Papa Perrone Clashes With Crisp

On the ML Twitter Tracker today… Gorilla Cheese is on 55th & 6th, Eddie’s Pizza is on 52nd btw. Lex+3rd, Korilla is on 55th & Lex, Bian Dang is on 53rd btw. Park+Lex, Luke’s Lobster is on 55th & Park, Comme Ci Comme Ca is on 38th & B’way, Wafels is on 46th btw. 5+6th, and finally Crisp on Wheels is parked on 55th btw. Mad+Park and Papa Perrone is pretty upset about it.

9 Comments

  • I want to be sympathetic with Papa Perrone, but they wrote ‘there’ instead of ‘their’ in their tweet

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    Papa is always unhappy when competition rolls in. I could see his point if it was another pizza truck (which did happen last year), but this is vegetarian falafel vs. pizza and meatballs! Besides, the food trucks that park on 55th between Park and Madison, the more potential customers are driven to the area to try from all. And it gives me more choices!!! :-)

    • It actually has nothing to do with competition over selling his food. It has to do with the buildings on that block. Papa Perrone has been parking their for years, and has forged relationships with the building owners. Every time a second or third truck parks on 55th btw. Park+Madison the building managers complain to Papa Perrone and threaten to call the cops- which would result in all of the vendors getting kicked out.

  • Zach– With all due respect my friend (and there is a lot of respect due for all that you have done and continue to do), I disagree with your assessment of this situation. I happen to work in the building on 55th b/t Park & Madison and Papa Perrone tried his bullying tactics a couple of weeks back on Crisp. He used the whole “building management relationships argument” and that Crisp would ruin it for everyone. Turns out my firm was doing a promotion with Crisp and had arranged for Crisp to be on the block that day. Upon hearing about the bullying, the head of my HR department went to the building management and owners to get clarification. They told her that the building has not once called the cops on food trucks and that the building has no jurisdiction over the street and who parks there, and that as far as building is concerned, it’s ok for Crisp to be there. The building did not call the cops today when both trucks were parked outside, nor do they intend to in the future. So basically Papa Perrone is full of more shit than his rice balls. Your thesis makes sense I’m sure at other sites around Midtown, but does not hold up here.

    -Andy

    • Your building isn’t the only building on that block. I’ve actually heard it’s that private club further up the block towards Madison that has threatened to call the cops. And it doesn’t change the fact that too many trucks parking on the same block is bad for everybody.

      You are absolutely right that Papa Perrone has no right to bully another vendor, but I also think that vendors need to have more respect for spots that have been cultivated over the years. And regardless of whether or not Crisp got permission from one building to park in one spot on one day, it doesn’t change the fact that if multiple trucks start parking on the same blocks of Midtown East, the crackdown that happened in Midtown West is definitely going to happen in Midtown East.

      I’ve seen this happen so many times over the past 3 years… and like all new vendors who don’t fully understand how difficult the business is until they done it for awhile, one day Crisp will be on the other end of the exact situation (new truck comes along and parks on one of their blocks) and at that point they will admit that Papa Perrone was right. When they’re the veteran, and being negatively effected by the same tactics…

  • Dude, I agree with you to some extent. But most all other trucks are “mobile” and work well with other “mobile” trucks to share locations. For example, 55th and Lex is shared nicely on different days among Korilla BBQ , Mexicue and Chef Samir (Comme Ci Comme Ca). Same goes for 52nd b/t 3rd and Lex with Schnitzel, Eddie’s Pizza, Wafels & Dinges, etc. Papa Perrone seeks a “monopoly” on 55th b/t Park and Madison, parking there Tues-Fri. All the good folks who work in my building and on my block didn’t sign up to have Papa Perrone as our dedicated food truck and shouldn’t be confined as such.

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    Guys you are missing the whole point the building especially the owner doesn’t like the trucks parked there. The guys who work for the building ask me when a truck comes to try and keep the block from turning into a circus. I bust my ass everyday for the last four years and built a spot to feed my family. Then you get the newer trucks coming out and making it harder for us to park. I picked this spot because we had a pizza truck in this similar location years ago (a friend of mine). I actually made more money with Crisp on 55th so it would benefit me for them to be there. However with the Core club across the street and friars club on the same side,they won’t have conflicts with the trucks they will just have them removed. Mr. WinedandDined sorry you don’t enjoy my food,But I have a lot of people who do and once again I have a family that I support with my truck maybe you can’t understand that. I never bullied anyone I spoke to Jack like a gentlemen and his response was that his boss is an Israeli Para Trooper what does that even have to do with the spot. Unless he will parachute himself on to my truck. I treat everybody with respect everybody I don’t know what I’ve done to you but you must be an angry man. When Crisp asked the company about parking there they don’t understand the unwritten rules of the street and I spoke to the security and he said they didn’t want this in front of the building and he would take care of it, But he didn’t man up. All I asked of Crisp was to park on 55th btwn Park & Lex. You don’t even know me how can you judge me you hide behind your words easy to write on a forum. Open a truck work 18 hours a day 6 days a week try to pay your bills and take care of a family then come talk to me about it until you have done it you have no clue Dude. Just a big heads up in 6 months this won’t be a problem they are gonna tear up the whole block and be working on 55th btwn Park & Mad for 30 months so no trucks will be on that block for a long time. I will just keep doing what I do and hope to make as many people happy I realize I can’t make everybody happy wish I could hey I can give you an Italian Ice that should make anyone happy even you Mr. WinedandDined.
    Johnpaul Perrone

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    I been going to Papa Perrone’s on 55th btw. Park+Madison for a few years now and Johnpaul has always been a gentleman. I’ve even seen him have to deal with customers that have been pains in the @$$es while ordering and he’s always served them w/a smile. Johnpaul makes a excellent point about building up a location and clientele and then possibly losing it, not because he did something wrong but someone else is mucking up the works.This is a tough economy no one wants to have to try and rebuild their business especially if you already put in the long hours building one up.
    Winedanddined, you sound like you have a horse in this race. You not only are trying to defend Crisp but you are taking personal shots at Johnpaul. And if you only hired Crisp for one promotion why does he keep showing up? Maybe you’re making a little something on the side? And as for your building “not signing up” to have Papa Perrone as your dedicated food truck, do you have any say in what food business opens on your work block? I’m sure there are many people in your building that are very happy with Johnpaul and Papa Perrone’s food.

  • Boulder: I can assure you I’m not making any money on Crisp, or any food truck for that matter. My law firm contacted Crisp as part of some health week thing they were doing here at the firm a couple weeks back. I took interest when I overheard my HR person discussing the issue and that Crisp was asked to not park on the block. Don’t get me wrong, I have great respect all of Johnpaul’s hard work to provide for his family. I happen to enjoy his food on occasion, too. But that’s not what this is about. When you operate a food truck business, you surely go into it with a full understanding of the risks and rewards and that the situation here in NYC is like the Wild West. Food trucks don’t have rent or overhead like brick and mortars do. It would be nice if the city allocated certain blocks and parking spots as “truck spots” and then leased them out. Would be a great revenue source for city and would give food trucks more certainty and rights to a given spot. Until then, while Johnpaul thinks he has rights to an entire block due to some so-called “written code of the street,” he has no legal rights to any parking spot, much less any right to keep others from parking in empty spots on the same block. It’s like walking into a class you’ve been taking all semester that doesn’t have assigned seats only to find someone sitting in your seat that day…while it may suck, it’s not really your seat. Think of what a dick you’d be if not only you asked that person to give you the seat, but then told them they can’t even sit in the empty seats next to you.

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