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WILMINGTON, NC (WECT) – One business owner in Wilmington has a beef with the city over a hot dog stand.  The owner of Haley’s Hot Dog Cart is boiling mad because he says the city forced him to close down.

In order to operate a food truck or a food cart in Wilmington, business owners must first receive a permit from the city.  Although Haley’s Hot Dogs operates on private property, the city says their business doesn’t cut the mustard.

Lazaro Carillo has been serving up hot dogs downtown for the past six years.  He’s been operating on private property in front of Charley Brownz Nightclub on Front Street.  But six months ago, he decided to move to a new location, half a block away, in front of Finklesteins at the corner of Front and Market Streets.

City officials say Carillo’s business is disturbing the public right of way.  John Fullerton works in the city’s zoning department.

“The hot dog cart is taking up enough space now that you don’t have transactions and sales taking place on private property,” said Fullerton.  “Now, the sales are taking place on city streets.”

Even though he has all the paperwork in order, Carillo now has to close the lid on his cart.

“I’m frustrated and I feel discriminated because of the way they treat me,” said Carillo.

Earlier this week, Carillo received a cease and desist letter from the city.  That letter states that the city will fine him $200 for every day he’s open.  The city says his only options are to either rent a space or go back to his original location.  With three children and a grandchild, Carillo says he can’t afford to close down.

“Without this little business, it’s going to be hard for me to pay bills,” said Carillo.  “It’s going to be hard for me to provide for my family.  I don’t have words to describe how badly I feel.”

Even though his business is in violation of city code, Carillo says he plans to keep fighting city leaders to stay open for business.  Carillo plans to hire a lawyer even if he has to use money from his savings account.

http://www.wect.com/story/21995892/hot-dogs-could-go-cold-if-business-owner-doesnt-follow-code

(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 popular food truck The Patty Wagon will serve hamburgers in downtown Wilmington again this weekend, but its fate there as well as that of other food trucks parking in Wilmington is up in the air until city ordinances change.

The Patty Wagon has been a fixture Friday and Saturday nights in a parking lot at the corner of downtown’s South Front and Dock streets, and its owner, James Smith, said the truck will show up again Feb. 15, 16 and 17.

Although the parking lot’s owner granted Smith permission to park The Patty Wagon there, city rules require that food trucks be an accessory to the business that a parking lot serves, Smith explained.

Smith acquired a temporary permit to operate this weekend. “After that, it’ll be 45 days before I can apply for another temporary so come hungry!!!,” Smith said on The Patty Wagon’s Facebook page.

He also asked the city to change the code and is seeking the public’s support for the amendment on a petition circulating online.

The amendment would allow food trucks to operate as a permitted temporary use in commercial districts as long as the location was not within 50 feet of an existing restaurant’s main entrance, according to information from the city.

http://www.wilmingtonbiz.com/industry_news_details.php?id=4944

Poor Piggy’s owner Ed Coulbourn throws a rack of ribs on the grill shortly after opening in 2011.

Watching Wilmington’s food truck scene evolve is a lesson in the modern business place. 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.

Unloading a moving truck on a rainy Thursday afternoon, Coulbourn could be found organizing his gear in the long vacant space at 5424 Oldeander Dr. once occupied by Dinner a Go-Go. The facility will be redubbed Poor Piggy’s Kitchen, and serve as a commissary for a number of area food truck operators.

Teaming with James Smith of The Patty Wagon and a man with perhaps the most distinguished sounding name in mobile cuisine, William Blount Laughinghouse III of the soon-to-open Blount’s Street Bistro, Coulbourn says the space will allow all of their businesses to better serve their customers. “We’re thrilled, now we can do three times or four times what we were able to do before,” Coulbourn said.

The kitchen won’t be open to the public, but the facility will allow Coulbourn to expand his offerings into traditional catering, as well as create a central location for his food to be prepared. He had been previously using the kitchen at Fibbers Public House, but his needs outgrew the space.

Coulbourn says much of the last few months have been spent scrubbing, outfitting and prepping the now pristine spot. Due to health department laws the kitchen may only be occupied by one operator at a time, and they must keep all of their food in separately locked refrigerators. And, interestingly, food may not be passed directly from truck to truck. The new space gives Coulbourn a convenient location to stock both of his popular barbecue vehicles.The kitchen has room for a fourth user, but due to scheduling conflicts of the three lunchtime businesses already using it, Coulbourn says someone keeping a bakers’ hours would be a perfect fit to round out the operation.

Laughinghouse, who hopes to roll out for service by early March at the latest, says the commissary played a roll in his decision to launch a truck himself. With business partner Paul Kern, the two met while attending the Cape Fear Community College culinary program, Laughinghouse plans to bring a unique experience to mobile dining in the area. “We’re doing plays off of international regional food, but we’re making a point not to mimic anything,” he said.

Blount’s Street Bistro will angle to serve lunch crowd diners on a tight timeframe with limited options in their immediate area, said Laughinghouse. The offerings will range from Jamaican beef pockets to deep fried risotto balls called arancini laced with serrano chiles and country ham. He’ll also particularly excited to be bringing a staple from his college days at Ole Miss, chicken on a stick, to area foodies. To keep up with their progress, follow them on Facebook or Twitter.

http://foodies.blogs.starnewsonline.com/30818/local-food-truck-scene-continues-to-evolve/

via facebook

With three awards for best food truck, Flaming Amy’s Sacred Burrito Bus is the leader in Wilmington’s mobile menu race, but competition keeps rolling onto the streets.

Just days after Flaming Amy’s won Encore Magazine’s Best of Wilmington award for No. 1 food truck, India Mahal restaurant owner Sunny Singh is scheduled to debut his Bollywood Food truck downtown this week.

Singh said he plans to fill Bollywood Food’s list with India Mahal favorites as well as Indian street food snacks. Look for naan, vegetable samosas, potato cakes named aloo tikki, Indian spice tea and mango lassi drinks, to name a few, Singh said.

A food truck has been on Singh’s mind for some time, he said.

“I was planning to open another restaurant, but … it was too much,” Singh said of the investment in another brick-and-mortar unit. With a food truck, he noted, “you turn off the key, and your expenses stop there.”

Find Bollywood Food at special events and also on regular mealtime rounds in Wilmington, Singh said. He’s researching catering options for the truck as well.

Bollywood Food’s schedule at India Mahal’s website and the restaurant’s Facebook fan page.

Meantime, India Mahal, 4610 Maple Ave., off College Road near Oleander Drive, has a new wine and beer list and an expanded buffet, including lamb on weekends, Singh said.

In November, Flaming Amy’s Sacred Burrito Bus won both the judge’s and people’s choice awards at the downtown Wilmington food truck rally, TRUCK-a-ROO.

See the full list of Encore Best of Wilmington food and drink winners in its Feb. 16 issue or online.

http://www.wilmingtonbiz.com/industry_news_details.php?id=4918

India Mahal’s truck will be operating soon

An invigorated Sunny Singh springs up the steps of his new food truck Wednesday afternoon. In the coming days, he’ll have all the necessary permits in hand to take his longtime Wilmington restaurant India Mahal mobile.

Joining a growing legion of successful brick-and-morter restauranteurs who have embraced the food truck craze as a way to grow their business, Singh sees the new wheels as a chance to better serve the curry-loving community. He says the truck will be deployed to events, private catering in addition to parking on the curb for walkup service.

Able to prepare two or three entree dishes at a time, Singh says fans of his existing eatery will find the offerings familiar.

He’s not limiting the truck’s range to Wilmington either. “We can use it for anything,” he says. “We’re planning to go to Southport one day a week, Castle Hayne, small towns that can’t support an Indian restaurant.”

To follow the truck’s path through the region, Singh says the restaurant’s Facebook page is the best bet, or to book him for a catering event call (910) 799-2089.

Sunny Singh shows us around his new truck

http://foodies.blogs.starnewsonline.com/30756/india-mahal-rolls-out-food-truck/?tc=ar

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Cooler temperatures outside didn’t keep the Truck-a-Roo debut in Wilmington from heating up this weekend. The inaugural downtown food truck cook-off features regional foods and regional brews that locals were craving.

Crowds of people waited in line for that taste of BBQ ribs and live music played by local bands.

Food trucks are a growing trend nationwide, and the people of Wilmington seem to agree. They can’t wait for more events like this. And neither can the competitors.

Ed Coulbourn works for Poor Piggy’s BBQ and Catering. He says he served about 100 people in the first 30 minutes of the event.

“We are able to move people really quick because we do festivals around the state,” Coulbourn said. “So we are used to doing 400 or 500 people in a couple hours.”

Food from a truck seems strange at first, but most people at the event had no problem stomaching the idea.

Nathalie Rubin of Wilmington says she was introduced to the idea through Port City Sliders. She was so excited about the experience that she came to the Truck-a-Roo event.

http://www.wwaytv3.com/2012/11/03/food-truck-cook-off-hot-trend

Jay Muxworthy of  Flaming Amy’s Burrito Barn(and Bowl) announced that he’s entering the local food truck scene. There are still many details to come, he said. “The deal is done, though.”

“This opportunity came around,” he said. “I will be taking over the truck formerly operated by Port City Sliders.” Muxworthy is a friend of Sliders owner Christopher Dupre, who is leaving the area. “The truck will be serving a limited Burrito Barn menu and will probably be operational within a month or so,” he added.

Flaming Amy’s will also likely be using the truck for special events, festivals and catering – and maybe some late night stops. Flaming Amy’s Burrito Barn is located at 4002 Oleander Dr. The Bowl is at 4418 Shipyard Blvd.

http://foodies.blogs.starnewsonline.com/28752/flaming-amy%E2%80%99s-to-add-a-food-truck/

WILMINGTON — Mobile food trucks in Wilmington have formed an alliance to attract new customers.

The Wilmington Food Truck Association officially launched on Saturday. The group said they will work together to increase business and ask for the city’s help in clarifying zoning laws

“We are not providing fast food,” said owner of Umami Tom Morgan. “We cook all of our own food, but yet we are trying to up the scale, up the grade of food, so someone can get something that tastes better, has much high quality without the high price.”

Umami, Ms. Cheesy, and Sweet Bliss are all a part of the Wilmington Food Truck Association. Instead of competing for customers, the group hopes to gain new customers by working together.

“Last night, the starter on my truck broke and David fixed it,” said owner of Sweet Bliss Stephanie Rosse. “We all have things that we bring to the table and we will work together to make this work. We are excited about bringing this to Wilmington.”

The trucks usually gather at festivals or corporate offices at lunch time, but the Association is asking for clarity of the current zoning laws so they can further their options.

“We are commissioning through the Food Truck Alliance, to the city council and mayor, to give us some hard and fast rules so we can know exactly what to do, where we can go, how long we can be there,” said Morgan.

The mobile eateries say they are not worried about losing business in the winter months. They are planning to  cater for large groups and Ms. Cheesy said they will deliver food to callers.

For more information on where each truck will be located each day or to receive their contact information, please visit their website.

http://coastal.news14.com/content/top_stories/650513/coastal-food-trucks-band-together