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I've lived in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Raleigh, NC. Raleigh was battling with food trucks when I moved, and am unsure how it ultimately turned out in te

by base698 13y ago

I've lived in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Raleigh, NC. Raleigh was battling with food trucks when I moved, and am unsure how it ultimately turned out in terms of variety. 1) On any given day in SF and LA: I have a choice in a single location of: sushi, indian, indian fusion, japanese fushion, Mexican, Korean tacos, Pizza, Cajun food, salads, and a deli. The fight in Raleigh seemed to the locals to be more about the food trucks out competing on quality. Most of the restaurant owners that had shitty food had the most to say, with the higher quality restaurants not giving a damn. 2) Cost even in LA and SF will seldom rise above $10 unless you get an entree and an "appetizer" at which point it hovers around $14. Usually the appetizers are enough for a whole meal. 3) Agreed, there are a lot of instances where the prices are the same as a brick and mortar. I think Roy Choi is great, and is most the reason for the Korean explosion in food trucks, however he only seems to have 2 real competitors at the locations I frequent. The rest as you suggest have either gone out of business or changed to another cuisine which is more lucrative.

VLM 13y ago
I just returned from a walking survey of local govt sponsored "food truck tuesday". Runkeeper claims 0.71 miles in 11:18 (I walk fast) The banners/billboards and signs are back up for the spring. 70 degrees, light wind, sunny, near ideal weather. The city picnic tables are out and about 20 people eating (maybe two per table and maybe 10 occupied tables) and maybe 10 in line across all the trucks. Local time is just after lunch rush hour. 1) Korean BBQ is dead, we went from like 4 trucks at the same time last fall to Zero. Called it! Hyper narrowcasting competition killed ALL of them off simultaneously, which is too bad because I like KBBQ when I make it at home. A general lack of Asian food which is too bad, I really like that kind of stuff. 2) Prices are now a bit lower, almost as low as brick -n- mortar locally. 3) Cajun, meatballs, pitas, pizza by the slice (come on, that's the best you can do?), several southern style BBQ (the new KBBQ fad?), a burger place, a wings place, perhaps some I can't remember. I believe there was one plain ole sandwich place. 4) The themes seem to revolve around given a substance pick a container (meatballs) or given a container (pita, pizza slice dough, wings) pick a substance to put in/on it. Some anecdotes: Everything at the cajun place was $8 but don't know portion sizes which is probably why they were the only place without a line. The wings place is slightly more expensive than BW3 two blocks away. The burger place was priced about like Culvers. The meatball place sold out and was closing up which I guess is good revenue news. Generally speaking you could "eat well" for about $10. Lots of "our entree is only $8" or so in big letters but a coke or some side dish is $2. The local food selections remind me strongly of the local mall food court except somewhat fewer choices. I found the roar and smell of multiple 2 KW gas electric generators to be remarkably unappealing, if there's one thing the city .gov could do, it would be provide electrical hookups. No one sells snacks and dessert is rare. Food Truck Tuesday is currently operating at about quarter capacity. Only about half of one side of the road was occupied all in a bunch. Lots of traffic from the office buildings to the trucks and back, so actual sales are probably higher than picnic table occupation would imply. I believe a lot of fads and prices are driven by the food network food truck series.
mindcrime 13y ago
Raleigh was battling with food trucks when I moved They ultimately approved a new regulation that, while probably not perfect, seems to be a compromise most sides could live with. http://www.raleighnc.gov/home/content/Inspections/Articles/FoodTrucks.html http://www.raleighnc.gov/home/content/Inspections/Articles/F... and am unsure how it ultimately turned out in terms of variety. Not sure about that bit. I live "next door" to Raleigh in Chapel Hill, but rarely have much reason to venture into Raleigh during the day, so I haven't had much chance to partake of their food trucks. But the Triangle, as a whole, seems to have a thriving food-truck scene. http://www.crankydiners.com/food-trucks/ http://www.crankydiners.com/food-trucks/ http://www.wral.com/triangle-food-truck-rodeos-planned-this-weekend-/12187981/ http://www.wral.com/triangle-food-truck-rodeos-planned-this-...

by base698 13y ago

VLM 13y ago

I just returned from a walking survey of local govt sponsored "food truck tuesday". Runkeeper claims 0.71 miles in 11:18 (I walk fast) The banners/billboards and signs are back up for the spring. 70 degrees, light wind, sunny, near ideal weather. The city picnic tables are out and about 20 people eating (maybe two per table and maybe 10 occupied tables) and maybe 10 in line across all the trucks. Local time is just after lunch rush hour. 1) Korean BBQ is dead, we went from like 4 trucks at the same time last fall to Zero. Called it! Hyper narrowcasting competition killed ALL of them off simultaneously, which is too bad because I like KBBQ when I make it at home. A general lack of Asian food which is too bad, I really like that kind of stuff. 2) Prices are now a bit lower, almost as low as brick -n- mortar locally. 3) Cajun, meatballs, pitas, pizza by the slice (come on, that's the best you can do?), several southern style BBQ (the new KBBQ fad?), a burger place, a wings place, perhaps some I can't remember. I believe there was one plain ole sandwich place. 4) The themes seem to revolve around given a substance pick a container (meatballs) or given a container (pita, pizza slice dough, wings) pick a substance to put in/on it. Some anecdotes: Everything at the cajun place was $8 but don't know portion sizes which is probably why they were the only place without a line. The wings place is slightly more expensive than BW3 two blocks away. The burger place was priced about like Culvers. The meatball place sold out and was closing up which I guess is good revenue news. Generally speaking you could "eat well" for about $10. Lots of "our entree is only $8" or so in big letters but a coke or some side dish is $2. The local food selections remind me strongly of the local mall food court except somewhat fewer choices. I found the roar and smell of multiple 2 KW gas electric generators to be remarkably unappealing, if there's one thing the city .gov could do, it would be provide electrical hookups. No one sells snacks and dessert is rare. Food Truck Tuesday is currently operating at about quarter capacity. Only about half of one side of the road was occupied all in a bunch. Lots of traffic from the office buildings to the trucks and back, so actual sales are probably higher than picnic table occupation would imply. I believe a lot of fads and prices are driven by the food network food truck series.

mindcrime 13y ago

Raleigh was battling with food trucks when I moved They ultimately approved a new regulation that, while probably not perfect, seems to be a compromise most sides could live with. http://www.raleighnc.gov/home/content/Inspections/Articles/FoodTrucks.html http://www.raleighnc.gov/home/content/Inspections/Articles/F... and am unsure how it ultimately turned out in terms of variety. Not sure about that bit. I live "next door" to Raleigh in Chapel Hill, but rarely have much reason to venture into Raleigh during the day, so I haven't had much chance to partake of their food trucks. But the Triangle, as a whole, seems to have a thriving food-truck scene. http://www.crankydiners.com/food-trucks/ http://www.crankydiners.com/food-trucks/ http://www.wral.com/triangle-food-truck-rodeos-planned-this-weekend-/12187981/ http://www.wral.com/triangle-food-truck-rodeos-planned-this-...