Comments on: Beginning of the Vendor Backlash: My Case Against the La Cense Burger Truck

By: Names/Things You Need To Know In 2011: Food Trucks as Mobile Marketing Devices - Lauren Lee - Eating My Feelings - Forbes

Thu, 02 Dec 2010 17:26:52 +0000

[...] with a PR handler ready to distribute free food to popular bloggers. The online community (notably, Midtown Lunch) questioned the sustainability of their efforts, chastising La Cense for potentially squeezing out [...]

By: Danny

Danny — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 19:03:46 +0000

@Moon,
Agreed, let’s not take this too far outta hand :D We can both agree that we want tasty food, and thank god for ML.

By: Moons

Moons — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:39:24 +0000

Danny, nothing is worse than two people arguing off topic (noted that I “started” it), so let’s not drag this out. I actually agree with everything you say but the fact that you can’t control every aspect of your life isn’t an excuse to blatantly blind yourself to the effects of your choices that you can control. Which is how you came across. That is all.

Though in response to your second post I can’t help but point out the fact that many of the most influential people throughout history became so because of their focus to ONE particular issue.

By: untitledcat

untitledcat — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:35:42 +0000

please tell me where to get a better grassfed burger in midtown for under $10.

Thanks!

By: chubbychinesegirl

chubbychinesegirl — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:31:08 +0000

yeah corporation owned trucks just looses the whimsical and passionate nature of food trucks/carts. I had their burger, and it wasn’t anything I wanted to go back for, so i’m not gonna cry about one less truck on the street.

By: RBS05

RBS05 — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:22:16 +0000

Adam, you’re right, I hyperbolized (word?) with my comment re: Zach’s intentions. Plus we all know his (and our) whole point is really to find more ways to fatten up cheaply in midtown!

But to me, like WinedandDined has said (hopefully next time with some line breaks :)), it’s all about the food. I honestly ask why should it matter whether a corporation is selling us food as some sort of grand marketing plan? If the food is good, it will work and the truck will scrape by, and if its not, it will die out.

I understand that this is one less permit going to an individual who could be doing something better for all of us, while getting by on his meager income, but that’s a huge separate issue, and LCB apparently played by the (bad) rules already in place.

By: WinedandDined

WinedandDined — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:03:31 +0000

I want to agree with you Zach and I think you usually make great points, but I just don’t buy this one. La Cense was an easy target for you. The burger didn’t live up to the hype and proved to be a fail. End of story. But it appears that you retro-fitted a general thesis and concern to this specific case. The problem with your conclusion is that it assumes that the food truck extension of a larger brand is going to operate as a loss-leader or to put it differently, your thesis only applies where the food truck actually is a fail. And look at how narrowly drawn your thesis is: “But permanent street vending trucks, operating as loss-leaders, whose sole purpose is to promote a larger entity?” So, to fit into this category, you’d have to be a food truck that has crap food that turns out to be a fail and whose only reason for existence was to promote a larger brand or company. It basically only applies to situations like if Red Lobster decided to use marketing dollars to open an NYC food truck serving disgusting lobster rolls. What was the harm in La Cense taking a shot with the burger truck? It could have turned out to be a great burger and great lunch option…certainly better than those BS pretzel and hot dog carts all over the city. Who really cares that the primary purpose of the La Cense truck was to promote the company’s grass-fed beef? We’re tastemakers here in NYC. Companies pay money to set up shop here to get the word out on their products. I like having the opportunity to walk 2 blocks from my office on Park Ave and try a grass-fed burger for lunch from Montana. It’s pretty damn cool, actually. If you want large corporate entities to stop promoting stuff here, this city will turn into a bankrupt sh*thole. You mention old school vendors like Biriyani and Kwik Meal–but carts like this w/ real food make up probably about 1-5% of the street vendor population. 90% of what’s served on the street is pure shite. Let’s pretend for a minute that Danny Meyer wanted to open some food trucks around the city. I bet people would be all about that. I would. Or let’s pretend Pat LaFrieda was taking his meat national and decided to open a burger truck to promote the different burger blends. People would be all over that, too. Dirty water dog carts w/ disgusting pretzels are a much bigger waste of vending permits than the type of carts and trucks you’re expressing concern about.

By: sir eats-a-lot

sir eats-a-lot — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:47:24 +0000

Adam, I don’t know if your response to Loco was Zach’s main point, but the way I read it is that he is against the trucks that can’t support their own existences – being a part of a significantly larger entity is ancillary.

Zach, do you actually have any idea about the financial state of the truck?

Lastly, there are not many better options in midtown east. I, for one, love the La Cense burger, and last I checked, I’m nobility, so my opinion counts more than all you plebes.

By: adamprato

adamprato — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:47:20 +0000

RBS05 I think the popeyes thing is more of a joke. Probably the weak link and the chink in Zach’s (or anyone else’s) armor.

By: adamprato

adamprato — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:46:09 +0000

RBS05 – sorry I came off like a douche. That wasn’t what I meant.

What I meant was I don’t think many people really get what Zach’s point is, or at least you arent attacking his point from what I can see.

I don’t think his “whole point” was to bring something innovative to “the scene” (“important point”? sure, “whole point”, not quite). If that were the case he wouldn’t keep arguing that places like the LCB truck are harmful to “the scene”.

It’s not hypocritical because on one side you have a CORPORATION that is using the resources as a marketing campaign, and on the other side you have INDIVIDUALS using the resources to generate a meager* income. (* not referring to the exceptional cases like the hotdog guy planted outside the Met who can pull in a half mil a year slinging *hot dogs*).

So yeah, as funny as the popeyes comment was, It doesn’t seem that Zach is championing food for the sake of food (or his belly), at least not if you read all of his comments on the matter.