The community wide hand-wringing over whether to bring food trucks to town boggles my mind.

Let’s step back for a moment. Do I have this right?

• Business A has been invited to sell their wares in Castro Valley
• Business B which sells similar wares in Castro Valley doesn’t want Business A to sell their wares in Castro Valley

Makes sense. If a factoring company opened up shop next door to me I’d get a little territorial. I’d be worried too if a daycare popped up across the street from my wife’s daycare business. But would I get a specially designated public input meeting asking the town if it’s OK for these businesses to open up shop, even if they’re only temporary shops? I suspect not – and I guess that’s the biggest boggle of the mind.

I might speculate that the reason the food truck businesses are getting special public meetings are because the group that invited them is related to county government. And government has the tricky task of balancing the wants and wishes of all business in a fair and equitable manner.

What if it wasn’t a government agency inviting the food trucks? Would the brick & mortar’s still have a beef? Where would they lodge their complaint? What agency would hear their concern?

Food trucks have been around of years and years. But gourmet food trucks are a relatively new phenomenon.  According to a Smart Money article

“…many cities are setting restrictions on how close food trucks can park to competing restaurants or how long they can stay in one spot. In parts of Nevada, the trucks have to relocate every 30 minutes. In Washington D.C., food trucks are technically supposed to move out of a spot once the line of customers they’re serving clears. And in New York City police last year pushed many popular food trucks out of midtown Manhattan by enforcing a decades old rule banning vending from metered parking spaces.”

Is food truck regulation the answer for Castro Valley? If so, how would that work here? It would seem to me that it’d have to start at the county level, in which case wouldn’t other communities have to submit to the same law? Do you see that actually happening?

The concerns regarding food trucks isn’t just about brick and mortar’s loosing customers. It’s also about food safety, garbage & blight, seating, light, noise, parking and availability of restrooms (for customers to use and food preparers to wash up.) And those are public safety policy issues I’d love to see debated at our city council (oh, wait….)

It’s hard to open a business… with or without wheels. I respect the tenacity of an entrepreneur. Sometimes you gotta roll up your sleeves. If I had a brick n’ mortar restaurant I’d be at those public input meetings requesting that I be allowed to set up a food booth right next door to the food trucks. Compete on their turf. At the very least I’d be there handing out coupons or fliers inviting folks to stop by my shop after the trucks have gone away.

My final analysis? Make good food. Make it well. Treat your employees well, your customers with respect, and your business will whether any storm… whether you lease a building or lease a truck.

http://castrovalley.patch.com/blog_posts/food-trucks-are-people-too#c

ALAMEDA — About 1,400 people attend the weekly food truck gatherings at Alameda South Shore Center, creating a “significant” increase in business for the center’s retailers, the Planning Board will hear Tuesday when it reviews guidelines for the trucks.

The city also has received no complaints from anyone about the gatherings, including from business owners or business associations, despite some voicing fears that allowing the trucks would undercut brick-and-mortar establishments when city officials adopted the guidelines just over a year ago.

Along with Alameda South Shore Center, the city has allowed the trucks to operate at specific times at the Harbor Bay Business Park and two spots on Park Street, as well as on Central Avenue near Eighth Street.

“They offer a variety of food that you can’t get in a lot of places,” said Nina Oden, 27, of Oakland when she visited the South Shore event on a recent Saturday. “I did not even know these trucks were here until I showed up.”

Her friend, Terri Salcedo, 34, said she will often visit trucks when she spots them near her home in Oakland or when she visits San Francisco.

“It’s different than going to a restaurant,” Salcedo said. “You’re outdoors and there’s more of a communal feeling with other people. It can make you feel that you are part of a community.”

The City Council adopted the draft guidelines for the trucks in December 2011 — just after they were backed by the Planning Board — so that the municipal code would comply with state law, which allows the trucks to set up on any public street as long as a vendor meets local safety requirements.

The aim of the local guidelines was to provide the city with extra control.

Among the guidelines, which officials decided to revisit within a year, was a restriction that the trucks could not set up near an elementary or middle school.

Eric Fonstein, the city’s development manager, said the gatherings have proved especially popular at Alameda South Shore Center.

“The shopping center conducted a month-long, internal analysis last October and found an average attendance of 1,400 people at the events with a significant increase in overall sales for the center’s retailers,” Fonstein said in a background report for the Planning Board.

He is now urging the board to drop the annual review of the gatherings and the renewal requirements for the vendors.

Public Works Director Matt Naclerio also should be allowed to determine where the trucks can operate at the former Alameda Naval Air Station on a case-by-case basis, Fonstein said.

Currently, the trucks must park next to a sidewalk at least five feet wide at the former base, a requirement that can only be met at a handful of locations.

Food truck gatherings, such as “Off the Grid” in Berkeley and Oakland, have become especially popular with food fans and young people, who spread the word about times and locations via Twitter and Facebook.

Some trucks specialize and are staffed by up-and-coming chefs, or chefs who have lost their jobs in the tough economy.

The gathering in Berkeley takes place each Wednesday evening near Shattuck Avenue and Rose Street in the heart of the city’s “Gourmet Ghetto,” a neighborhood that contains Chez Panisse and the Cheese Board collective.

Among the trucks that have visited Alameda is Sanguchon, which specializes in Peruvian food. It was launched by Chef Carlos Altamirano, who also owns the Michelin Star winning La Costanera restaurant in Montara Beach.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/small-business/ci_22349031/alameda-officials-revisit-food-truck-guidelines

from QuiteCurious, flickr.com

ALAMEDA — The Planning Board has adjusted the guidelines for food trucks in the city, but still wants to review the ordinance that allows the gatherings to find out just how much the trucks are impacting brick-and-mortar restaurants.

The board also wants to learn if support exists for allowing the trucks to gather in the Park Street neighborhood north of Lincoln Avenue as a way to help revitalize the area.

Food trucks already assemble every Saturday at Alameda South Shore Center and city officials say they have received no complaints about the event, which attracts an average of 1,400 people.

But Young Han Yee, the owner of Pearl’s Deluxe Burgers, told the board on Tuesday that his sales drop at least 15 percent when the trucks are present.

“The food trucks are negatively impacting my business,” Yee said. “I have made a huge capital investment at the mall to open this restaurant, and my Saturday sales have been suffering because of (the gatherings).”

Other restaurant owners also lose business when the trucks visit, he said. But Eric Fonstein, a development manager with the city, said an internal analysis in October by the center’s management found its retailers experience “a significant increase in overall sales” during the events.

“It’s been positive,” Fonstein said.

On Tuesday, the board unanimously approved minor changes to the city’s guidelines for the gatherings, including one that clears the way for the trucks to operate at more locations at the former Alameda Naval Air Station.

The City Council adopted the guidelines in December 2011 so that the municipal code would comply with state law, which allows the trucks to set up on any public street as long as a vendor meets local safety requirements. The aim of having the local guidelines was to provide the city with extra control.

Along with adopting the changes Tuesday to help streamline the process for vendors, the board asked for a review of the overall ordinance to determine whether food trucks would enjoy support in other neighborhoods, especially near the Park Street Bridge and the Oakland-Alameda Estuary.

The board also called for more information on what kind of impact the gatherings actually have on restaurants and retailers, instead of just relying mostly on anecdotal evidence.

“We need to be able to look at this in terms of hard data,” board member David Burton said.

The report on the ordinance is expected to come back before the board within the next several weeks, when the public can weigh in before any possible changes go before the City Council.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/small-business/ci_22395332/alameda-planning-board-adopts-changes-food-truck-guidelines

]]> http://www.mobilefoodnews.com/2013/01/alameda-ca-alameda-planning-board-adopts-changes-to-food-truck-guidelines/feed/ 0 http://www.mobilefoodnews.com/2013/01/alameda-ca-food-trucks-good-for-other-retail-businesses-city-officials-say/ http://www.mobilefoodnews.com/2013/01/alameda-ca-food-trucks-good-for-other-retail-businesses-city-officials-say/#comments Fri, 11 Jan 2013 22:10:08 +0000 MFN Editor #1 http://www.mobilefoodnews.com/?p=38195 By Dixie Jordan | Alameda.Patch.com

Five Ten Burger is one of the food trucks rollung up to Off The Grid this Saturday at the South Shore Center. Credit Jennifer Loring

Food trucks are here to stay in Alameda, if the Planning Board adopts staff recommendations at its meeting next Tuesday.

Under a one-year pilot program, food trucks have operated weekly, at lunchtime Saturdays, at South Shore Center. Food trucks have also been permitted to operate at Harbor Bay Business Park, the 700 block of Central Avenue by Eighth Street and the weekly flea market at College of Alameda.

“According to South Shore’s representative, the events have become an effective marketing tool,” says a report by Eric Fonstein, the city’s development manager.

“The shopping center conducted a month-long, internal analysis last October and found an average attendance of 1,400 people at the events with a significant increase in overall sales for the center’s retailers.”

The report also says that the city has not received any complaints or negative comments about the food truck program from business associations, existing brick-and-mortar  businesses or local residents.

Staff is recommending two changes:

—Streamlining the permit process for food trucks by eliminating the annual review and renewal requirement for conditional use permits and encroachment permit for food trucks.

—Allowing more flexibility in the location of food trucks at Alameda Point by permitting the city’s public works director to approve sites on a case-by-case basis.

The changes are on the consent calendar for the Planning Board’s meeting at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 15, in the City Hall council chambers, 2263 Santa Clara Ave. You may see the complete agenda and related staff reports on the City of Alameda website here.

http://alameda.patch.com/articles/food-trucks-good-for-other-retail-businesses-city-officials-say

credit: Lou Bustamante

Our weekly bite explores the city’s food trucks, one at a time, highlighting our favorite mobile dishes and snacks.

The Truck: Vesta Flatbread
The Cuisine: Cal-Mediterranean
Specialty Items: In-house (in the truck–really!) flatbread sandwiches
Worth the Wait in Line? At peak lunch time, a total 10 minutes from the end of the line to food in hand.

Blame it on the numerous quick-service joints and that regrettable “everything-in-a-wrap” era that ruined the image of flatbread. Serving as little more than a mere container for more substantial items, the flatbread goes unnoticed at best. Leave it to a couple of Arizmendi bakers and a chef to breathe new life into the sandwich and make the bread the star of the show.

See Also:
- New Vesta Flatbread Truck Hits the Streets
- Tiramisu Cupcake at Cupkates
- Hot to Tot at Little Green Cyclo

Made in the truck’s brick oven, the bread has the perfect level of chewiness, with just enough of a blistered crust to give it strength, but yet not fight with the fillings (is there anything worse than bread that ejects the sandwich’s components with each bite?). In thePork Flatbread Sandwich ($9, Spit-roast citrus pork, red onion pickle, cabbage fennel slaw, urfa pepper aioli), the juicy pork gets nestled in the split half-round, with flavors that meld into something that tastes vaguely Mexican, like having carnitas with shawarma seasonings. It manages to keep from being heavy, with the pickled veggies and slaw balancing the richness and the Berber pepper spiking the heat levels just enough.

The small menu of rotating dishes source their ingredients from organic and sustainable sources (like Strauss, Mary’s, and Central Milling for the flour and grains), offers vegan options, and makes everything in-house, it is a bakery café on wheels worth seeking out.

http://blogs.sfweekly.com/foodie/2012/12/food_truck_bite_of_the_week_fl_1.php

Every truck was mobbed at the June 2, 2012 debut of Off the Grid’s food truck event at South Shore Center. Credit Jennifer Loring

Every Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. the South Shore Center becomes food truck heaven. With free parking and a variety of hand-held, stand-up-while-you-eat meals, Off the Grid has taken off in Alameda.

Here’s the line-up for Saturday, Nov. 24:

• Cupkates
• EireTrea
• Street Dogs
• Little Green Cyclo
• Sanguchon
• Senor Sisig
• Seoul on Wheels
• Twister Truck
• Curry Up Now

Off the Grid hosts food truck markets around the Bay Area, with weekly events in San Francisco and Berkeley as well as Alameda.

Stay up to date with the food truck festivities through the Off the Grid Facebook page, and click “keep me posted” below to receive email notifications of upcoming events and participating vendors.

http://alameda.patch.com/articles/eiretrea-senor-sisig-and-street-dogs-among-food-trucks-rolling-into-south-shore-center-nov-24