New Food Truck Park in Willoughby (Cleveland, Lakewood: credit, neighborhood, income)

[SlideRules99]

New food truck park concept in Willoughby. Grand opening just happened today.

<< The Yard on 3rd is what we hope to be the premier outdoor venue on the east side of Cleveland," Dey said. "We are a food truck yard. We bring in rotating trucks where every time you come to the yard, we hope you're trying different cuisine. We're bringing in the best food trucks in the region."

<<The new concept will feature two food trucks in for lunch and two new trucks in for dinner. On Thursday, the grand opening of The Yard on 3rd, lunch at the food truck park came courtesy of CLE Chicken Food Truck and Wild Spork, a vegan food truck, showing off the eclectic range of food they'll be offering.>>

Looks like they’ll have live music also.

https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/...-to-willoughby

I was already impressed with Willoughby’s vibe. This takes it up a notch IMO. Will try to check it out this weekend! Love food truck pods/parks

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by SlideRules99

New food truck park concept in Willoughby. Grand opening just happened today.

<< The Yard on 3rd is what we hope to be the premier outdoor venue on the east side of Cleveland," Dey said. "We are a food truck yard. We bring in rotating trucks where every time you come to the yard, we hope you're trying different cuisine. We're bringing in the best food trucks in the region."

<<The new concept will feature two food trucks in for lunch and two new trucks in for dinner. On Thursday, the grand opening of The Yard on 3rd, lunch at the food truck park came courtesy of CLE Chicken Food Truck and Wild Spork, a vegan food truck, showing off the eclectic range of food they'll be offering.>>

Looks like they’ll have live music also.

https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/...-to-willoughby

I was already impressed with Willoughby’s vibe. This takes it up a notch IMO. Will try to check it out this weekend! Love food truck pods/parks

Great concept. I wonder if food truck yards exist anywhere else in Greater Cleveland.



This is a private initiative. Must local governments likely wouldn't organize a food truck yard for fear of cannibalizing existing restaurants; this may be an issue in Willoughby.



Willoughby will have to make certain that the food trucks pay Willoughby income taxes, both on employee wages and on food truck profits earned in Willoughby.

[SlideRules99]

There are plenty of individual food trucks in greater CLE, just not so much parks or pods, with multiple trucks, entertainment, beer garden, etc. Here is a summer guide to food trucks.

https://www.cleveland.com/entertainm...find-them.html

Lakewood has one such park on Detroit Ave.

Lakewood Truck Park

I wouldn’t be worried about cannibalizing Willoughby’s existing dine-in restaurants. They are different experiences. If the new food truck pod brings in new bodies/wallets, and adds buzz to downtown, the rising tide lifts all boats. IMO.

[on3]

Back in the day if a food truck park didn’t have a nicks gyros truck, no one would even bother. That place was like a cornerstone store in a mall (Dillards, Macy’s, etc). No nicks gyros and it won’t survive.

[ohioaninsc]

Beachwood Truck Park just opened by the same people that opened the Lakewood Truck Park and that own Dive Bar...they turned a closed down firehouse into it

www.beachwoodtruckpark.com

[SlideRules99]

I’ve swung by both the new Beachwood Truck Park and the Willoughby Truck park (the Yard on 3rd), a couple times. My observation is that both establishments emphasize the bar as the centerpiece. Nothing wrong with that per se, but the (limited) food truck offerings don’t hit the mark for me.

Only one truck at Willoughby the first time, and today there were no trucks in spite of one being advertised for 1130a onward. There is a Geraci by-the-slice stand, but that’s not exactly indie food truck fare.

Beachwood had a BBQ stand and a Southern deep fried comfort food stand. A bit too heavy and cholesterol rich for my taste (but that’s just me). Perhaps other days have featured a better cart selection. I ended up just heading to Van Aken for food and drink.

Personally, I’ve seen this concept work best when there is a larger variety of cuisines, maybe 4 trucks minimum for a pod, ideally more. You want to be able to bring the family or group of friends, and there’s something for everyone. Go snag your food and meet up in the center area for a beer, that type of thing.

Meantime, if you want an outdoor type of bar area, both parks score high in that area IMO.

I’ll be watching to see if any of these parks expand their offerings. I give them credit for trying this concept in Cleveland.

Others may enjoy the current truck selections more than I have, of course.

[WRnative]

Visited the Willoughby food truck park a week ago Friday. At 4:50 p.m., the one food truck there was not yet open. Parked one block away at a credit union, which, like all available parking lots in the area, are posted tow-away zones for non-customers; the credit union was closed. No available street parking even though no one was at the food truck park, which has NO PARKING OF ITS OWN. Several nearby parking lots were chained shut. I got the impression that none of the neighborhood businesses want food truck park customers using their parking.



IMO, it's ridiculous that a food truck park was built with no secured parking area. I won't be back, and I'll be surprised if this food truck park long survives at its current location.

[SlideRules99]

^^ It’s a sham. Adding your report to my previous experiences (no food trucks serving food at a so-called food truck court), they cannot last long unless something changes.

The parking situation doesn’t irk me nearly as much as the false positioning.

Basically it’s a glorified outdoor bar.

[ohioaninsc]

I did have an enjoyable evening a couple weeks ago at the Beachwood Truck Park...they had 3 food trucks on hand (no space for more)...one did some seafood dishes, one did bbq, and one did the usual sausage sandwiches...burgers...brats...

I liked the bar set up...and they had servers getting you the drinks...the fire pits are nice...when the weather is good I can see going there often...but what do they do when it's raining or cold? Will food trucks actually want to be there in the winter? Will people actually want to go outside to get their food then too? I doubt it.

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by ohioaninsc

I did have an enjoyable evening a couple weeks ago at the Beachwood Truck Park...they had 3 food trucks on hand (no space for more)...one did some seafood dishes, one did bbq, and one did the usual sausage sandwiches...burgers...brats...

I liked the bar set up...and they had servers getting you the drinks...the fire pits are nice...when the weather is good I can see going there often...but what do they do when it's raining or cold? Will food trucks actually want to be there in the winter? Will people actually want to go outside to get their food then too? I doubt it.

Does the Beachwood park have adequate parking?