Food Truck War What Side Are You ? (Houston: schools, inspectors)

[chris_ut]

Business owners lobby the government to prevent competition, free market at work here folks in the good old Red state of Texas.

[Dopo]

This is the type of story that I love where it show a lot of people's hypocracy.

I'm not going to make it too political,
but I bet $1 million dollars that 90% of the people that are against food trucks are constantly going around talking about smaller government, let the market decide, etc, etc.
But when it comes to bite them in the a...., they love to pass government laws to destroy their competition.

My opinion:
Let the market decide and don't use the government to pass laws to destroy competition.

[deckhanddavy]

I'm not picking a side, per se, but here are my two cents based on my food truck experiences. Take it as you will...

A ton of you may seriously hate on this comment, but I think this food truck craze is a trend that will die soon, just like all trends. It will then sizzle and leave a smoking trail of surviving food trucks that may or may not do well enough to pay the bills, which will eventually close or open an actual restaurant based on a loyal following of foodies from the heyday of the food truck craze. I don't think the brick and mortar restaurants really have anything to worry about in the long run...

Plus, from my food truck dining experiences (and believe me, I was a total fan of the whole thing), the food is OK to almost-great on most of those trucks, but way overhyped and at many times, OVERPRICED....nothing worth driving out to the city 20 miles out, just to see what the craze is and then be let down because your 9 dollar Korean burrito left you with indigestion in the middle of the night, rather than a good memory. Of course, a one time experience is always good just to get your feet wet and say, "At least I tried it! Hey, on the way home, let's hit up Crescent City for the good stuff!". There were a few times where the food really was stellar, but hell, they will be hit the hardest from the competition of restaurants and most of all, other food truck entrepreneurs who are just jumping on the food truck bandwagon to make some $$$.

Anyways, I've been drinking and am pretty much just venting from my disappointing experiences of 'fusion' Asian-Latino-Mediterranean food truck caravans that everyone has been raving about over the past couple years. I've eaten at th popular trucks in Houston with friends and in my recent San Francisco trip, I spent quite some time at "Off The Grid" (a meetup of 30-40 of SF's finest trucks in one place), and in all honesty....the food really was just OK. It's fun and pretty cool to experience the whole food truck thing, lots of fun to people watch and just get out and eat in the open grinder, but in the end, the food is just OK, and at times, no bueno. Of course, these are just my taste buds speaking...everything is subjective

Opinions? Experiences?

Don't get me wrong, I think this is great for business, as long as you provide cheap and delicious food on wheels. Isn't that what the point is? But rather, I'm seeing a lot of mediocre catering trucks dipping in on this trend...

Fact: taco trucks will never go away !!!

[TVC15]

Originally Posted by tstone

I own a trendy restaurant in the area so I vote (lobby) no . (J/K)

Which restaurant do you own?

[HookTheBrotherUp]

Funny, some who were so pro Southwest flying international against United's wishes in the name of 'competition' now don't want food trucks to compete with restaurants. What is good for the goose is good for the gander, as they say. If a restaurant is so good, then they need not worry. Just imagine if the railroads were successful in stopping Henry Ford from producing the Model T, where would we be now?

[bloodwings19]

No to food trucks. Restaurant owners have to pay lease and fight for renewals while food trucks can park anywhere they want. How many of those food truck cooks are taking food safety classes that is required for all restaurants. I wonder how many health department inspectors can really inspect a food truck, where can they find the expired dates of the meat, or how do they know the right temperature of storage in those food truck, if they have excess left for next day. Where are they getting the food supplies? And most of the meat is already dissected before driving out to the location, so you can't really follow their trail. And fire departments does yearly checkup on restaurants, I wonder how many food trucks have fire extinquishers. Are these food trucks inspected carefully, where are they dumping greases, or trash. I don't think you can follow these trucks without invading their privacy. No matter how clean the food truck is, the people eating these will somehow make a mess. I wonder how many napkins have flown away in fall/winter weather, or how many dropped food from eating, or just sloppiness and how are they disposing these? I don't think a cook can make it in a day without visiting the restroom once, so they are going to use the restroom at a restaurant, or a gas station?!?!? I'm all for having all kinds of food served in different ways and if these food trucks can answer these questions, I'll go yes for food trucks. If they can't, no to food trucks.

[Texascrude]

Originally Posted by bloodwings19

No to food trucks. Restaurant owners have to pay lease and fight for renewals while food trucks can park anywhere they want. How many of those food truck cooks are taking food safety classes that is required for all restaurants. I wonder how many health department inspectors can really inspect a food truck, where can they find the expired dates of the meat, or how do they know the right temperature of storage in those food truck, if they have excess left for next day. Where are they getting the food supplies? And most of the meat is already dissected before driving out to the location, so you can't really follow their trail. And fire departments does yearly checkup on restaurants, I wonder how many food trucks have fire extinquishers. Are these food trucks inspected carefully, where are they dumping greases, or trash. I don't think you can follow these trucks without invading their privacy. No matter how clean the food truck is, the people eating these will somehow make a mess. I wonder how many napkins have flown away in fall/winter weather, or how many dropped food from eating, or just sloppiness and how are they disposing these? I don't think a cook can make it in a day without visiting the restroom once, so they are going to use the restroom at a restaurant, or a gas station?!?!? I'm all for having all kinds of food served in different ways and if these food trucks can answer these questions, I'll go yes for food trucks. If they can't, no to food trucks.

You're right about that -- they don't have to pay many of those things. And you know what? If that makes them more efficient, let them win. Why should they be held back because they found a cheaper way to operate?

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by deckhanddavy

A ton of you may seriously hate on this comment, but I think this food truck craze is a trend that will die soon, just like all trends. It will then sizzle and leave a smoking trail of surviving food trucks that may or may not do well enough to pay the bills, which will eventually close or open an actual restaurant based on a loyal following of foodies from the heyday of the food truck craze.

The only reason that happens is because of pro-big business laws that are passed to get rid of them.

Why do you think that you can find "street food vendors" in every country around the World?
It's a business model that if let alone (get big government off of it) is very benefitial for people that want a cheaper more informal option to restaurants.
I don't mind eating standing up if I get a 25% discount on the price.

[HoustonRonnie]

Originally Posted by Dopo

I don't mind eating standing up if I get a 25% discount on the price.

..and the food's better than the slop in the restaurant.

Ronnie

[tstone]

Originally Posted by TVC15

Which restaurant do you own?

I said "J/K" = just kidding.

Think about it though- if someone did own a trendy restaurant in the loop,''someone'' more accurately described being a company downtown that owns multiple restaurants... then all the sudden this "truck" scene pops up down the street, becomes hipsterish and serves better food than the restaurants, of course I would lobby to kill the little guy so my business, already running on tight margins, doesn't fail. Especially in Houston, the city of big business.

As far as sinks on food trucks, check these out:
houston all for sale / wanted classifieds "food truck" - craigslist

I can't speak to how or when they are used. I don't really truck-hop or have interest in the scene. But I have been using this one taco truck for a couple years now and never had any issue with it.