The trend toward mobile gourmet fare continues.
When the economy tanked in 2008, one of the first ways Americans tightened their belts was to drastically reduce their restaurant dining budgets. At the same time, America’s banks essentially closed their vaults, granting few, if any, loans for new or old businesses.
For restaurateurs and chefs, it was a double whammy. No customers. No money.
In many metropolitan areas—with San Francisco, Seattle, Portland and New York on the cutting edge—a new movement took to the road. Food trucks, once the domain of ice cream vendors and taco traffickers, became traveling gourmet side shows. And the old adage, “If you build it, they will come,” gave way to a new paradigm: “Takin’ it to the streets.”
All of a sudden, “meals on wheels” took on a whole new meaning.
While the food truck phenomenon is entering its fourth year, the concept is still considered one of the top trends in the restaurant industry, according to both the National Restaurant Association (NRA) and the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade (NASFT). And in the North Bay, more and more chefs and restaurateurs are joining the convoy.
There are several reasons food trucks are attractive. For existing restaurants, trucks allow for brand expansion. For chefs looking to start a restaurant, trucks provide a means to determine if the concept they’re considering can amass a following. The investment is relatively small—$100,000 or so for a brand new truck (even less for an older one that can be refurbished), plus county health permits and city business licenses. And advertising is virtually free—a well-branded truck announces itself as it rolls from town to town, and most truck vendors use social media to get the word out about changing locations and menus.
Cruise control
According to a recent study by the NRA, six in 10 chefs said they’re considering food trucks as a means to start or expand a business.
“It’s a concept that’s not going away,” says Brad Barmore, owner and operator of Kin Restaurant on Windsor’s Town Green, who notes that he’s thought about increasing Kin’s sphere of influence with the addition of a truck. Barmore notes that the savings in overhead alone is remarkable when compared to a brick-and-mortar establishment.
“Let’s say I serve barbecue from a truck. The electricity bill is low—whatever the generator produces. I’d probably only need two people on the truck. I wouldn’t need servers, because people come and get it themselves, and with plastic utensils and paper plates, there’s no cleanup,” Barmore says. “It’s a no-brainer.”
Kin already has a catering arm, and Barmore believes investing in a food truck might be a good option. That way, he could roll right into a venue and set up with minimal effort. “Right now, we have to pitch tents and build structures when we cater events. A truck certainly would make it easier.”
Sarah Piccolo, owner of Sebastopol’s Fork Catering, made the jump to a food truck in 2010, eight years after she first opened her catering business.
“I was inspired to invest so I’d be able to have a mobile kitchen and do events at venues where they had no cooking facilities,” Piccolo explains. “It’s so much less expensive than building a commercial kitchen in a brick-and-mortar location—and it’s way more flexible.”
While she has a commissary where she prepares food, Piccolo uses her 2001 Ford Grumman truck to cater events at wineries and other venues, sometimes serving upward of 600 people. On occasion, she’s also a vendor at food truck events, which are growing in popularity. North Bay wineries, in particular, have embraced the food truck phenomenon, with several hosting regular food truck events in their parking lots to help promote the sale of their wines.
Last year, Sebastiani Winery in Sonoma held Friday night gatherings once a month, which Piccolo attended as a vendor. The winery plans to do something similar this summer, but might have to revamp the format because some of the town’s planning commissioners aren’t keen on the concept. As food trucks capture more of the spotlight, the lively events that coalesce around them are prompting several North Bay towns and cities to literally put on the brakes.
Road hazards
One of Piccolo’s favorite events as a vendor was Food Truck Fridays, a short-lived but much-loved event that ended up much like a food fight between its founder, Andrew Siegal, and the city of Napa Planning Commission.
Siegal, whose day job is in corporate trade finance with Liquid Trade Solutions in Napa, is also the owner of Dim Sum Charlie’s, a “restaurant” housed in a vintage Airstream trailer that’s usually parked in a lot owned by Siegal near the Oxbow Market on First Street in downtown Napa.
“Because of construction, I wasn’t able to develop the property when I bought it, so I thought a better use was to test this business model,” Siegal explains. He put the trailer on the lot and added picnic tables and a fire pit. Over time, as people learned of the unique rolling restaurant, it evolved into what Siegal describes as a “late night scene,” with people hanging out as late as 1 a.m. on occasion.
“One night, we got an idea to invite other food trucks to come the first Friday of every month,” he says. It started out small and eventually grew to a ring of eight or nine trucks offering a variety of gourmet food. By word of mouth, news about the event spread and people started showing up in droves. “The next thing you know, it was about the biggest community event ever,” Siegal says. “It was family oriented, with kids and dogs. Neighbors mingled. It was like an old-fashioned block party. Thousands of people went through, and it was great.”
That is, everything was great until the city of Napa’s planning department came knocking. “They wanted me to apply for an event permit for $3,000, even though the event was on my private property. Then they brought up ADA issues [Americans with Disabilities Act], and then public health and safety,” says Siegal. In Siegal’s opinion, the city of Napa was under pressure from a local restaurant owner who felt his business was threatened by the event.
Rick Tooker, Napa’s planning manager, says otherwise.
“Food trucks, historically, have been underground in Napa. Although the vendors may have received a food facilities permit from Napa County, which is responsible for ensuring that food is properly stored, cooked and served, few, if any, vendors ever received a city of Napa use permit to operate from a fixed location, as required by local ordinance. City use permits are important, because they help ensure that the location of a truck is safe, there’s sufficient customer parking, spaces are well lit and have adequate refuse containers, and that they don’t impede access for motorists or pedestrians, including persons with disabilities.
“Andrew Siegal received a permit from Napa County to operate a food truck in 2010. However, a city of Napa use permit is also required. When the city required him to file the application, he correctly advised the city that other food truck vendors operating in Napa didn’t have use permits and he asked that he be treated the same.”
Tooker continues: “What quickly became apparent was that there were 12 or so vendors operating in Napa city limits that had received county permits but didn’t know a city permit was also required. Therefore, the city contacted all the food truck vendors and required they submit use permits to continue operating. The fees were significantly reduced to accommodate this—from $2,500 to $500—and everyone complied by filing an application, including Mr. Siegal. The city has already processed six of the applications, though some haven’t been approved because of difficulties with their particular locations. Mr. Siegal’s application wasn’t processed because he needed to provide access to a restroom, since he was providing seating for customers, and he needed to provide access for persons with disabilities as required by law. These are easily addressed, however, by minor changes to the site.”
“It was an attempt to divert attention from the real issue and they knew it—and I wasn’t going to fight it,” Siegal says.
Tooker says the city of Napa “got beat up” over the news coverage of the skirmish, receiving heat from both sides. First, the people who presumed the city had permitted the event complained about the lack of restrooms and the overflowing dumpster next door that attendees had filled. The city also received complaints for “shutting it down,” which, in fact, it hadn’t. “The city never shut down Food Truck Fridays,” insists Tooker, “but it did require Mr. Siegal to file for a permit so a plan could be developed and implemented to ensure public safety.
“From the city’s perspective, it appears to be a fun and exciting event,” Tooker continues. “But it’s one that needs to be properly managed. We’re flexible. We’ve even had discussions about where we could handle it. We’re interested in pursuing it, but someone has to take responsibility.” In this case, no one did. Siegal admits there was a lot of liability associated with the event, but notes that “the city often gets in the way of things that others think are cool.”
The entire incident has spurred the city of Napa to take a new look at food trucks.
“No one paid much attention to them before; they just kind of existed, operating at the edges of town or along some of Napa’s streets where they could quietly attract customers. But now there’s a new interest in food truck vending—you see on TV and in newspapers how popular they’ve become. The difference between the new and old industry is that the new vendors are much more active in marketing their businesses. They move around a lot more. They tend to be in one place one day and another place the next. Sometimes a truck occupies a location by itself, but other times it shares a location with several trucks. The older trucks stuck to certain neighborhoods. This is a new paradigm that’s continuing to evolve and that no one saw coming. The city needs to reasonably evaluate the land use and address complaints and potential issues.”
Steady steering
In Marin, with the help of a professional event company, a similar event to Food Truck Fridays had a much better outcome.
The Golden Gate Bridge District, seeking to increase Friday ridership on the Larkspur Ferry and improve the overall experience of existing riders, worked with Ready Set Entertainment LLC to create Food Truck Crush every Friday evening from May through September in 2011.
Five to eight trucks were invited to gather in the Larkspur Ferry parking lot with their gourmet offerings. “It was fantastic,” says Jeromy Zajonc, co-owner of Ready Set Entertainment (his partner is Jason Holthe). “Water on one side, Mount Tam on the other, beautiful weather and a great lineup of gourmet trucks, with live music and kids’ activities. The idea was to offer something to our passengers to make life easier. So the concept was to get off [the ferry], get dinner and get home. But it turned into a heck of a lot more. People were dancing, local high school bands showed up. And after I went through the event tallies, it turns out more than 18,000 people showed up” over the course of the summer.
While parking at the Larkspur Ferry Terminal can sometimes be a headache on a normal day with no ancillary activities, Zajonc said there really were no major problems. The trucks parked in the “kiss and drop” area where the taxis line up. Passengers would disembark, grab food and hang around to listen to the music. “It actually made the parking lot safer,” Zajonc says. “On regular days, people get off the ferry and run to their cars to try to beat the others out of the parking lot. When we had Food Truck Crush events, it slowed everyone down. There wasn’t this mad dash to leave and it was safer for everyone.”
Food Truck Crush was so successful that the Bridge District is soliciting bids for something similar this summer. “There will be events, but what’s at question is who will be producing them,” Zajonc says. One idea under consideration is to provide trucks on weekdays so riders can get food and go home, plus have larger events on a scheduled basis.
Getting the word out
While the Bridge District actively promoted Food Truck Crush, the beauty of the food truck business model is that advertising is basically free. Signage on the trucks promotes the brand and, as each truck travels from destination to destination, it effectively operates as a rolling billboard. Most of the food truck purveyors use social media—Facebook and Twitter are the most popular—to let their clientele know where they’ll be each day.
“The chefs connect with their customers on the fly through mobile technology,” Zajonc explains. “It’s the concept of ‘Where you go, they will come.’”
Siegal posts frequently on various social media sites, letting folks know what specials are on the board for lunch and dinner, which customers just dropped in and how late the whole gang will be hanging out each night. “I haven’t spent a dime on advertising,” he says, “and I think that helps contribute to the ire of certain people intent on getting the city [Napa] against the trucks.”
While restaurateurs understand the food truck concept and many actually embrace it, Siegal notes that landlords are dead set against them. “If you think about it, all the food we eat comes through landlords. They own the buildings that house the restaurants, the produce markets, the grocery stores and so forth. It’s difficult for them to swallow watching others thrive without brick-and-mortar.”
Taking a test drive
Even though food truckers are keen on the coolness of their rolling restaurants, many are actually looking forward to the day when they can settle down in a good location and pay rent for the privilege of owning a brick-and-mortar establishment. And they see the food trucks as the vehicles for getting them there.
“A lot of these truckers would love to have a restaurant,” Zajonc explains. While the banks are still a bit stingy with loans in the current economic climate, chefs peddling their meals on wheels are “marketing their products and services and refining their branding with the least amount of risk. Some of the top trucks are doing so well it’s like they’re printing money,” Zajonc observes. “They couldn’t be busier.”
“Lots of these people have goals to own restaurants,” Siegal agrees. “But real estate is grossly overpriced, and the market isn’t allowing capital to be released easily. Food trucks are very Americana—it’s remarkable to see how the entrepreneurial spirit is able to adapt, create and evolve.”
Chef Mateo Granados, whose résumé includes stints with some of the Bay Area’s top restaurants and chefs (Masa’s under Julian Serrano, Rubicon with Traci Des Jardins—both in San Francisco—and Charlie Palmer’s Dry Creek Kitchen in Healdsburg, to name a few) left the restaurant world in 2004 and began selling tamales at local farmers markets. In 2006, he went on to start his own catering company and built a steady business with a bevy of winery clients. Rather than a traditional food truck, Granados purchased a mobile kitchen, which he unloaded from a truck and assembled (and disassembled) for each market or event. Focusing on cuisine from his native Yucatan, he developed quite a following, not only for his food, but also for his hot sauces, which he began marketing under the “El Yuca” label.
But the desire for a brick-and-mortar restaurant was always in the back of his mind, largely because he wanted to expand his menu and felt the transient nature of his business, besides being weather-dependent, was limiting his options.
As his truck rolled in and out of Healdsburg and surrounding communities, Granados kept his eyes open in search of the perfect location for his dream establishment.
“The problem is you get a lease and, if you’re successful, the rent goes up and you end up working for someone else for the rest of your life,” he says. He finally found the right spot on Healdsburg Avenue, a few blocks south of Healdsburg Plaza. “I got the lease I wanted and decided to go forward.” Last September, he opened Mateo’s Cocina Latina to rave reviews (the restaurant was named one of the Top 10 New Restaurants for 2011 by the San Francisco Chronicle).
Granados believes his mobile restaurant and catering business helped him develop a strong local following and find restaurant investors who believed in him. His cuisine combines the flavors of his homeland with the sustainably farmed products of the North Bay.
Exit ramp?
Food truck aficionados see an unlimited future for the concept. “These are not your 1970s roach coaches,” Zajonc says. “It’s gourmet food at a great price, and that’s what’s behind the movement—value. There’s really nothing new about food, nothing new about barbecue, nothing new about burgers. But there’s definitely something new about great food at a great price with a communal opportunity to consume it.”
And as food trends go, this is one that just keeps on truckin’.
