The Fight Against Food Trucks

[Dr. Who]

Why would they fail unless they don't provide what people want?

Because they can't be everything to everyone. Brick and mortar restaurants choose to sell what will sustain the restaurant. They can't have 400 choices on the menu because of the economics of buying all that food. They would end up throwing away so much that it would eat up all of their profits. However, you may have 40 food trucks each offering something very different for the lunchtime crowd. They can each offer a very limited menu from the sublime to the exotic and since they all vie for the same parking spots, every day there are different choices from the public's point of view. Of course when the weather is inclement and it's pouring rain or a blizzard, hotter than Hades or below zero, people are suddenly less concerned with choice than getting indoors and the fairweather clients go back to those brick and mortar restaurants whose food is now no longer too boring. That is unless they have gone bankrupt. Meanwhile, the restaurants may have hundreds of thousands of dollars invested in their businesses in equipment, staff, leases, improvements and insurance - both first and third party. The truck people have maybe 10-20 thousand in investment and really only do lunch and apart from buying food and 3rd party liability insurance, don't have much overhead at all, because most are owner operated. The restaurants are often open at 7AM and don't close until 11PM, yet that lunchtime crowd could represent the difference between solvency and failure. The former have to sell not only their food, but provide a satisfactory ambience, table and take out services and do it at a price that people can afford. The trucks, on the other hand, sell their food for about the same price, wrap it in paper and spend about 30 seconds interacting with the customer. They actually make more profit on each sale than the restaurant.

So, as I said, people need to decide what they want more. It's dishonest to try to pretend that the market will choose and all will be well. The market is not thinking about consequences when they are making their food choices.

[resister]

Is there any provable stats on food trucks forcing brick and mortars into the red? Most brick and mortars fail on their own. A fancy steakhouse opened here, about 30$ a meal, in a Podunk town, they failed in three months not a roach coach within 2 miles.

[Dr. Who]

I don't agree at all that they would fail. Some might, but that could happen anyway. If people want the family friendly restaurants, they will support them. Forcing the issue with the government would definitely lead to disastrous consequences. Businesses would definitely be forced to shut down. Educating the people is great, but you still have to allow choices. The businesses that do their jobs well will prosper, and those that don't will fail, food trucks and brick and mortar restaurants both. If the entrepreneurs don't find out the score anyway, they are failing at their jobs anyway.

Look at New York City. I had a discussion with a former roommate that currently lives there about restaurants there. You can basically walk into any restaurant there and have a fantastic meal. Why is that? Because if they don't deliver something great, they will fold quickly because of the costs associated with New York. Food trucks aren't a plague on brick and mortar restaurants. If anything, they just increase the challenge and force the brick and mortar locations to provide a better experience. Forcing the food trucks out will only allow the restaurants to provide a worse experience than they otherwise could.

Even in NYC there is a list of streets where the trucks or any mobile food vendor cannot operate:

https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/doh/down...ed_streets.pdf
https://nypost.com/2015/08/02/how-to...under-control/

Interesting article regarding the trials and tribulations of mobile food vending:

[Dr. Who]

Is there any provable stats on food trucks forcing brick and mortars into the red? Most brick and mortars fail on their own. A fancy steakhouse opened here, about 30$ a meal, in a Podunk town, they failed in three months not a roach coach within 2 miles.

Restaurants are a precarious way to make a living. If you don't get off to a good start - it's curtains. You have to fill a niche that is in demand and if you are high end like a steak-house, you had better be offering great steak, good prices and great service.

[resister]

Restaurants are a precarious way to make a living. If you don't get off to a good start - it's curtains. You have to fill a niche that is in demand and if you are high end like a steak-house, you had better be offering great steak, good prices and great service.

As soon as I saw a menu, I knew they were doomed. Guy must of been from out of town and failed to do his homework. Those prices are steep, even in a bigger city.

[Kacper]

Restaurants are a precarious way to make a living. If you don't get off to a good start - it's curtains. You have to fill a niche that is in demand and if you are high end like a steak-house, you had better be offering great steak, good prices and great service.

It is increasingly more complicated than that. People are becoming very finicky. They always want to be at the latest new place eating the trendiest new things. The high-end restaurant business is being killed by foodies.

[Kacper]

In DC the food trucks tend to be stacked along streets that are not close to decent restaurants. They are near government buildings and consistently have people standing in long lines.

I only ate at one once. A highly rated truck. It wasn't up to my standards.

Often those are more geared at tourists. A lot of the government buildings have cafeterias in them. When I worked in the House side of the Hill, I used to eat in the cafeteria often. Cheaper/faster than going out and pretty decent. When I worked on the other side, I would sometimes go to Union Station, but mostly just grabbed something off a street vendor.

[Peter1469]

Often those are more geared at tourists. A lot of the government buildings have cafeterias in them. When I worked in the House side of the Hill, I used to eat in the cafeteria often. Cheaper/faster than going out and pretty decent. When I worked on the other side, I would sometimes go to Union Station, but mostly just grabbed something off a street vendor.

The line of vendor trucks that I was referring too is outside of the tourist part of DC.

[Chris]

Because they can't be everything to everyone. Brick and mortar restaurants choose to sell what will sustain the restaurant. They can't have 400 choices on the menu because of the economics of buying all that food. They would end up throwing away so much that it would eat up all of their profits. However, you may have 40 food trucks each offering something very different for the lunchtime crowd. They can each offer a very limited menu from the sublime to the exotic and since they all vie for the same parking spots, every day there are different choices from the public's point of view. Of course when the weather is inclement and it's pouring rain or a blizzard, hotter than Hades or below zero, people are suddenly less concerned with choice than getting indoors and the fairweather clients go back to those brick and mortar restaurants whose food is now no longer too boring. That is unless they have gone bankrupt. Meanwhile, the restaurants may have hundreds of thousands of dollars invested in their businesses in equipment, staff, leases, improvements and insurance - both first and third party. The truck people have maybe 10-20 thousand in investment and really only do lunch and apart from buying food and 3rd party liability insurance, don't have much overhead at all, because most are owner operated. The restaurants are often open at 7AM and don't close until 11PM, yet that lunchtime crowd could represent the difference between solvency and failure. The former have to sell not only their food, but provide a satisfactory ambience, table and take out services and do it at a price that people can afford. The trucks, on the other hand, sell their food for about the same price, wrap it in paper and spend about 30 seconds interacting with the customer. They actually make more profit on each sale than the restaurant.

So, as I said, people need to decide what they want more. It's dishonest to try to pretend that the market will choose and all will be well. The market is not thinking about consequences when they are making their food choices.

And so? All you've done is describe facts about business, that it's a risk, and under normal circumstanes, those that prosper provide what people want.

Granted you add much to feel sorry for businesses you prefer.

The market "thinks" better than central planners could possibly do.

[Hal Jordan]

Even in NYC there is a list of streets where the trucks or any mobile food vendor cannot operate:

https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/doh/down...ed_streets.pdf
https://nypost.com/2015/08/02/how-to...under-control/

Interesting article regarding the trials and tribulations of mobile food vending:

Though it tries to argue the opposite, the article proves that the food truck industry is already over-regulated. How would adding more regulations help?

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