We used to call them roach coaches, but now food trucks are all the rage. They are so popular that people chat about them on social networks and even track their movement.
Seriously. In LA, there are websites that track trucks around the city so you can find your favorite. Other sites give readers the power to rate food trucks.
MobileCravings covers the food truck craze in cities from coast to coast.
A new site, mobimunch.com, allows you to enter a city and a type of food and find a truck near you.
And then there is a new category, the bustaurant. It is part bus and part restaurant. You order just like at a food truck, then go upstairs on the double-decker bus to eat. Salon explains:
“But while food trucks leave customers to fend for themselves once they have their plate in hand, World Fare’s guests head upstairs and dine on the bus’s deck, where marble countertops, white umbrellas and views of the streets await. And for those who might be nervous about losing their lunch, don’t worry — the bustaurant does not move while customers are eating. With the onslaught of gourmet trucks (with over 70 in L.A. alone), there is an acute need for the trucks to set themselves apart and appeal to particular audiences. As a result, food trucks often adopt more and more showmanly effects to stand out — from New York’s
Big Gay Ice Cream Truck to a Washington, D.C.,
Indian food truck that features a traveling circus and servers wearing outlandish turbans and fake mustaches.”
Inc. magazine said Facebook is as important as financing in the food truck business:
“Securing a truck permit can be tough; certain cities, including New York, have a cap on the number of permits in existence at one time. It’s not unlike the market for liquor licenses, experts say, with a waiting list that can run more than 10 years, according to the
Street Vendor Project. While renting or buying a permit on the black market is illegal, inspectors have been known to turn a blind eye once a permit is in a vendor’s hands.”