Chefs Are Taking Their Restaurants on the Road

food truck from santa ana

If you’re my age, (mid forties), than you probably remember the sheer joy of hearing the Good Humor Ice Cream Truck bell in the distance on a hot Summer day.  This rolling  kiddie apothecary drew hordes of frantic children pied piper-like, screaming for Push-Ups and Orange Creme Bars.  As a kid, everything about this event was magical and ominous.  The colorful truck with compact stainless doors that bellowed out white plums of cold vapor was straight out of OZ.   The fact that I could get a Rainbow Pop in my manicured suburban playground was evidence enough that I lived in a wonderful world.

Flash forward 35 years and the joy has returned to a street near you, and it’s not just ice cream anymore.  Many chefs in cities across the U.S. have turned to creating restaurants on wheels.  Food Trucks, or Chuck Wagons as they’re called, offer an exciting way to deliver an eclectic variety of foods to a wide audience without a traditional brick and mortar restaurant.  This seems to be a great and successful trend that has developed, both for the chef and for the consumer.  The convenience of a food truck fits right in with today’s consumer demand for choice, speed and variety.  Chef’s are attracted to the pop-up flexibility of the food truck, which allows them to reach an instant audience and receive immediate customer feedback.   The snacking and grazing aspect of food trucks is also popular among hungry customers looking to refuel between traditional meals.

Vendors in Los Angeles, Portland, Austin and New York, to great success, are hawking all types of foods, including burritos, burgers, Korean tacos, mexidogs and more.  However, given that the food truck phenomenon is relatively new, some cities, including Atlanta, have a baffling maze of permits, rules and regulations that an aspiring mobile chef has to navigate before beginning this culinary road-trip.   And the freedom for food truckin’ in any location can be limited too.   Atlanta’s Fulton County Health Department allows only two locations per food truck license.  Arrgh!  The cost of meeting these regulations and obtaining the necessary permits can run upwards of $2,000.  Hiring a consultant to make this process less painful is a good idea, given their experience with local health, police and business license codes.

While the process may not be convenient or cheap, the benefits of operating a Food Truck can be great.   The ability to build a food brand among a loyal fan base without spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a fixed restaurant site is well worth the permitting hassle.  Very low overhead, minimal labor costs and ease of operations make food truckin’ very attractive to entrpreneurs on limited budgets.  While Atlanta and other cities are off to a slow start embracing this neat and iconic trend, it won’t be long before all kinds of food trucks are buzzing around.  In a world of instant gratification, the convenience and variety of a food truck will win the day.  If you would like Urban Eats to research the food truck regulations for your area, please contact us.  We would be happy to help.