McHugh, a senior, majoring in economics and journalism with an emphasis in strategic communication. “We’re all chefs, [and] we see how many people are on campus. We put our heads together and were like, ‘Let’s just do it ourselves’.”
McHugh’s journey to get his business to where it is today has not been easy, as getting it started in the summer of 2024 required serious preparation and dedication. It was then that McHugh and his team challenged themselves to turn an abandoned horse trailer into a mobile, on-campus dining experience.
“Starting it was definitely the actual [hard part],” said McHugh. “We had to install all the [kitchen] stuff ourselves. We were working on it all the time… putting in like 80 hours a week. We did it all ourselves, including financing. We bootstrapped that; we didn’t get any loans from any bank or anything, so [we] invested heavily in ourselves.”
“If you’re working that much during school, you got to have a little something extra. We’re all chefs, [and] we see how many people are on campus. We put our heads together and were like, ‘Let’s just do it ourselves’.”
Connor McHugh
McHugh has had an entrepreneurial drive since he was young. “My dad has business cards [from] when I was seven years old,” said McHugh. “Around the neighborhood, doing yard work… I’ve always just had that kind of spirit.”
Now, after overcoming the initial hurdles to get the food truck ready, McHugh and his team have excelled, now boasting consistent hours throughout the week and a fully staffed team.
Through it all, McHugh has relied on his experiences, knowledge and skills learned from his time at the School of Journalism.
“I’m technically the CMO, Chief Marketing Officer, of our food group. I deal with all of the marketing, the PR, the scheduling, the internal [and] external communications,” said McHugh. “[Strategic Communication] has helped a lot because it gave me a really good foundation for how to not only interact with clients and outward-facing people, but also now internally with my employees.”
McHugh puts the Missouri Method into practice through his business, as this experience has given him the ability to explore various methods and applications of different types of communication.
In the future, McHugh hopes to continue to pour into himself and his business. As a May 2026 graduate, he does not plan on hitting the breaks of the Melt Masters any time soon.
“We have a good community here in Columbia that supports us,” said McHugh. “We’d love to eventually move to a downtown location… [and] be one of those late-night options for people.”
As the Melt Masters continues to grow, McHugh and the people around him are excited to see him expand and to create a business that reflects the needs of the community. McHugh specifically enjoys serving students in a fully student-run space.
“I’ve gotten this far, why not just keep trying?” said McHugh. “We’ve made it so much farther than so many people ever would.”
Updated: October 1, 2025