Food Truck Frenzyphotographed, designed, and written by

Paige Eller

Table of ContentsDedication

Foreword

Chapter 1: What’s the Big Deal About a Food Truck Any-ways?

Chapter 2: To Forge Ahead or Fall Behind?

Chapter 3: A Food Trucks Future

Conclusion

Works Cited

This book is dedicated to my cousin Sadie who took me to see my first food truck. I’ll always re-member walking up the streets of Abbot Kinney together, enjoying the sun, and wonderful food.

Thank you for being a part of my life.

Foreword

I finally made it back to my cousin, who was de-vouring a ice cream sandwich that looked and smelled scrumptious. Mint chocolate chip ice cream squished between a snickerdoodle and sugar cookie from a truck that was nearby. I quickly got in line, and waited to cre-ate my own masterpiece. Twenty minutes had passed and I was still waiting, staring at all the options. Annoyed at the long line, but dazzled by all the options. Next thing I knew, it was my turn to order. A friendly employee rec-ognized my uncertainty and offered me a sample of her favorite ice cream. I was quickly entranced into the carm-ello crunch madness. I ordered the ice cream and placed it between classic chocolate chip cookies. As I walked passed the line, now devouring my own sandwich, I admitted to myself that what I was eating, was probably one of the best desserts to ever touch my tongue. The 20 minute wait now seemed mildly more reasonable because of how good the food actually was. I was starting to un-derstand the phenomenon of food trucks, but knew there were questions that a days worth of food trucks could not answer. In my research paper, I hope to show why there is such a frenzy for food trucks and why their phenomenon is forever lasting.

The streets of Los Angeles are always bustling, but there’s nothing that says busy like First Friday. Storms of people swarm the sidewalks of Abbot Kinney, as they hurry to join the growing lines. Wafts of BBQ fill the air for a mile radius. About thirty trucks park along Abbot Kinney, on the first friday of every month. The trucks venture out early in the morning to set up along the road, prepping for the masses that are headed their way. This was the first time I had ever seen a food truck, yet alone thirty of them. My cousin was used to the overwhelming crowd, the strong smells, and knew the best trucks to eat from. I, however, was not. But I soon discovered that each truck had something unique about it that I did not quite understand. I walked the streets by myself trying to take everything in. I realized it was not just the food trucks themselves that were so intriguing but the crowd that they brought with them. I couldn’t help but stare. People waited under the hot sun, sweating, all for a slice of pizza; others waited in an hour-long line for a creme brulee. It seemed ridiculous to me, and I couldn’t figure out what the big deal was. Surely the food had to be good; there was no question that that’s what the people ultimately wanted, but I kept thinking that there were plenty of other places that were less crowded and noisy that sold good food.

Kumquat. kem.quat. /’kəm, kwät/

Noun1. An orange-like fruit with an edible sweet rind and acid pulp.2. An Eastern Asian shrub of the rue family yields the fruit and hybridizes with a citrus tree.

I was first introduced to a kumquat on my tropical vacation to Jamaica in the 1st grade. I remember peel-ing back the orange rind, popping what little was left of the fruit into my mouth, and being surprised at how a fruit with such a wacky name could be so delicious. Before then I took little pleasure in eating; this was the first time food became more than just a stomach-filling substance. All of a sudden I began to take interest in the names of the foods I was consuming, and what they were made up of. Was the kumquat I was eating actually native to California, or was it introduced to us from across the world? While the tacos that I had on Tuesday night were in fact bor-rowed from Mexico, the hamburger I had consumed earlier for lunch was a traditional American specialty.

Food is a language that brings people together, and, like Wiarumus one of the many native tongues spoken in New Guinea, it has been transformed greatly. All over the world, we share, borrow, introduce, and produce food. For centuries, people have come together to wine and dine, whether it’s over home-cooked meals, take in, or eating out. And doing so has become a lot easier in recent years. One modern trend, the food truck, has been extremely successful in reaching large audiences and grabbing people’s attention. The food truck has drastically changed the efficiency of modern food, showing up now in unexpected places and making it easy for people to access food and take it on the go.

Roy Choi, the Kogi Korean BBQ master, is said to be the face of the food truck revolution. “When the Los Angeles-based fusion food truck made its debut in 2008 it harnessed the perfect storm of culinary know-how and emergence of social media to turn food trucks into a nationwide phenomenon,” stated David Eich-stedt, the director of retail dining at the University of Massachusetts. Chef Choi’s twitter, continues to be his key to successfully advertising his business. He constantly updates his customers of his whereabouts and what’s new on the menu. His social media marketing greatly influenced other trucks who weren’t seeing nearly as much action as Roy Choi. Twitter became a game changer for food trucks. The demand for novelty, inex-pensive, and convenient food helped the food trucks to expand their mar-ket; however without the help of the media they could not stand on their own. Shortly after the integration of twitter, apps for smartphones were created for an even more accurate location of the food mobiles.

Chapter 1: What’s the big deal about a food truck anyways?

For instance, the app ‘Roaming Hunger’ not only shows the location in which a truck is parked, but also allows one to browse the hours, menus, and vendors. In big cities, this is crucial, especially for somebody in a time crunch. Because of this, food trucks overflow the streets of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, and other bustling cities, during lunch and the evening hours. Not only is the convenience appealing to people, but the overwhelm-ing variety of choices and the indie looking vehicles certainly draw crowds. You name it, there is a food truck that has it: from savory sausages, to sweet French crepes, to local grown veggies and everything in be-tween. They even have cars that accommo-date vegetarians, vegans, and other dietary needs, with food that is superb. Although some of the food trucks are their own start-ups, many restaurants take this route to increase their revenue and have another form of marketing. As popularity in food trucks continue to grow, so do the options. Competition is huge in the food truck industry. Not only is there competition for the best food, but catchy names too. “Truck operators lean heavily on humor, sexual innuendo, food puns, and double entendres as they aim for a memorable, or at least eye-catching, name,” claims Janice from Gigabiting, a website about food, meeting culture and technol-ogy.

“Whether or not they make you laugh, cringe, or smile, they make you look.” Debate is still held whether the Michigans based food truck, “What the truck!?” is famous or infamous. Naming the truck is one piece of the food truck process, and dressing it is another. While the shape of food trucks are pretty consistent, with the exception of Maximums Minimums, a pork-based food truck dressed to look like a pig located in Seattle, the decorations are all unique. Bright colors, big drawings, and artsy designs are often seen on food trucks to try and stand out from the rest. One food truck I’ve eaten at in San Francisco is called Le Truc; it has seating inside of the food mobile where customers can sit down and eat while they watch their food being made. You can imagine that this food truck is a little different than the norm, in attempt to be as original as it can. A combination of phenomenal food, prime loca-tion, and quirky names drives what seems like a never ending path for food trucks. But it is reasonable to wonder whether the trend is going to continue to soar, and if so, how it will succeed amidst all the competition?

Are food trucks just a fad? This is a tricky question to answer, because all food culture fads in their earliest stages are not always the easiest to detect. The founder of Roaming Hunger Ross Resnick, is frequently asked this question concerning food trucks and their place in the world today. His expertise in the moving food mobiles has led him to believe that, “In order for a thing to pass out of a fad-dom, its ascent to the top must last significantly longer than its descent into oblivion.” Because the rise of food trucks is a moderately modern phenomenon, it is hard to decipher whether or not its popularity will continue or fall apart. Just like any new product, such as the newest Apple Iphone, the hype eventually wears off and the actual legitimacy decided by the masses is measured. The frenzy to purchase the newest and “greatest” product often leaves one disappointed when it does not live up to its expectations. The same goes for the existing food trucks. At first the convenience, hipster scene, and overwhelm-ing crowd, override the mediocre food, long lines, and inconvenient seating. After the food truck frenzy dies down, will people return to these once endearing food trucks? Ross Resnick believes so, as well as a majority of Americans, according to the Technomic study. Technomic undertook a tour to study the scores of mobile food vehicles in the U.S., where customers were surveyed about their attitudes and behaviors regarding the food trucks. Technomic study assessed that ,“91% of respondents in their recent study said food trucks are here to stay, while only 7% said they expect to see their own visits to food trucks decline.” Although the results of the Technomic study are promising, other factors like competition and revenue should not be taken lightly.

With any business, the objective is to make money, and better yet, good money. Often owners of restaurants will turn to op-tions like food trucks as a means to increase revenue and promote their products. Howie Bulka, owner and chef of Howie’s Artisan Pizza in Palo Alto, agreed: “Having a fixed facility, servicing a food truck would be relatively easy. The main idea would be to find another avenue for off premises sales of my pizza product and increase revenue and therefore be more successful.” Of course this is easier said than done. Howie’s restaurant is successful due to his delicious pizza, friendly staff, and overall inviting aroma. How can Howie create this same successful environ-ment with a mobile food car? Howie realized that the benefits were outweighed by the risks. He said, “I don’t think it is a fabulous idea for me. Pizza is not very well represent-ed, mostly because pizza baking equipment is heavy and not very portable. You have to add the cost of building out; Pizza production is a bit more expensive than others.” Obviously certain foods lend themselves as more acces-sible for food trucks, the equipment and the equipment accessibility are one major com-ponent.

When creating and maintaining a food truck, there are both internal and external factors to consider. One aspect that cannot be controlled from within is outside competition. Ev-ery business owner wants to be a winner and hopes to out-do his or her surrounding successes. This can be difficult, espe-cially in packed cities, where food trucks are fighting to get spots on the street. On top of dealing with parking issues, they also have to consider what other foods are surrounding them. Two pizza places parked back to back are doomed to be a bust, or at least one of them. But a pizza place located next to a root beer float mobile might just pull in the right kind of custom-ers. Sometimes, these factors are uncontrollable, and make it difficult for the food truck to be a success on its own. An even bigger juggle is the unknown possibility of whether or not one will have to deal with these types of issues. Due to substantial-ly high risk factors, it is easy to get discouraged from jumping into the food truck pool. Sarah Needleman from Wall Street Journal, discusses the feud between food truck vendors and restaurants. According to Sarah Needleman, “Boston, Chicago, St. Louis and Seattle are among the cities enacting laws that restrict where food trucks can serve customers in proximity to their rivals and for how long.” When big cities like these, put restrictions on locations and hours, it makes it extremely difficult for a food truck to thrive. The beauty of the food truck is its mobility, and without that ability, it is bound to run into some issues. However, the modern movement of food is dras-tically changing, and the desire to please crowds and make big bucks has made the food truck industry look increasingly more appealing.

Chapter 2: To Forge Agead or Fall Behind?

So why does one forge ahead in the food truck sector despite all these obstacles? Sam a food truck employee of Roli Rotissoire explained how their truck avoids competition, “Well, as you can see, it is a moving rotissoire, which is very different from a lot of the existing food trucks which are mainly like moveable kitchens. We have our own little niche which is pretty neat. We kind of keep separated by having a good quality product as well as by being very consistent.” Sam and Roli Rotissoire are not the only food trucks that are consistent. Many times, food trucks are well known for certain “specialty” items that never leave the menu. Most moving food mobiles would rather hear something along the lines of “Roli Rotissoire sells the best porketta sandwich in the bay, rather than Roli Roti has decent rosemary potatoes, an O.K. chicken breast, and a quality caesar salad.” Many times the focus is centered on just one or two main products. As Howie mentioned earlier, equipment for something like pizza that seems so easy is in fact, extremely complicated to maintain with such limited spacing inside a vehicle. Because of this getting too fancy can actually hurt the food trucks prosperity. In this case, success is not just based on the food, but how you go about marketing that food as well. As mentioned earlier trucks such as “Maximums Minimus,” “Le Truc,” and “What the truck” all have unique qualities that catch peoples’ attention. By having an appealing name, construction, location, and obviously good food, one’s truck is bound to be more of a success. The trucks that are able to master these pieces of the food truck process are incredibly successful.

Chapter 3: A Food Trucks Future

As it turns out, people like food trucks so much that these street-bound smorgasbord is almost guar-anteed to outlive its possibility of being a short-lived fad. One of the many pros of a food truck is its mobility: a restaurant is stationary, and its home is one destination. A food truck on the other hand, may have homes all over a certain county or city. Its success does not rely on one particular location, but rather a multitude of crowds in different areas. This advantage can be huge, especially in terms of revenue. A restaurant is never sure of its success even in a poor area, until it is up and running. A food truck always has the option to get up and go when it is in a location that’s not receiving much attention. Unless restaurants grow wheels, food trucks will always hold this asset over them. Because of this food trucks really do cater to people. Parking near schools, jobs, and in bustling cities makes it difficult for people to avoid stopping by and getting something to fill their bellies with. And speaking of catering, some food trucks even host special events. From block parties and school fundraisers to weddings and other events, food trucks have become quite diverse. Who knew food on wheels could be such a big hit? Because the food truck growth spurt has sprung into fields beyond just parking on a street, the market potential for food trucks continue to expand and bloom.

The evolution of food trucks is changing everywhere. At first, the only original food cars which were commonly referred to as “roach coaches” that sold simple taco plates, greasy quesadillas and bad nachos. However, the transformation to today has turned into mobile kitchens and restaurants on wheels. Sam from Roli Rotisserie discussed how their food truck is different than most, “We have a moving routissouri.” Although Sam’s food truck currently stands out from the rest, this is the path that most food trucks will eventually take in order to catch up and succeed. They keep evolving in order to withstand competition. Roli Rotisserie is so successful because it has kept up with modern trends, and continues to evolve from it. It is hard to imagine a restaurant succeeding with only one niche, yet this is exactly what a food truck is ca-pable of doing. On top of turning a one menu item such as creme brulee, popsicles, or grilled cheese into an entire truck, they do so with quality that is good as any restaurant. That being said, it is clear food trucks are here to stay. However, it will not be a breeze, there will always be rising competition amongst one another, and restaurants competition remains stiff.

The next question is whether or not restaurants will be able to compete while food trucks become more and more appealing. Of course, restaurants, have to be conscientious of the evolving food truck phe-nomenon. People have always loved a sit down dinner, and being tended to one-on-one which restaurants provide, and for this reason, they have little to worry about.

Conclusion Food is a phenomenal thing. It is one the one necessity everybody on earth has in common; we all must eat in order to survive. How we choose to eat is an entirely different story. And each food truck has its own story. From truck body designs, to the menu, each food truck is completely unique. Appeal-ing to people all over the world, they have altered the way people eat, and there is no going back. Food trucks are here to stay, and I don’t think anyone is going to complain.

“Mojo’s was the first food truck in San Jose. Although we are now located all over the Bay, this Mojo’s is the original. This is where it all started for us.” -Malika Liokani

“Food trucks are kind of a novelty. I don’t give it much thought, if one is located at a farmers market or swap meet, I’ll definitely eat from one, they’re a lot of fun.” -Andrea Eller

Works cited

Bulka, Howie. Personal Interview. 21 March 2013. Eller, Andrea. Personal Interview. 21 March 2013.Gold, Jonathan. Smithsonian Magazine. How America Became a Food Truck Nation. 27 March 2012. Web. 3 March 2012.Hollingsworth, Sam. Personal Interview. 18 March 2013.Janice. Gigabiting. Funny Food Trucks. 4 September 2012. Web. 14 March 2013.Ross Resnick. Are Food Trucks a Fad? The Huffington Post. 12 September 2011. Web. 10 March 2013.Needleman, Sarah. Street Fight: Food Trucks vs. Restaurants. The Wall Street Journal. 9 August 2012. Web. 1 April 2013Shin, Eric. Food Service Director. Web. 13 January 2008. Web. 15 March 2012.