When Chaz Daughtry opened his first small business, his Ford Super Duty F-250 King Ranch was his backup plan.

“I come from a family of truck drivers,” he said. “So I thought, if anything goes south, I can always go and haul something with it. I knew it had the power to pull a commercial trailer on a hotshot run between Houston and Dallas.”

Today, his 2022 Super Duty F-250 King Ranch hauls goods for not one but two of his own businesses. SoulFitGrill, a low-sodium spice company he started so his grandmother could enjoy flavorful food without excess sodium now, makes regular early-morning deliveries to Whole Foods.

On Tuesdays and Fridays, Daughtry delivers produce to Michelin-starred top chefs around the city from his sustainable urban farm, Sweetwater Farms HTX. And on Sundays, the truck carries that same produce to the local farmer’s market — not just okra, honey, and collard greens, but his coolers, tables, and tent.

Daughtry’s not the only Super Duty owner using his vehicle to move a lot of stuff.

“When we survey our Super Duty customers,” said Brian Rathsburg, director of F-Series Super Duty marketing, “90% of them are towing on a regular basis.” And that’s exactly what the Super Duty was built to do. When engineers sat down to design the very first Super Duty, introduced in 1999, they wanted to deliver what they knew was most important to the customer: towing and hauling.

At the top end of the Super Duty line, Rathsburg said, when properly equipped, trucks can tow up to best-in-class 40,000 pounds.¹ An F-250 King Ranch like Daughtry’s is the starting end of that same line, and can have a tow capacity of 14,000 to 22,000 pounds, depending on how it’s equipped. That’s enough to haul about 40,000 of Daughtry’s jars of spice — which lined up side by side would stretch for over a mile. And that kind of power allows other Super Duty users to haul a vast range of whatever they need to get the job done, from construction materials, to boats, to livestock.

“Having a Ford truck, especially the Super Duty King Ranch, it really lets people know, ‘Hey, this guy is really doing it. He’s doing what he’s saying.’”

Chaz Daughtry, founder and owner, SoulFitGrill and Sweetwater Farms HTX

Daughtry chose his King Ranch because he was looking for reliability. His first truck was a Ford F-150, and he’d upgraded to a Lariat when he graduated from Texas A&M, where he studied agriculture. With both trucks, he’d had good experiences. And last year’s J.D. Power Quality Awards show he’s not alone in that, either. In 2026, the Ford Super Duty was named America’s No. 1 Heavy-Duty Truck for New-Vehicle Quality, marking the second consecutive year Super Duty was named best-in-segment for initial quality.

Daughtry picked his truck for reliability, but he also loves to drive it.

“We use it like it’s a commercial van,” he said. “But it’s also a truck that I love to ride in.” With the King Ranch’s leather seats, unique materials and accents, the cabin feel higher end than a stereotypical farm truck: “There’s a little bit of luxury to it as well.”

And that King Ranch feel isn’t just a nice perk for him, Daughtry said. He believes it helps build a foundation of respect for his business.

“I think sometimes you need a stamp, for people to really take you seriously,” he said. “Having a Ford truck, especially the Super Duty King Ranch, it really lets people know, ‘Hey, this guy is really doing it. He’s doing what he’s saying.’”

Ford sells more of the King Ranch model of Super Duty in Texas than any other state — and Houston, where Daughtry operates his urban farm, is only a few hours from the King Ranch itself, a legendary family-owned operation that boasts more acreage than the state of Rhode Island.

The relationship between King Ranch and Ford started out organically: the functioning ranch was looking for reliable, durable trucks, and chose Ford. That working relationship grew into a collaboration on the King Ranch F-Series trucks. And that model is now marking 26 years, making it one of the longest-standing partnerships between a lifestyle and automotive brand. 

Like King Ranch, Daughtry’s Sweetwater Farms HTX is about more than just a farming operation — it’s a way of life. His goal when he turned six acres of family land in Houston into a garden was to teach people in the neighborhood how much healthy food they could grow, even if they were just working “a backyard, a small garden, a raised bed, or a pot,” he said. He especially wanted to see local kids learn how to grow their own food, to raise up what he calls “a healthy generation.”

Today, the handful of raised beds he started with have grown into sustainable row-style farming that takes up almost all of his acreage. Both adults and kids come not just for the produce, but to classes and camps that teach sustainable farming practices to everyone who wants to learn. And wherever Sweetwater Farms HTX delivers, “that same produce goes to the high-end restaurant, but also goes to the community farm center,” Daughtry said. “We grow it the same way and bundle it the same way. We don’t split it up. Everyone gets access to the same food.”

Daughtry has established a place of his own in the proud tradition of Texas agriculture — and what he’s built at Sweetwater Farms HTX is doing that tradition proud. He’s so busy with his businesses that he’s no longer thinking about backup plans. But one thing has stayed the same: his Super Duty F-250 King Ranch that was there from the beginning is still offering him the power and flexibility that a business owner needs.

¹ Max gooseneck tow rating of 40,000 lbs. available on F-450 XL Regular Cab 4x2 DRW with available 6.7L High Output Power Stroke V8 Turbo Diesel B20 engine. Class is Full-Size Pickups over 8,500 lbs. GVWR. Based on current publicly available competitive information. When properly equipped. Requires F-450 High-Capacity Gooseneck Tow Package. Max towing varies based on cargo, vehicle configuration, accessories, and number of passengers.

Ford Super Duty received the lowest rate of reported problems among large heavy-duty pickups in the JD Power 2025-2026 U.S. Initial Quality Studies of new vehicle owners’ experiences after 90 days of ownership. Visit jdpower.com/awards for more information. Awards based on 2025 & 2026 model years.