(Photo by Liz Biro)

Some Wilmington food truck operators, including a new set of wheels hitting the road in March, have united to create a commissary from which they may all work.

Blount’s Street Bistro, which rolls out international street food in March, joins Poor Piggy’s BBQ, Chicken, Ribs and The Patty Wagon burger truck at the former Dinner A-Go-Go meal preparation store, 5424 Oleander Dr., Suite 1, said Blount’s Street partner Paul Kern.

The commissary idea began with Poor Piggy’s owner Ed Coulbourn, who pursued the Dinner A-Go-Go location for the group kitchen, Kern said. Dinner A-Go-Go operated briefly in the early 2000s. At the time, such shops where home cooks could prep meals with which to fill their refrigerators popped up all over the country.

Wilmington city rules require food truck operators to work from brick-and-mortar kitchens, a mandate challenging food truck operators.

“That was the main reason the commissary got started,” Kern explained. “You could have a truck in Wilmington as long as you have a kitchen attached. Now what restaurant [owner] is going to allow you to work in their restaurant, take up space in their kitchen to just let you be competition?”

Kern and business partner William Blount Laughinghouse, who met while attending Cape Fear Community College’s culinary school, are considering potential stops for their truck, which will serve dishes such as savory turnovers and Italian rice balls named arancini. Follow their progress at Blount’s Street Bisto’s Twitter feed and Facebook page.

http://www.wilmingtonbiz.com/industry_news_details.php?id=4983

Jeremy Johnson of Poor Piggy’s BBQ Truck looks for the next person in line during Wilmington’s first Truck-a-Roo Food Truck Extravaganza along Water Street.

Watching Wilmington’s food truck scene evolve is a lesson in the modern marketplace. Cutthroat competition and secrecy are giving way to collaboration and transparency, a phenomenon that couldn’t be more evident in the latest move by Poor Piggy’s owner Ed Coulbourn III.

http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20130218/ARTICLES/130219675?Title=Bites-Sips-Food-truck-owners-set-up-commissary

The latest food truck ordinance is still constricting to many trucks. One of them, The Salsa Truck, is trying to get around it by starting a home base for their truck’s cooking, plus 20 brick-and-mortar seats, in a commissary named The Garage. One would imagine that the city would be happy about this idea, considering their disposition towards protecting brick-and-mortar restaurants, a hotly contested topic at last summer’s city council meetings where the latest ordinance was passed.

The Salsa Truck, operated by former financial adviser Dan Salls, serves a variety of salsa, guacamoles, quesadillas, and hot sauces. The Garage, located on 116 N. Aberdeen, has room to accommodate six trucks in addition to the lunch counter. Salls is offering to open his space and commissary up to other trucks as well. Maybe food trucks continuing to work together will help the industry get higher off the ground, despite the laws.

http://chicago.eater.com/archives/2013/01/14/food-truck.php

Meson del Bajio’s operators were busted showering in their truck. [Photo credit: Cowtown Chow Down/Facebook]

WFAA aired an exposé on some shady food truck practices last night. Seems that in Dallas, food trucks are all required to park at a commissary overnight, where they’re thoroughly scrubbed down and cleaned—and can dispose of their waste properly and safely—but the city of Fort Worth merely requires trucks to visit a commissary once a day, and some of the mobile eateries aren’t even doing that.

Channel 8 cameras followed a handful of trucks after they shut down for the night and found they were parking at shopping malls and outside homes, but not at a commissary where they could be cleaned. One of them, Meson del Bajio, just stayed overnight at the Cowtown Chowdown Park (Fort Worth’s newest and largest food truck park, located on a former car lot) where it had been serving customers. In a segment that seemed almost too ridiculous to be true, cameras captured Meson’s operators using their truck as sleeping quarters and even a shower:

By Kristy Etheridge | WBTV.com

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - A change in North Carolina state law now allows food truck owners to forego using a stationary commercial kitchen to prepare their food.

For the last several years, “the commissary rule” forced food truck owners to maintain a commissary in conjunction with their mobile units. Now, owners can apply for an exemption if their food trucks meet all the sanitation requirements of a commercial kitchen.

Kelli Crisan owns Roaming Fork Bistro on Wheels in Charlotte. She opened her business after moving to North Carolina from Florida.

“I’m a huge foodie, and when we moved here I kept saying, ‘Where are the food trucks?’” said Crisan.

In 2011, she answered her own question by starting her own business. In order to keep up with food volume, she also rents space in a commissary shared with Meals on Wheels and several other groups.

Until recently, every food truck in North Carolina had to have a commissary, but the law just changed after complaints that it was too expensive to maintain a commercial kitchen in order to run a food truck.

Crisan has mixed feelings about the change to the law.

“If you’re going to run a food truck, people want to make sure that your food is clean and you’re sanitizing properly and you’re up to proper temperatures,” said Crisan. She thinks commissaries make it easier for vendors to keep neat, clean facilities that are large enough for proper food preparation. She also sees potential benefits in the law change, such as convenience.  On busy days, vendors could hop from one event to another without checking in at the commissary.

Food truck patrons also have mixed feelings about the changes. Leya Greenhill thinks the law will help small business owners thrive without facing the costs of opening a kitchen.  However, she still plans to be careful where she eats.

“Perhaps if it’s a reputable food truck that you’re comfortable with, it’d be a lot different than just going up to somewhere that you don’t know,” said Greenhill.

As for Crisan, she plans to keep her kitchen, regardless of how other food trucks decide to roll.

http://www.wbtv.com/story/19516812/food-trucks-can-skip-the-full-kitchen-under-new-law

The institute opened an 8,000-square-foot “Food Fort” July 1, 2011, on Parkwood Avenue on the Near East Side, offering food preparation and storage space for cart owners.

An attempt to find some common ground between eateries that stay in place and those that move around is scheduled to take place tonight, Thursday, July 26.

A citywide forum on issues and concerns relating to food carts and trucks is scheduled from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Charity Newsies building, 4300 Indianola Ave.

“The idea is to just discuss the situation,” said James R. Blazer II, a member of the Clintonville Area Commission who called the gathering.

He said last week that he’s hoping to have city officials, entrepreneurs from the local food truck community and representatives from “bricks-and-mortar restaurants” on hand for the forum.

A representative of the Economic and Community Development Institute has been invited to participate.

The institute opened an 8,000-square-foot “Food Fort” July 1, 2011, on Parkwood Avenue on the Near East Side, offering food preparation and storage space for cart owners.

“This is kind of a fact-finding thing,” said Blazer, who represents District 3.

The gathering is open to the public, and Blazer encouraged those who are interested in issues relating to mobile restaurants to attend.

The result of the meeting might be recommendations for action by Columbus City Council, Blazer said.

Food trucks became an issue in Clintonville last August when the owners of Yerba Buena Latin Grill pulled up stakes from the 4400 block of North High Street and moved out of the neighborhood. One of the owners said this was in response to complaints lodged against the business by then-Clintonville Area Commission chairman John DeFourny.

DeFourny, who resigned his post in May, said he was merely passing along the concerns of local residents who said Yerba Buena Latin Grill was violating city regulations regarding how long a mobile food operation may remain in one spot.

Northland Community Council graphics task force coordinator William Logan, speaking shortly after Blazer announced in early June that he wanted to hold a forum relating to food trucks, said he would be willing to participate, but that it wasn’t a major issue of concern in his area.

“We’ve been diligent in working with the city to see that vendors understand their responsibilities with regard to health violations and zoning violations,” Logan said. “We would certainly participate. It is, at this moment in the summer, not a prevalent issue.

“We have no objections to mobile food vendors as long as they play by the rules.”

http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/northland/news/2012/07/24/fact-finding-meeting-on-food-trucks-tonight.html

By Christine | The News Outlet

If a group of local entrepreneurs get their way, the phrase “Made in Youngstown” won’t be just a memory. The News Outlet’s Christine Darin brings us the details from the kitchen incubator.

Although it may sound like a construction zone, the former Penguin Pub on the on the city’s Northside will be the Lake to River Kitchen Incubator by late summer.

(It’s a way for people that want to develop food products for commercial sale to have a licensed kitchen to work in.)

Jim Converse manages the Northside and the Downtown Farmer’s Markets in Youngstown and he also works with Commonwealth Incorporated in Regional Development. He says the cost of equipment and building space pose a significant threat to start-up food related businesses.

(A lot of them fail within the first year. And it’s just a loss to everybody; it’s a loss to the people; it’s a loss to the community. So we want to help get some of the bumps out of the way for getting into starting a business on a simpler basis.)

Commonwealth Incorporated, a community development corporation, owns the incubator building and the apartments above. Local and state grant funding along with the rents from the apartments go toward incubator costs.

Rich Berg, an incubator client and maple syrup producer, says starting up a food-related business can cost close to 90 thousand dollars to produce food legally with the proper certifications.

(Most small business owners or small food producers like me can’t justify that because we’re just small. So this is an opportunity for us to come together and for maybe 15 or 20 dollars an hour have access to a certified kitchen.)

Berg wants to prepare and sell specialty maple granola. He also wants to bake and sell a Greek savory cheese and spinach pastry, spanakopita.

(If I’m able to along with the others make a living by selling to Ohio, PA, New York and West Virginia then I think that would be a great thing. Put Youngstown on the map as not a food desert anymore.)

Marla Herrmann plans to use the incubator to bake breads and sell her produce, and that’s just to start.

(I hope to put a business together, which is a lunch truck, so that I can travel around with my food. I grow the food. I process the food. And I also want to sell the food.)

Six clients signed up to rent the commercial kitchen space for a small fee, but the incubator can handle 60 to 80 clients depending on the amount of time each person needs the space.

Converse wants his people to succeed.

(We are hoping that some of our people hit the big-time like that. It takes a lot to build up the volume and get the names out.)

The group wants to sell a variety of products made from locally grown fruits and vegetables including jellies, jams, pickles, relishes, sauces and baked goods. And Herrmann hopes the idea catches on.

(This area really doesn’t have that many grocery stores, so I’m hoping that a lot of the neighbors will join in the purchasing.)

Future plans include a coffee and smoothie bar, thermal processing or canning center and a retail space.

Reporting for The News Outlet I’m Christine Darin

http://www.thenewsoutlet.org/2012/06/the-kitchen-incubator-promotes-locally-produced-items/

By Paul Smith | Shareable.net

In this challenging economy, people are getting creative about what kinds of businesses they start and how they fund them.

Food trucks are a perfect example of a low barrier to entry business that has boomed during the recession. For those outside the centers of food truck culture, they now go far beyond the “roach coach” stereotype of the past. Collectively they offer a dizzying array of foods – from authentic ethic street food, to surprising food mashups, to haute cuisine – served from wildly colorful trucks reminiscent of jeepneys. Today food trucks are synonymous with creative food, informality, and fun.

They offer many advantages for small business entrepreneurs too. Infrastructure costs are substantially lower than brick and mortar restaurants, you can move as seasons and events demand, and staffing needs are minimal. This allows for greater creativity and direct, regular interaction with your customers. Yes, it’s labor intensive, but many enjoy the creative freedom and sociality that are part and parcel of the business.

But there’s a problem.

Unlike my hometown of Portland, which has a number of food truck “pods,” where carts are parked semi-permanently in groups and have access to electricity and other food business support, San Francisco’s street food vendors are largely mobile. That means they may travel to one location to prep their food, another to service the truck, and park it elsewhere when not in use. Having lived in congested San Francisco, I know that driving time alone can eat a huge chunk of time out of your day.

FoodLab is planning a solution: the first-ever shared-use commercial kitchen and mobile truck service station in San Francisco.

FoobLab’s goal is to support the long-term viability of existing food trucks, and incubate new ones. FoodLab would provide a licensed commercial kitchen, space for truck servicing, cold, dry, and equipment storage as well as office space and a conference room. They intend to offer food truck parking for tenants as well, likely a huge draw given how scarce parking is in San Francisco.

Further supporting their goal, FoodLab intends to become a hub for food entrepreneurs with in-house consultants to serve tenants, some of which may be brand new to the food business.

Also open to caterers, confectioners, bakers, personal chefs, farmers market vendors and artisan producers, FoodLab’s timing may be ideal to further amplify an already burgeoning local food scene.  By providing a full suite of services, tenants will be able to focus on their core business –making and vending fresh, local food.

The initial incarnation of FoodLab launched at the Renoir Hotel in late May, and has added hosting pop-up restaurants, featuring both established and up and coming chefs. It’s a smart addition, as special, time limited opportunities to experience a certain chef or type of food will likely be popular in food obsessed San Francisco. The food truck parking and equipment storage don’t seem to be included in the offerings as of yet.

Will FoodLab realize its vision? Let’s hope so, and encourage similar ventures to launch in other cities. Such innovations support small, local businesses, and our ability to enjoy a great diversity of tasty local food.

Contact FoodLab here to learn more about their plans.

http://www.shareable.net/blog/foodlab-plots-coworking-for-food-trucks

Keith Kahn, owner and operator of I.E. Gourmet Food Trucks,

A proposed ordinance that would expand food truck operations in San Bernardino County goes before the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.

The county Planning Commission approved the ordinance in April. County staff began researching and preparing the draft ordinance last year at the direction of the Board of Supervisors.

Supervisor Janice Rutherford said she brought the matter to the board’s attention after a constituent complained she was unable to get a permit to operate a food truck.

Rutherford and county staff began researching ordinances in other counties, including Los Angeles and Orange, where food trucks have long been operating with minimal restrictions.

The two-pronged proposal that goes before the supervisors Tuesday would require amendments to the development code that would create a new category for food truck events, identified as either major or minor events.

A major event would consist of 500 or more people in attendance. A minor event would consist of fewer than people.

The proposal also calls for public health provisions for employee restrooms, operating locations, commissary requirements and letter grades for food trucks just as restaurants are required to have.

Food truck operators would also be required to submit a site plan showing the layout of the food truck event.

The county Land Use Services Department would consider several things before approving the permit, such as the location of the event, vendor plans for trash disposal and if adequate restroom facilities are available.

Because the ordinance relates to both the inspection and rating of hot food trucks and when, where and how they can operate, the Land Use Services and Public Health departments have each drafted their own agenda items for the board to consider.

Both would need board approval in order for the ordinance to pass.

Food truck operators are anxious to do more business in San Bernardino County, where they say the market is ripe. In the last year, food truck festivals have been held at convention centers, airports, high schools and ballparks across the San Bernardino Valley. Guests flock to the events hungry for quirky meals and treats such as lobster tail corn dogs and designer cupcakes.

Though food truck proponents say they are happy that the county is taking a step forward, they feel it’s not a big enough step and that the proposed ordinance is too costly, complicated and toothless, not going much further than what is already allowed under the existing county ordinance, which historically allowed food trucks to operate only at special community events such as carnivals.

Under the proposed ordinance, food trucks would still not be allowed to roam and stop without a permit in the unincorporated areas of the county, which is essentially what food truck operators have been pushing for all along.

Rutherford acknowledges the proposed ordinance isn’t ideally what she had in mind, but it is a start. The crux of the problem, she said, is resistance – some cities do not want food trucks operating on a regular basis while others embrace them.

So far, Rutherford says she hasn’t received any negative feedback from opposing cities regarding the proposed ordinance.

“So I’m thinking the cities don’t have a problem with it,” she said.

One of the biggest complaints from food truck operators is the proposed $596 annual fee, per parcel, that would apply to both major and minor food truck events.

Keith Kahn, owner and CEO of I.E. Gourmet Food Trucks in Mira Loma, the Inland Empire’s only food truck commissary, said the proposed fee would mean that vendors would have to pay thousands of dollars annually if they wanted to do business at multiple locations.

That is one of the issues Rutherford said she plans to discuss at Tuesday’s meeting.

“I want to talk to county staff about some of the fees they’re suggesting,” Rutherford said. “I don’t think we need an annual fee. I’m not convinced I see a purpose in that.”

http://www.dailybulletin.com/ci_20773937/san-bernardino-county-supervisors-take-up-food-truck

Free fun is more fun than expensive fun: discuss.

You can test the theory this weekend with Latin music, DJs and food trucks at the preview opening of Casa Azafrán, an inclusive community center that brings together health, legal, education and business services, a community kitchen and more for the burgeoning international corridor of Nolensville Road. Casa Azafrán is located at 2193 Nolensville Road, between Wedgewood and I-440.

Vendors include a lineup I haven’t seen elsewhere: Just Like Nannie Fixed It, Karla’s Catering, Happy Belly, Mitznahuatl Taqueria and Tropi Mix paletas. Music provided by radio station La Sabrocita.

Festivities — and by festivities, I mean health screenings as well as eating and dancing — begin at 11 a.m. Casa Azafrán, a project of Conexion Americas, is set to open this fall.

http://www.nashvillescene.com/bites/archives/2012/04/19/discover-new-food-trucks-at-casa-azafrn-open-house

]]> http://www.mobilefoodnews.com/2012/04/nashville-tn-discover-new-food-trucks-at-casa-azafran-open-house/feed/ 0