Atlanta food truck park (office, good, time)

[roxyrn]

I used to go on a lot of field trips with younger kids on a ten minute train trip to a dinner and then back. They really loved it.
I think a brightly decorated food truck with some fun foods would appeal to the younger set.
Even a school bus is fun for school-age kids on a field trip especially when they are singing their lungs out with obnoxious, never-ending songs. How many times did you get to "2 bottle of beer on the wall?"

[RoslynHolcomb]

Originally Posted by BobKovacs

Kids love trains and buses if the train or bus is taking them somewhere exciting. Taking a 20-minute bus trip to buy some food off a truck isn't going to get most kids excited- especially those you mention who are "under 48 inches". If anything, they're likely to be sorely disappointed by the end result.......

I dunno Bob, I think my kid is a pretty typical 8 year old and more than once we've taken the Marta to the airport just for the heck of it. He thinks the train is the coolest thing ever. He also loves to eat out, probably because we don't do it that often, so yeah, he'd love this idea. Would we do it? Probably not. $8 for a burger off a food truck sounds ridiculous. We had similar trucks back home and the meals topped out at about $5.

[BobKovacs]

Originally Posted by RoslynHolcomb

I dunno Bob, I think my kid is a pretty typical 8 year old and more than once we've taken the Marta to the airport just for the heck of it. He thinks the train is the coolest thing ever. He also loves to eat out, probably because we don't do it that often, so yeah, he'd love this idea. Would we do it? Probably not. $8 for a burger off a food truck sounds ridiculous. We had similar trucks back home and the meals topped out at about $5.

"Train to airport to watch big planes take off" doesn't equal "bus to food truck", IMO.

Also not so sure that your 8 y/o is the "pretty typical kid" if the train to the airport still excites him- either that, or my 8 y/o daughter isn't the "pretty typical kid", because she wouldn't have been excited by that past about the age of 5. Of course, my kids started flying around the country when they were infants, and Grandma has taken them on two cruises already, so maybe they're not easily impressed anymore.

[waronxmas]

Originally Posted by DTL3000

...

Are you serious?

...

In any other forward-thinking, progressive city, the food trucks are allowed to travel to where the demand is. Isn't that a novel concept?

Ok, now I don't disagree with the idea that the food trucks should be allowed to follow the demand, but not let's not make this another "Every other city is progressive and forward thinking and Atlanta totally is not!" thread.

This food truck thing is a recent (last few years) fad in a lot of cities. The difference with Atlanta is that it ran up against old, archaic laws that were put in place to (drumroll): to be progressive and forward thinking.

You see, there used to be a time when there no such thing as portable refrigeration or food safety standards. It was quite common for people to become quite ill from eating street food due to this and it's incedence increased dramatically in the first half of the 20th century due to improving hygiene situations in society as a whole (read up on why Polio reached epidemic levels in the 1940s and 50s). Many cities in response banned food stalls because they could not easily be regulated or inspected.

As time went on the laws just stuck around as people stopped caring about it (such as the case here) and only recently became an issue when food trucks became a fad. Interestingly enough, in other places where outdoor food stalls were allowed to remain open, many people who are residents avoid it all together because it has a stigma of being bacteria filled germ machines. I remember quite clearly as a kid, my mom never allowed us to eat off the food carts in NYC and admonished us by saying "You're going to get dysentery eating that crap!"

So at this point I'm fine if the City council takes their time lifting the restrictions if they're doing so is to keep things safe and manageable rather than just opening the flood gates to allow the food trucks to do whatever they want in the name of being trendy or "progressive".

[waronxmas]

Originally Posted by roxyrn

I used to go on a lot of field trips with younger kids on a ten minute train trip to a dinner and then back. They really loved it.
I think a brightly decorated food truck with some fun foods would appeal to the younger set.
Even a school bus is fun for school-age kids on a field trip especially when they are singing their lungs out with obnoxious, never-ending songs. How many times did you get to "2 bottle of beer on the wall?"

My biggest complaint about the food trucks is that there aren't a lot of kid friendly options out there right now (aside from King of Pops which rocks by the way) in the Atlanta food truck scene. The whole scene really caters to the adventurous, disposable income having, yuppie foodie and not much else at the moment.

[brownhornet]

Originally Posted by waronxmas

Ok, now I don't disagree with the idea that the food trucks should be allowed to follow the demand, but not let's not make this another "Every other city is progressive and forward thinking and Atlanta totally is not!" thread.

This food truck thing is a recent (last few years) fad in a lot of cities. The difference with Atlanta is that it ran up against old, archaic laws that were put in place to (drumroll): to be progressive and forward thinking.

You see, there used to be a time when there no such thing as portable refrigeration or food safety standards. It was quite common for people to become quite ill from eating street food due to this and it's incedence increased dramatically in the first half of the 20th century due to improving hygiene situations in society as a whole (read up on why Polio reached epidemic levels in the 1940s and 50s). Many cities in response banned food stalls because they could not easily be regulated or inspected.

As time went on the laws just stuck around as people stopped caring about it (such as the case here) and only recently became an issue when food trucks became a fad. Interestingly enough, in other places where outdoor food stalls were allowed to remain open, many people who are residents avoid it all together because it has a stigma of being bacteria filled germ machines. I remember quite clearly as a kid, my mom never allowed us to eat off the food carts in NYC and admonished us by saying "You're going to get dysentery eating that crap!"

So at this point I'm fine if the City council takes their time lifting the restrictions if they're doing so is to keep things safe and manageable rather than just opening the flood gates to allow the food trucks to do whatever they want in the name of being trendy or "progressive".

It's actually not recent at all. They've been huge on the west coast for the last 15 years and probably just as long in NYC and DC. It may be recent here but not everywhere. Everything you just typed basically = the lawmakers here are slow at doing anything progressive but most of us already know this.

[waronxmas]

Originally Posted by brownhornet

It's actually not recent at all. They've been huge on the west coast for the last 15 years and probably just as long in NYC and DC. It may be recent here but not everywhere. Everything you just typed basically = the lawmakers here are slow at doing anything progressive but most of us already know this.

I'll give you LA since they have had food trucks for a long time. NYC doesn't count as they've always had a robust street food scene. DC's food truck craze started around the same time it did here.

Again, read what I wrote. The current trend ran up against old laws still on the books for a valid reason. Obviously there are far more important things than changing laws just so people can hock overpriced tacos on the street.

[onemanarmy]

Speaking of overpriced taco's. I went to Yumbii today and 3 tacos and a can soda was $9.00. It was pretty good, but not 9 dollars good. I mean El Azteca and you can sit down eat and have lunch for around 11 with tax and tip.

[brownhornet]

Originally Posted by waronxmas

I'll give you LA since they have had food trucks for a long time. NYC doesn't count as they've always had a robust street food scene. DC's food truck craze started around the same time it did here.

Again, read what I wrote. The current trend ran up against old laws still on the books for a valid reason. Obviously there are far more important things than changing laws just so people can hock overpriced tacos on the street.

No, it didn't. And I know this because I lived in DC before I lived here and there were a ton of food trucks there then.

[K-SawDude]

Originally Posted by onemanarmy

Speaking of overpriced taco's. I went to Yumbii today and 3 tacos and a can soda was $9.00. It was pretty good, but not 9 dollars good. I mean El Azteca and you can sit down eat and have lunch for around 11 with tax and tip.

That's my problem, especially with the taco-based trucks. It's easy to feel ripped off when your $3.50 fish taco is no better than the $1.50 taco at Del Taco.

On the other hand, for trucks like the WOW food truck (which does arepas and flavorful grits dishes), I don't mind paying several bucks for their small bites. Ton of flavor there, and good restaurant quality for a fair price.

WOW! Food Truck Atlanta - WOW MENU