5 ms·

Some people don't like other congregating in front of their stores and not buying anything but the most vocal opponent are restaurants. They feel like by payin

Some people don't like other congregating in front of their stores and not buying anything but the most vocal opponent are restaurants. They feel like by paying substantial money for a restaurant lease, they shouldn't be subject to competition that can operate with far lower costs / standards. Think about if you owned a nice Mexican restaurant and then a taco truck parked outside during your rush hour. They have almost none of the fixed costs that you do and could undercut you pretty easily. I'm not convinced it's worth regulating their hours/locations, but I do sympathize a bit with the brutal economics of restaurants.

lozaning 8y ago
>they shouldn't be subject to competition that can operate with far lower costs / standards. Of course they should. There is no assurances or guarantees that any business venture is going to be successful. If you're running a mexican restaurant that goes out of business because of a taco truck, the answer isn't to outlaw taco trucks, it's to make your own restaurant better. If you can't change your restaurant and you go out of business isn't it your fault for not adapting to customer tastes and preferences, not the taco trucks fault because it was able to satiate customer needs?
- icebraining 8y ago
  The restaurant's argument would be that the food truck is unfair competition, because it's using public resources (street space to park, pavement for buyers, city cleaners to cleanup food remains), whereas they have to pay for private space, cleaning crews, etc.
- abdullahkhalids 8y ago
  With your line of reasoning, I guess a rich person thinking of opening a restaurant could follow following strategy. 1. Get a few food trucks and park them in front of all potential competitor restaurants. Sell subsidized food. 2. Wait till these restaurants close because they can't compete with the subsidy. 3. Start their own restaurant selling really bad food at expensive prices. 4. Profit. This is the same kind of strategy that tech giants often follow to push startups out of business. Obviously, my example strategy is extreme (and possibly illegal), but food trucks can easily drive good restaurants out of business resulting in a worse culinary scene in the city. The purpose of the regulation being discussed here is to eliminate such bad forms of competition that result in worse outcomes in the long term.
  - solveit 8y ago
    That sounds illegal for reasons that have nothing to do with food trucks.
    - krallja 8y ago
      Which part sounds illegal to you?
  - mikeash 8y ago
    Selling at a loss to drive competitors out of business is a time-honored tradition that can be done without food trucks.
    - baddox 8y ago
      It’s also a time-honored trope that has very little evidence of being a reliable method to drive competition out of business.
  - lozaning 8y ago
    This situation is in no way unique to food trucks though. I could buy the property next to your restaurant and make it into an exact clone of your place and give away all my food for free until you're out of business. And yet I don't see anyone out there arguing in favor of laws banning copycat restaurants. If I can run a food truck and sell food at a lower cost to people who have to stand outside while they eat, and they prefer that over the experience you provide in your restaurant, the customer is not wrong. Good restaurants, by definition do not go out of business.
    - jniedrauer 8y ago
      > I could buy the property next to your restaurant This requires a substantial investment. It is in no way comparable.
      - dragonwriter 8y ago
deleted 8y ago
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lozaning 8y ago

>they shouldn't be subject to competition that can operate with far lower costs / standards. Of course they should. There is no assurances or guarantees that any business venture is going to be successful. If you're running a mexican restaurant that goes out of business because of a taco truck, the answer isn't to outlaw taco trucks, it's to make your own restaurant better. If you can't change your restaurant and you go out of business isn't it your fault for not adapting to customer tastes and preferences, not the taco trucks fault because it was able to satiate customer needs?

icebraining 8y ago
The restaurant's argument would be that the food truck is unfair competition, because it's using public resources (street space to park, pavement for buyers, city cleaners to cleanup food remains), whereas they have to pay for private space, cleaning crews, etc.
abdullahkhalids 8y ago
With your line of reasoning, I guess a rich person thinking of opening a restaurant could follow following strategy. 1. Get a few food trucks and park them in front of all potential competitor restaurants. Sell subsidized food. 2. Wait till these restaurants close because they can't compete with the subsidy. 3. Start their own restaurant selling really bad food at expensive prices. 4. Profit. This is the same kind of strategy that tech giants often follow to push startups out of business. Obviously, my example strategy is extreme (and possibly illegal), but food trucks can easily drive good restaurants out of business resulting in a worse culinary scene in the city. The purpose of the regulation being discussed here is to eliminate such bad forms of competition that result in worse outcomes in the long term.
- solveit 8y ago
  That sounds illegal for reasons that have nothing to do with food trucks.
  - krallja 8y ago
    Which part sounds illegal to you?
- mikeash 8y ago
  Selling at a loss to drive competitors out of business is a time-honored tradition that can be done without food trucks.
  - baddox 8y ago
    It’s also a time-honored trope that has very little evidence of being a reliable method to drive competition out of business.
- lozaning 8y ago
  This situation is in no way unique to food trucks though. I could buy the property next to your restaurant and make it into an exact clone of your place and give away all my food for free until you're out of business. And yet I don't see anyone out there arguing in favor of laws banning copycat restaurants. If I can run a food truck and sell food at a lower cost to people who have to stand outside while they eat, and they prefer that over the experience you provide in your restaurant, the customer is not wrong. Good restaurants, by definition do not go out of business.
  - jniedrauer 8y ago
    > I could buy the property next to your restaurant This requires a substantial investment. It is in no way comparable.
    - dragonwriter 8y ago

deleted 8y ago

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