
The Food-Truck Business Stinks - wallflower
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/12/magazine/the-food-truck-business-stinks.html?pagewanted=all
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jellicle
Alternately: NYC doesn't really want to encourage a bunch of trucks to idle
their 2MPG diesel engines all day while serving $10 waffles to ignorant
tourists.

The idea of a "food truck" is based on trying to cheat the system. The system
is: you have to buy or rent property in order to locate a business there.
However, the system has a loophole: large swathes of the city are designated
as roads, sidewalks, highways (which is a technical term for the road
allowance). These areas of the city are completely free to use, for anyone, on
the condition that it's a short-term, passing-through, sort of use.

So Mr. Brilliant says, "Hey! What if I just take over part of this free-to-use
area without paying? I'll be able to charge as much as a property-leasing
restaurant, but I'll get my land for free! I'll make a killing!"

Except the city has self-defense measures against people who try to do that.
They're called tow trucks and bylaw inspectors. Because your business model is
not actually innovative or new but has been around since the dawn of cities.

And so the white blood cells of the city harass the invading parasites that
are trying to damage the city's ability to function, and life goes on,
evermore and without end.

~~~
peteforde
Your data is wrong, sir.

Most trucks cook with gas, and it would be crazy to idle their main engine. If
they need power they use a portable generator.

Having just returned from a week in Portland, I can personally vouch for the
amazing diversity and quality of the food truck scene and what it's done for
the city and people.

Price? All over the map, from $2 tacos to $6 noodle plates. The best part is
that you can literally try a different one each day.

Finally, I know that you are not a racist, but that thing you said about
parasites invading was pretty fucking racist. Immigrant entrepreneurs should
be encouraged, food trucks are an excellent way to do that, and we get to
enjoy amazing food. Portland's restaurant scene is thriving as ever, unless
it's Subway you feel sorry for. Heck, many of the best restaurants (Pok Pok)
started as a food truck.

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Zimahl
We love our food trucks here in Portland and anyone who loves good business
should too. Carts have many great advantages:

1) Cheap(er) proof of concepts. Why open a big restaurant that can cost an
insane amount of money and (likely) fail? Try out that niche food option and
see where it goes, if you need to pivot it's not going to bankrupt you.

2) The American Dream. You can start something with passion and little capital
and become fairly successful.

3) We all win because we get great food options.

4) Low overhead if you run it yourself and/or with your family. No need to
deal with employees and the accounting that comes with them.

5) Flexibility. A great Thai food cart up near Portland State (Thai Pasta) was
closed for a month due to a family trip to Thailand. Try doing that with a
brick-and-mortar restaurant.

~~~
shiftpgdn
For what its worth a local vietnamese shop closed up for two months while they
took their entire staff back to Vietnam. <http://huynhrestauranthouston.com/>

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resu_nimda
This article is entirely about rules and regulations specific to the the NYC
area, the title is misleadingly grandiose and implies there is something
inherently wrong with the food truck model.

At the very end, the author barely mentions that Portland has a fully thriving
food truck scene. Same thing here in Austin. There really are "four Wafels &
Dinges trucks for every hot-dog cart." It can be done.

~~~
fennecfoxen
In its defense, it _was_ published in the New York Times. Which has some
interest in the NYC area. :P

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tonyb
As a new food truck owner I can relate to this article.

I'm in a different situation because my truck is more of a hobby than a job,
but I do want it to pay for itself. As such we focus more on festivals,
special events, and catering. Even then we are running into some regulation
issues.

We are fortunate enough to live and work in a city that is willing to work
with us and understands the issues we face. It isn't that the law is bias
against food trucks, but that it without considering mobile food vending and
because of that is overly restrictive. For example if a local business ask us
to come park in their parking lot and serve or sell food to their customers we
have to get a special permit _per location_. And we are limited to the number
of permits we can get per year and need to know the exact dates, times, and
locations before applying. We get new request every week so there is no way
for us to know in advance where we will be for the rest of the year.

But just like any other business understanding and navigating the laws and
regulations is part of the job. To be successful you need to plan and adapt
accordingly.

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fennecfoxen
Wouldn't it be great, though, if the laws and regulations were able to
accomodate you (and other food trucks) while continuing to afford their basic
food-safety and related goals? Then everybody wins.

(Except corrupt businesses which thrive on the current system and will lobby
against productive change.)

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mdesq
These issues are exactly what people refer to as "first world problems." On
the one hand, we want everything regulated just so in order to have a nice,
well-engineered society with minimal risk and clean consciences when we buy
food from another person. Then, whole swaths of affluent folks catch a craving
for some good basic (or perhaps attractively quirky) street food and are
shocked, shocked(!) when that kind of business is a tough thing to run in this
environment.

~~~
acdha
> These issues are exactly what people refer to as "first world problems." On
> the one hand, we want everything regulated

You need to re-read the article: the core theme is that there isn't a
monolithic “we” requesting regulation but rather that the regulatory framework
most of the public wants to assure safety, pollution, etc. has been captured
by a smaller group of industry incumbents who are using it to prevent
competition.

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joonix
And yet the filthy vendor carts (not trucks) are everywhere you look, spewing
their putrid clouds of smoke over passing pedestrians, without any requirement
to display sanitation inspections (I'm not sure they are even subject to
inspections).

If you want a food truck you should go out to a city with friendlier
regulations and where you would provide more novelty by being a more unique
thing. Then again I'm not a big fan of these new wave food trucks anyways,
they are always supremely overpriced. If I'm eating out of a truck, it's
because I want to pay _less_ than sitting at a restaurant.

~~~
potatolicious
> _"If I'm eating out of a truck, it's because I want to pay less than sitting
> at a restaurant."_

Disagree heavily. If I'm eating out of a truck it's a demonstration of the
complete failure of local brick and mortar businesses.

What, do people really _think_ I like standing in line baking in the hot
summer sun for 20 minutes so I can have a decent lunch?

Around where I work, if you subtract the food trucks you have crappy delis and
greasy steam table places. I _gladly_ pay brick and mortar prices (and more!)
for good quality food, and the food trucks are the only ones willing to
deliver the product.

There's nothing about "comes from a truck" that makes food inherently worth
less. The food I get from food trucks is almost always _far_ better than
equivalently-priced choices from brick and mortar shops in the area.

The beauty of it is that when I worked in SF the flood of food trucks seemed
to get restaurants in the area to up their game. In this case the food trucks
improved the landscape for consumers across the board, and injected much
needed competition where there was none before.

~~~
joonix
>There's nothing about "comes from a truck" that makes food inherently worth
less. The food I get from food trucks is almost always far better than
equivalently-priced choices from brick and mortar shops in the area.

Of course there is. When you sit down at a B&M restaurant, you are renting
space from them. You get a table to sit and eat for as long as you want. They
provide you with non-plastic silverware and linens that they later have to
wash. Air conditioning. Lighting. Waiters. Bus boys. The restaurant has to
factor this into their prices, a food truck does not.

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eitally
I wonder why US cities where food trucks are common haven't gone the Singapore
route and setup regulated "hawker centers". Sure, it may not be quite as
convenient for consumers, but it would solve a bunch of other problems.

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akgerber
Portland has "food truck pods" on the edges of downtown parking lots, as well
as in parking lots throughout the city. They have an incredible diversity of
cheap food, and the businesses are obviously low-overhead (often in trailers
instead of trucks) and generally seem to be staffed by their proprietors.
Here's a random blog post with pictures: <http://blog.chowmenow.com/join-the-
pod-y/> It seems like a great way for a city to take an ugly downtown parking
lot and make it a pedestrian draw.

New York City doesn't really have surface parking lots anywhere with a lot of
foot traffic, so that isn't really an applicable solution here.

~~~
cmbaus
What happens if demand for the "pods" outstrips supply? How does the
government decide who can setup a new pod?

What could be interesting is if a privately owned parking lot did something
like this.

~~~
akgerber
All the pods appeared to be on privately owned parking lots or otherwise
vacant lots.

E.G.:
[https://maps.google.com/maps?q=food+truck+pod&hl=en&...](https://maps.google.com/maps?q=food+truck+pod&hl=en&ll=45.521008,-122.681582&spn=0.001227,0.001741&sll=45.562471,-122.69509&sspn=0.002441,0.003482&t=h&gl=us&hq=food+truck+pod&z=20&layer=c&cbll=45.520941,-122.681615&panoid=7h1js_z5f8Q3nmVuaZF5og&cbp=12,73.91,,0,-8.65)

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benjamincburns
Sounds ripe for an app. Grab a list of regulations regarding street food
vendors, pull city data from OpenStreetMaps or Google, figure out where the
"green zones" are to park, and warn food vendors when they're not parked in a
green zone. At the same time, get the maps into the hands of some city
lobbyists so that it's clear just how much of a tightrope walk this kind of
operation can be.

~~~
VLM
I think this is based on the assumption that the regulation exist for any
reason other than brick and mortar establishments want less competition.

If you introduce a technological fix, they'll merely pay the politicians to
order the police to enforce random and conflicting cleanliness regulations or
something like that.

The way to "fix" the problem is to organize a PAC and lobby politicians and
donate an amount of money to re-election campaigns similar to what the brick
and mortar group donates.

The problem is not even brick and mortar restaurants, 90% of them fail in a
couple years, the REAL competition is restaurant supply houses and such who
specialize in converting home equity loans into broken dreams. The food trucks
are supposed to spend money at the supplyco renting tables and chairs, not
buying a Ford Truck or whatever. The "real" permanent solution to the "feud"
is to align goals, legislate that brick and mortar restaurants AND food trucks
get all their "stuff" from the same suppliers, including tires or whatever. Or
you can only rent food trucks, coincidentally from the same rich guys who own
all the land restaurants also rent. Something like that.

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davidf18
As a Manhattan resident and worker, I feel the trucks are really annoying.
They are large and block the landscape and the food doesn't appear to be
appealing.

Instead of the huge annoying trucks, I prefer to see that smaller carts which
in most cases can serve the same food as the trucks. I would like to see
higher quality food on the carts (and the trucks). Fruit stands in NYC are
really nice as well...

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nolanguage
In Durham, NC the food trucks have been a big part of the city's
revitalization. It is, oddly enough, an area with plenty of vacant business
space, but I believe the food truck owners here value the shorter time to
launch, the lower start-up costs, and perhaps they find the perceived barrier
to entry to be lower (in truth, I've seen some vendors go brick and mortar,
and it took them a great deal of effort to get it rolling).

In some areas the food trucks form synergistic relationships with bricks and
mortars; a local brewery that doesn't serve its own food, hosts them every
night and the entire area around it has become "The Spot" with 4 new
businesses opening in the last year.

Having moved here from New York, I'm familiar with the situation there as
well. There aren't as many swaths of urban "blight", and there is already a
good amount of foot traffic so the benefits don't feel quite as dramatic --
but then I didn't work in midtown (where the food offerings are so so bad).

~~~
jadell
And as I assume it to be the case in most other food truck culture centers,
many of the Durham trucks have used their mobile success to bootstrap a
traditional brick-and-mortar shop (e.g. The Parlour, Monuts, Cocoa Cinnamon.)
Allowing entrepreneurs to experiment with minimal risk can be an inexpensive
and effective way to build a local economy.

~~~
MartinCron
_many of the Durham trucks have used their mobile success to bootstrap a
traditional brick-and-mortar shop_

We're seeing the same thing in Seattle, as well. Some of my new favorite
restaurants started life as food trucks and have moved up to more traditional
quarters.

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codex
The food truck business is actually great--or at least better than the
restaurant business. By owning the truck, which is mobile, the operator is
freed from the tyranny of landlords, who simply raise the rent on successful
restaurants to the point where it is impossible to make any real money.

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smackfu
It's like any other small business, where new people are overly optimistic
about both sales and costs. If they have a business plan, it's all best cases,
not realistic.

And because the total dollar amounts are a lot lower than a proper restaurant,
people can embark on it with just savings and home equity loans and friend
investors... all of which do not require a realistic business plan. Then the
sales don't materialize, they lose money every day they are out their busting
their ass for 17 hours and throwing away food at the end of the day, and they
end up selling the truck to the next food truck dreamer.

~~~
zavulon
Did you read the article? The author is arguing it's not because of that at
all, it's because of all unnecessary and conflicting rules and regulations
that is in place.

~~~
benihana
Don't forget selective enforcement, which is probably the biggest frustration
and source of uncertainty and cost. Not knowing if doing one thing one day
will be fine the next day are not conditions most businesses thrive in.

~~~
jcnnghm
There isn't enough manpower to fine everyone doing anything wrong every day.
Parking fines are generally much higher than the parking cost because it's
impractical to catch every illegally parked vehicle every time; the whole idea
is to make the expected cost of parking illegally greater than the expected
cost of parking legally, while limiting the cost of enforcement. Similarly, I
am under no delusion that speeding is fine on days I don't get caught.

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tapatio
Food truck businesses don't stink, New York city does. They don't want the
trucks there, plain and simple, and so they craft "zoning" laws to prevent
them from doing business.

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smaili
I think food trucks _can_ be a great business if the location is right. As
some other people have pointed out, New York already has a ton of street
vendors with probably half the price, so the barrier to entry is much higher.
But for example in San Francisco, there are a few trucks near our offices that
are ridiculously crowded because there is no other options around for at least
a few blocks.

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kwijibob
In my one visit to NYC (from o/s) I loved getting food from the trucks.

They were cheap and tasty - we couldn't afford to go into restaurants or even
diners.

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patmcguire
Is Biryani at 46th and 6th totally legal? Because they're running one on every
corner of that intersection - I don't see how the enforcers couldn't have
noticed.

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Alex3917
Speaking of Taim, does anyone know how to replicate their harissa recipe? I've
been buying it in the jars, but they don't even have an ingredient list on
them. And none of the CPG harissas that I've tried have been nearly as good.

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CyberDroiD
The food truck business is great in San Jose and other places. I agree with
others: this seems to be a NYC problem.

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yoster
I loved eating hotdogs from the sidewalk vendors.... Quick, cheap, and tasty.

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ttrreeww
As long as the food is cheaper and good I'm all for it.

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dreamdu5t
Ugh. New York Times: Bourgeoisie drivel and white house propaganda.

We need to regulate the NYT.

