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I imagine between stricter heath codes and higher wages and taxes and all the other costs involved, there’s no way to realistically get Asian style street food

I imagine between stricter heath codes and higher wages and taxes and all the other costs involved, there’s no way to realistically get Asian style street food in the USA. Seems like the closest I’ve seen if food trucks, but those are often more expensive than traditional restaurants in my experience (San Francisco and Atlanta). I love Chinese street food, but I’m not holding my breath to see it in the USA. I cook more nowadays in order to save money since eating out is so insanely expensive in USA cities compared to Asia.

Aromasin 7y ago
I believe it is entirely possible, but the food trade culture in the West is the issue. There's an attitude of "my competitors' price their food at this point - they likely know better as they were here first so I should price my food at this point too". My father works in the trade and he's said that food could be price at a fraction of what it's currently priced at - and they'd like make even more money - but it would mean a lot more physical labour; something most food vendors aren't willing to do, as it's a hard enough job already. I lived in the North of England for a while (one of the cheaper places in the UK), and to go out for lunch would pretty much cost £6-£10 for a 'street-food sized' meal. One day, a street food stall parked up in the middle of a high traffic area and started selling massive burrito sized spring rolls for about £3 a pop with meat and £2 without. Pre-chopped veg, meat fried in massive woks, pancakes rolled fresh. 10 or so staff meant they were basically handing them out as fast as the card machine could take contactless payments (no cash). It was like the whole city damn near shut down. 1000's seemed to congregate to that one spot. People would queue for an hours (thankfully the English are good a queuing); any other alternative for lunch simply didn't make sense. They were open for about 6 months, queues hundreds deep, then all of a sudden they shut up shop overnight just like that. Coincidentally it turns out the owner was actually a guy a played rugby with. I interrogated him Spanish inquisition style. Basically he saved up enough money to buy 2 commercial fat-fryers, 2 burners and woks, a chest refrigerator and a generator to run them all; all second-hand, all super inexpensive. Lighting, marque, prep stations and the like were all sourced on things like freecycle and gumtree. He bought a permit from the local council to set up shop on the high-street, found a team of part-timers, gave them all course in food safety and he was good to go. No marketing, no branding - just a chalk board that said "Spring Rolls £2 - add meat for £3". All in all it cost him just shy of £8k to start, with which he got a loan for half of that. Apparently a month in and he was turning over £5k gross in a DAY. He told me he stopped because he had saved up enough money to call himself a millionaire, and didn't want the stress of standing behind a searing hot burner with a 300 deep queue in front of him anymore. He paid off his loans, his kids loans, got an extension on his house and put the rest of his money into some real estate. I think the demand is there. It's just a case of vendors actually attempting to take the risk and breaking that mould when it comes to price.
arkitaip 7y ago
True and this also applies to almost every other industrialized country. The layers of law and bureaucracy that we expect and even sometimes demand to live safe and predictable lives really conspire against more relaxed food systems.

Aromasin 7y ago

I believe it is entirely possible, but the food trade culture in the West is the issue. There's an attitude of "my competitors' price their food at this point - they likely know better as they were here first so I should price my food at this point too". My father works in the trade and he's said that food could be price at a fraction of what it's currently priced at - and they'd like make even more money - but it would mean a lot more physical labour; something most food vendors aren't willing to do, as it's a hard enough job already. I lived in the North of England for a while (one of the cheaper places in the UK), and to go out for lunch would pretty much cost £6-£10 for a 'street-food sized' meal. One day, a street food stall parked up in the middle of a high traffic area and started selling massive burrito sized spring rolls for about £3 a pop with meat and £2 without. Pre-chopped veg, meat fried in massive woks, pancakes rolled fresh. 10 or so staff meant they were basically handing them out as fast as the card machine could take contactless payments (no cash). It was like the whole city damn near shut down. 1000's seemed to congregate to that one spot. People would queue for an hours (thankfully the English are good a queuing); any other alternative for lunch simply didn't make sense. They were open for about 6 months, queues hundreds deep, then all of a sudden they shut up shop overnight just like that. Coincidentally it turns out the owner was actually a guy a played rugby with. I interrogated him Spanish inquisition style. Basically he saved up enough money to buy 2 commercial fat-fryers, 2 burners and woks, a chest refrigerator and a generator to run them all; all second-hand, all super inexpensive. Lighting, marque, prep stations and the like were all sourced on things like freecycle and gumtree. He bought a permit from the local council to set up shop on the high-street, found a team of part-timers, gave them all course in food safety and he was good to go. No marketing, no branding - just a chalk board that said "Spring Rolls £2 - add meat for £3". All in all it cost him just shy of £8k to start, with which he got a loan for half of that. Apparently a month in and he was turning over £5k gross in a DAY. He told me he stopped because he had saved up enough money to call himself a millionaire, and didn't want the stress of standing behind a searing hot burner with a 300 deep queue in front of him anymore. He paid off his loans, his kids loans, got an extension on his house and put the rest of his money into some real estate. I think the demand is there. It's just a case of vendors actually attempting to take the risk and breaking that mould when it comes to price.

arkitaip 7y ago

True and this also applies to almost every other industrialized country. The layers of law and bureaucracy that we expect and even sometimes demand to live safe and predictable lives really conspire against more relaxed food systems.