Midtown Lunch

Today’s L.A. Times has a less than glowing look at the exploding food truck scene in L.A., and I have to say… it’s about time!  It’s not completely surprising that food trucks who have been around for a few years would not like an influx of competition, and it’s kind of unfair and strange to see Road Stoves, a company with 20 food truck clients on their website including ESPN and Camarena Tequila, talking about how other people are just prostituting the culture to make money. But all in the all the article touches on some important and interesting subjects, including big business trying to get in on the action (like Sizzler & Jack and the Box), copycat trucks, the influx of clueless entrepreneurs expecting to make a fortune, and how  real money is in catering  or deals with grocery stores, not selling food on the street.  I especially liked reading Roy Choi talk about street food as a community thing, although I disagree about food truck lots being a bad thing. Kogi has put a lot of time and thought into where they park, and that works for them, but hawker centers where street food vendors can come together are also a great thing, not just for vendors but for the community as well.

In the end it’s great to see more open discussion about the perils of running a food truck in such a major media outlet.  It’s a long time coming for an industry that is not only growing at an unsustainable rate, but has benefited from a massive amount of sugar coated media.

Related:
News Flash: New Street Vendors Are Finding It Difficult to Make Money
Manila Machine Should Tell the Truth: They’re Closing (Their Truck) Because Running a Food Truck Sucks