Midtown Lunch

Becoming a mobile vendor is not quite as easy as ehow would have you believe. So in anticipation of Softee Season 2011 we’ve asked Chrissy (aka Miss Softee) to show us the process of what it takes to become an ice cream vendor in Midtown. We’ll meet the potential new vendors, and track their progress through the selection and training process as all of the candidates make their way towards being a full fledged Mr. Softee vendor.  Here’s Part 1.  Take it away Miss Softee!

Everyone wants to drive an ice cream truck, but not everyone has what it takes to stick around and see the job through. While the joys of slinging the cream far outweigh the cons in my mind, the hours are long, the work can by very physical, and the midtown route is demanding!! So, this season, I’ve been given the opportunity to help bring on new drivers to our team, train them, and work as a day-to-day manager. I’m going to share my knowledge of the industry and business with them and they’ll all be working throughout Midtown with special toppings, happy hour, and more! Read more »

Over the past year there have been countless articles and blog posts and tv segments dedicated to helping entrepreneurs take advantage of the food truck explosion that has been going on lately.  But the latest entry, courtesy of eHow is quite possibly the worst I’ve ever seen.  I probably shouldn’t get so mad, but crap like this is the reason why so many food trucks operators get blindsided by what they didn’t know about running a mobile food business. The eye rolling starts on suggestion #2:

“Follow New York’s licensing and permit requirements to the letter and avoid obtaining a permit on the black market”

And how exactly do you propose to do that?

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Yesterday a tipster sent over a link to this great thread posted by a pretty pissed off Yelper whose friend was charged $20 for a kebab and Italian sausage sandwich near the Rock Center X-Mas tree. Of course, this shouldn’t be a surprise to Midtown Lunchers. Last year a vendor admitted that often they’ll charge different prices to different people depending on how they look. As much as it makes us laugh to see tourists get ripped (sorry, but you people make every Midtown worker’s life miserable this time of year) we do feel kind of bad. So in the spirit of the holidays, and with New Year’s Eve just a few days away, we thought we’d post a mini guide to not getting ripped off by generic Midtown street food vendors.

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According to Variety via Eater, ABC and a couple of King of the Hill vets are reportedly developing a sitcom about a family run food truck starring stand up comedian Al Madrigal. This immediately got me thinking of how many amazingly hilarious story lines you could come up with centered around a family run food truck! Here are a few of my favorites:

• On their first day of business in their new spot, a crazy lady who runs a rival food truck can jump on top of the bumper of the food truck to keep it from opening. A passerby films it, posts it on You Tube, and the crazy lady gets her own spinoff show.
• Baja Fresh decides they want to buy the family food truck. When the family says no, they steal the idea anyway and run with it.
• The brother decides he doesn’t want to work for the family business anymore, and opens a rival food truck right next door. Posts hilarious trash talking signs telling people how much better his food is.
• Crazy father in law decides he wants to get into the business too. Starts rival food truck across the street, creating gut busting marital problems for him and his wife. Will they have to go to counseling? You’ll have to watch and see! (Kelsey Grammar guest stars..?)
• The family decides they want to sell ice cream on the truck in the summertime. They get a late night visit from the head of an ice cream truck owning “family” who discourages them from branching out into ice cream by making him an offer he can’t refuse.

And let’s not forget about the potential product placement money!

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Terrible news from the Uncle Gussy’s camp… remember that Lieutenant that forced Schnitzel & Things off 46th Street a few weeks ago? Well it sounds like he’s finally made it over to Park Ave. Yesterday the Uncle Gussy’s Truck was forced from their spot Park Ave. and 51st by a Lieutenant Chicarello, who vowed to continue his crusade of riding the Midtown North precinct of all food trucks. Citing the law that prohibits food trucks from vending from any metered spot, Uncle Gussy’s owner Nick was given three tickets and told that if he wants to come back to Midtown he should resurrect his old street cart (he upgraded to a truck over the summer after seeing all the success of the new school vendors.)

Nick is looking into moving back into a cart as we speak- but in the meantime he has a bunch of food he’s bought and needs to get rid of. So tomorrow he plans on bringing the truck back to Park Ave. and 51st and giving away all the food for free during lunchtime. He figures that technically he’s not “vending” so it will be alright. We hope so! Either way, we’d check Twitter or the ML Twitter Tracker before heading out just to be sure.

As for what’s going to happen to the rest of the food trucks in Midtown… I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Remember Eliana, the $1 hot dog lady on 43rd and 6th whose cart was seized by the NYPD back in September of last year?  Her cart was returned a week later, but everything had been thrown away.  As a result the Street Vendor Project (the non profit organization that runs the Vendy Awards) has filed a case in federal court seeking damages, not just for her lost merchandise but also for lost business, and “mental distress” (according to Sean Basinski, the head of the SVP, she can’t even talk about what happened without breaking down.)  Sean sent this note over hoping to get some help from Midtown Lunchers…

We are looking for anyone who witnessed the cart seizure or any other interactions between Eliana and the police during August or September of last year. You could be an important witness in helping Eliana get justice. Please write svp@urbanjustice.org with your name and contact info if you know anything.

Related:
Street Vendor Project Going to Court Today to Fight For The 43rd St. Hot Dog Lady
$1 Hot Dogs Are Safe and Delicious, if You Get Them From Eliana

I hope this isn’t the beginning of the end… today’s Wall Street Journal has an article pointing out that more and more franchises are looking to food trucks as a way to expand their businesses. I didn’t think this needed to be said, but do we really need a Tasti D truck? (Ok, maybe it did need to be said!) In cities with unlimited permits this might not be as big a deal, but New York is limited to 3000 food truck permits. Every truck launched by Tasti D, or Sizzler, or Subway is one less truck available for something unique. Just saying…

Photo courtesy of the OC Register

Last month it appeared as if 48th btw. 6+7th might be permanently off limits to food trucks, and today 46th Street btw. 5+6th is looking like it might meet the same fate. Both Schnitzel & Things and Street Sweets were kicked out of their spots on 46th today and told not to come back. We’re not sure if it was an isolated incident, or a permanent directive- but we’ve heard from tipsters that it was a police big wig (i.e. a Lieutenant) and not just a beat cop or the peddlers unit (who make it a daily ritual to hassle street vendors.) Schnitzel moved downtown, and Street Sweets moved over to 52nd and Lex. I guess we’ll see what happens tomorrow if and when Eddie’s Pizza tries to park in the same spot.