The FoodTruck Market

Beautiful Food Truck Ready to GO! w/ NYC Permit*

admin — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 14:29:18 +0000

This is a beautiful food truck capable of supplying the busiest place anywhere food is needed. It is fully equipped with the following.
8 burner commerical Stoves
Deep Fryer
36” Griddle
Full Size Refrigerator w/top Freezer
Microwave
Adequate Stainless Steel Work Surfaces

Storage/Shelving
Stainless Steel 3 sink compartment
Soap Dispenser
Water tank
Hot Water/Cold Water
Built in Ice Box
Steam Table
Electrical Outlets for Additional appliances
Service Window
Space between Deep Fryer and Refrigerator Unit for Another Appliace
Stainless Steel Exhaust Fan

The truck is fully insulated and lined with stainless steel and only has 55,650 miles on it. Asking $55000.00 with a seasonal permit for New York City .

Enter The Drawing For FREE Googa Mooga Tix Monday

admin — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 15:07:51 +0000

Last year’s Great Googa Mooga Festival was a disaster of epic proportions. People waited on line online for hours, only to end up with no tickets. When the event finally came, there were crazy lines with masses of people waiting hours for any food or drink.

The event organizers severely underestimated demand, but they are experienced at putting on large festivals, and made some improvements from Saturday to Sunday. We gave away a pair of tickets to NYSF Reader Melissa Rodriguez, who wrote a nice Guest Post about the event here. She seemed to have a good time.

Now the time has come to apply for tickets to the 2nd Great Googa Mooga. Hopefully it will be better than the 1st, or it could well be Googa Mooga Goodbye!

People’s Pops from 2012 GGM (credit: Melissa Rodriguez)

There will be tons of 85 food vendors, 75 brews, 100 wines and 20 musical acts. See below for the food lineup.

Tickets are FREE for general admission. VIP tickets are already sold out.

Starting Monday, April 1st at noon, you can register to receive one or two free tickets to either Saturday or Sunday. You will need to choose which day you’d like to attend when you register. Registration will close on Wednesday April 3rd at 11:59PM ET. Tickets will be awarded at random and recipients will be notified by email on or before April 10th.

Spreading out the ticket requests over 3 days and awarding them at random instead of first-come, first-served is a good idea. That should cut down the aggravation factor.

Good luck!

see full article here by NYSF

A Guide To Eating Well On The High Line, Starting April 19th

admin — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 15:02:56 +0000

Though the temperatures outside may not reflect it just yet, we are firmly into the spring season now, so take heart! Because with the warmer weather comes the repopulation of the city’s parks and outdoor spaces, including the High Line, which begins its food vending on Friday, April 19th. And it’s going to be much more than salad!

Many of last season’s vendors are returning to the urban oasis, including The Taco Truck, serving up authentic Mexican street food in the form of Carnitas Tacos and Pollo Asado Tortas. Two new food stalls are setting up shop in the park, including a rib-centric menu from the BrisketLab team and wacky braided dough creations bySigmund’s Pretzels. Having sampled their regular salted pretzels and fallen deeply in love, we’re extra excited to give flavors like feta olive and truffle cheddar a try.

Sugar addicts jonesing for a brain freeze won’t have a problem getting their fix. Frozen treats from L’Arte del Gelato, La Newyorkina, Melt Bakery and People’s Pops will be available again this year. And although it won’t be seen in doughnut form, we hear some avocado-based desserts might be popping up in a few of these treats.

Finally, if eating your way across nearly 1.5 miles of converted railway has you feeling drained, refuel for the return trip with espresso or iced coffee from Blue Bottle Coffe. Or give in to your bacchanalian tendencies and opt for an artisanal wine or beer from Terroir on the Porch.

Now to find a way to burn off all those calories…

see full story…

The Kelvin Slush Truck Opens Today With FREE Slushes

admin — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 15:00:14 +0000

The Kelvin Slush Truck is back today, and to celebrate a few things, they are giving away FREE slushes to their fans.

What is there to celebrate? How about the return of the Kelvin Slush Truck! How about the new Smorgasburg counter at Whole Foods Market with delicious goodies from a bunch of different Smorgasburg vendors!

With apologies to the Talking Heads, “And you may ask yourself…how do I get there?”

The Kelvin Slush Truck will be parked outside the Whole Foods Market on the Bowery starting at 11:30am. They will be giving away FREE small slushes to their followers right outside the store.

Not sure exactly how long the FREE Kelvin Slushes will last, but it should at least be through lunch. After today, the truck should be back to its regular routine, making the rounds of various neighborhoods. You can find them on Twitter here or on our Mobile Munchies twitter feed.

see full article here…

For Sale: Tavern On The Green Food Truck

admin — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 18:29:12 +0000

The world famous Tavern On The Green’s
food truck is for sale.
It has less then 20,000 original miles
and runs GREAT.

It was outfitted with refrigeration for lunch boxes
prepped by the restaurant and sold in Central Park.

This truck is a part of history. In 1980 Warner LeRoy, owner, bought the truck new and commissioned
a local Queens artist to hand paint it.

FOB NYC

$45,000.00

NEW KITCHEN / Food truck – $54500 (Queens)

admin — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 18:24:28 +0000

This2003 is diesel with less then 40,000 ORIG miles
and runs/drives like a NEW truck.

This new kitchen has NEVER been used.
Has upright stainless steal new frig, strove with oven,
mic, large serving window plus.

$49,500.00

fob nyc

Eco-Friendly Neapolitan Pizza Truck Today Unveiled By Mayor Bloomberg and T. Boone Pickens

admin — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 12:58:21 +0000

Story by gothamist.com

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and oil magnate T. Boone Pickens joined forces at City Hall Park today to introduce New York City’s first food truck powered entirely by compressed natural gas. The truck, Neapolitan Express, serves a variety of doughy goods, including marinara and margherita pizzas.

Both Neapolitan and its partner in the project, Clean Energy Fuels, hope to start a new trend in sustainability in food trucks. “[It's] a partnership that is taking both arts to a new height,” said Bloomberg, who spoke to a crowd gathered in front of the truck.

The vehicle is the first of its kind, according to Neapolitan founder Max Crespo, and it will also yield some of the lowest carbon emissions among food trucks. It has a 900 degree oven, and Bloomberg says, “It produces almost three-quarters less in greenhouse gas than trucks run on gasoline or diesel.” Even though billionaires like Bloomberg and Pickens aren’t exactly Neapolitan’s typical clientele, employee Kevin McCormick said that the truck caters to all audiences, adding, “You’d like to think that if we parked it down in the Financial District people will come too. It’s high-quality ingredients for a reasonable price.”

Pickens, who is on the board of directors for Clean Energy Fuels, praised the venture. America, he said, needs to “get off OPEC oil and get on the Mayor’s plan. [With] electric, natural gas, and our resources, this country will be way, way, ahead of where we are today.” Pickens also noted that if Bloomberg “were in Washington today, we would be a hell of a lot better off.”

This is certainly not the mayor’s first environmentally friendly rodeo. He went through a laundry list of other initiatives, like the addition of 10,000 parking spaces for electric cars over the next seven years, and the fact that half of the city’s cabs are hybrids. It’s a city, Neapolitan founder Crespo said, that is “cleaner, greener, and safer than when [Bloomberg] took the reigns, and he will hand it over to his successor better than when he received it.”

More Pics and Full Story here…

Food truck builders shift into high gear (VIDEO)

admin — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 13:50:45 +0000

Local companies that build these restaurants on wheels have been cooking literally, customizing late model and new Ford, GMC and Chevys with fryers, refrigerators and stainless steel surfaces for local sandwich, Mexican and barbeque businesses.

By Johnny Diaz, Sun Sentinel

The whirs and hisses of drills and welding torches carry outside a warehouse tucked away in a Fort Lauderdale office park. Inside, rows of step vans and delivery trucks are being reborn as food trucks.

As mobile eateries have flourished in South Florida in recent years, food truck builders have also shifted into high gear.

These mobile food truck factories — including Concession Nation in Fort Lauderdale, AAA Concession Trucks and Trailers in Davie, and FoodCart USA in Miami — scour the state for new and late-model Chevy, Ford and GMC step vans as well as used flower, fire and delivery trucks (and in one case, a shuttle van from NASA). They add fryers, refrigerators and stainless steel surfaces and turn them into rolling restaurants.

“Everybody wants one,” said Alexander Alvarez, owner of Concession Nation, which completed 126 jobs in 2012, a 34 percent increase from 2011.

The weakened economy and high unemployment of the past few years have helped drive the local food truck boom. As people were laid off or considering job changes, some decided to become their own boss and invest in mobile units. Meanwhile, TV programs such as Food Network’s “The Great Food Truck Race” and the Cooking Channel’s “Eat Street” were showing contestants making thousands of dollars a day with a customized food truck.

Yes, food truck operators have costs such as gas, food inventory and permits. But these are “less expensive than brick-and-mortar facilities, making it easier to enter the food service business,” said Ron Grimes, manager of environmental health programs at NSF International, a nonprofit that develops standards for equipment used in food service establishments such as food trucks.

“People don’t have to pay rent [with a food truck], and they are not committed to one place,” said Bruce Hicks, owner of AAA Concession Trucks and Trailers, adding that his business doubled to 30 trucks in 2012 from the previous year, from a mix of local and national clients.

He began to shift his business toward food truck building in the past two years after noticing a decline in RV-related jobs.

“I saw that [business] going away. People were in foreclosures and losing their homes,” Hicks said.

These days, he’s getting requests to create food trucks for freestanding businesses such as Popeye’s fast-food chicken and Donna’s Restaurant and Lounge, which has locations throughout Broward County.

He was also hired to outfit an all-white, 8-foot GMC step van for Gozen Yogurt, a self-service frozen yogurt company based in Philadelphia. It will be painted in orange, yellow and blue swirls and have a flat-screen TV, freezer and four self-serve yogurt machines. Once completed later this month, the truck will be ready to dispense sorbet, dulce de leche and caramel-flavored treats at corporate parties and festivals from Jupiter to Miami.

“The real advantage to having a food truck is that you will be able bring the entire frozen yogurt store experience to someone’s home,” said Adam Zell, the Florida partner for Gozen Yogurt.

Of course, none of this would be possible without the ever-growing popularity of food truck fare and events. The National Restaurant Association doesn’t track the number of food trucks in the United States, but the group has found that consumers have been increasingly flocking to mobile eateries.

In a 2012 association survey, 43 percent of adults said they had bought items from a food truck.

The demand for food trucks, Concession Nation’s Alvarez said, comes from a base of customers hungry for “fast-food but better quality. You get a homemade plate served to you in 10 minutes.”

At Concession Nation’s offices and warehouse in Fort Lauderdale, calls pour in from throughout the country. The San Francisco 49ers football team, for example, had the company create a team-themed concession trailer.

And the Fontainebleau in Miami Beach recently hired Concession Nation to build an 18-foot food truck to sell some of the dishes found at the resorts’ restaurants such as Gotham Steak and Scarpetta. The truck will roam the property, complete with three flatscreen monitors showing video of the hotel’s amenities.

“It’s a truck that we are going to use to feature lots of different venues in the resort,” said Thomas Connell, the resort’s executive chef. “We are going to use it for special events, barbecues, LIV [nightclub] after-hours … wherever our customers need it really.”

Costs range per builder, but a used food truck can cost $3,000 to $20,000, depending on the mileage, year, condition and size, which can be 16 or 18 feet long. Fully-loaded new trucks can run as much as $100,000. Generally, vendors find the trucks for the client, but a customer can bring a truck to a contractor and have it outfitted with equipment.

Workers strip the rear (or the box) of the truck, install aluminum walls and diamond-plated flooring. They add stainless-steel counters, refrigerators, sinks and deep fryers, or whatever the client requests. Some owners add LED lights on their roofs and flat screens to promote their menus to potential passers-by.

Concession Nation, which features its work on fastfoodtruck.com, also wraps the exterior of the vehicle to brand the food and services.

CONTINUE READING HERE…

Food trucks hit a nerve with city

admin — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 13:43:44 +0000

by Walter Bird Jr. / file photo Brittany Durgin

PHOTO: Chris Gould stands inside his hot dog truck on Green Street parked outside of the Dive Bar, where he’s served late-night dogs for several years.

Jim Donoghue and Alec Lopez are in the same line of work; both own restaurants and are used to the tireless work and endless hours that go into making their businesses successful. When it comes to whether the city should ease its restrictions on mobile food vendors, however, the two men come down on opposite sides. It is not unlike the City Council, where there is dissension among the ranks over one councilor’s call to take another look at an ordinance that clamped down on where food trucks and carts can set up. Some say the time has come, others say the rules were changed for a reason.

“I am embarrassed for the city for what they did to food vendors,” says Lopez, owner of Armsby Abbey at 144 Main St. and the Dive Bar at 34 Green St. “Every street should have a food vendor on it. It is necessary for our modern culture. I’ll be the first one to throw a food truck into the mix if they ever change it.”

Lopez’s vision is the exact opposite of how Donoghue sees it. He has run Tweed’s Pub Restaurant for 33 years. He used to own more restaurants, but has downsized to just one. Situated at 229 Grove St., Tweed’s is something of a local institution and Donoghue has put a lot of blood, sweat, tears and money into it. “I really feel the brick and mortar restaurants pay a lot of money to do business in the city,” he says. “To allow food trucks to come in, in direct competition, and they don’t pay the same freight we pay is wrong. I work hard every day to make sure the parking lot is clean, to clean out the grease traps, all that. I really don’t think that Worcester needs food trucks.”

The notion that he could benefit from a change in the current ordinance by putting out his own food truck or cart, like Lopez, holds no appeal to Donoghue. “I wouldn’t want to do it. I’m on the other side of the hill. I’m 63 and I like running the restaurant.”

Of the restaurant owners and managers Worcester Mag spoke with, Donoghue was the only one against tinkering with the 2008 ordinance that requires street vendors to seek permission from any restaurant within 250 feet of where they would set up. The ordinance passed narrowly, 6-5. At-Large Councilor Rick Rushton is looking to change that and was calling for City Manager Mike O’Brien to bring an ordinance to the council by April, saying he wanted to “fast track” the issue. He has gained opposition from fellow councilors Konnie Lukes, who admits to being biased because of family members who once owned restaurants, and Bill Eddy, who while having “no horse in this race” believes the ordinance is just fine they way it is.

“I get, I do, I get that I’m not on the cool side of the issue,” says Eddy, one of the councilors who originally voted for the ordinance. “Who doesn’t like a city that has food trucks and all sort of options for people to choose? I get that it’s not always politically sexy to stand up and say, ‘What about the small pizza shop or sub shop … that all they want is their fair shake to do business?’”

Eddy’s main objection is with Rushton’s attempt to fast track a new ordinance. Instead, the city manager will come back with a report to the council. “Let’s have a fair hearing where we can hear from the stakeholders. Don’t just bang this over people’s heads,” says Eddy, mentioning frequent comparisons of the city to Boston and Providence, Rhode Island. “Worcester always has this thing about comparing ourselves to the capital cities of two states. We’re a city of middle-class neighborhoods.”

Rushton says he understands the need not to eat into the profits and livelihoods of area restaurants and eateries. “The bottom line is you do need balance,” he says. “You can’t park [a vendor] right in front of a business, but you can put them in areas where they can complement a business.”

Rushton cites Boston as an example of a city where food trucks and brick and mortar restaurants coexist. “I just want a baseline ordinance to provide the chassis,” Rushton says. “We can build a food-truck ordinance from there. There are hundreds of cities across the US that struck a balance; we just need to put our noggins together.”

Brian Treitman, owner of B.T.’s Smokehouse in Sturbridge, is licking his chops to get a food truck into Worcester. He believes it is a win both for vendors and the city and he points to places such as the Red Hook Ball Fields in Brooklyn, New York where several food trucks set up every spring and draw thousands of customers throughout the summer and into the fall. “I would build a truck for Worcester,” Treitman says. “A lot of our customer base is from Worcester and a lot don’t come on a regular basis. If I could bring a small part of my business out there it would drive more business to my establishment.”

Food trucks offer another benefit, according to Treitman. “In terms of the economy, a food truck is an easy way for people to get into the food business, depending on the truck.”

He estimates the cost of a truck being $15,000 to $50,000, with higher-end trucks costing as much as $120,000. Still, compared to the cost of starting up a restaurant, which Treitman says can range from $150,000-$300,000, it is a bargain. The other costs associated with a food truck include buying a hawkers and peddlers license from the state, if you choose, obtaining permits from the city or town in which you operate and, depending on what is covered by the hawkers and peddlers license, possibly a Common Victualler License.

That is precisely the point Donoghue makes in arguing against food trucks. He believes food truck vendors can spend less, but make more by cutting into the profits of a restaurant. Donoghue says restaurant owners have to pay for a number of things, including a liquor license, for which he says he pays $2,750 a year; inspection fees, parking lot fees, entertainment and more.

Jenn Wright, a manager at Brew City Grill & Brew House at 104 Shrewsbury St., agrees that food trucks would probably impact business, but nonetheless is personally in favor of bringing more of them into the city. “It probably is [competition], especially where our location is,” Wright says. “If food trucks are downtown it would impact our business. Personally, however, I think they’re great and wish there were more.”

Lopez remains unfazed by any potential loss in revenue. “I wouldn’t care if [food trucks] did [cut into his business],” he says. “I would be psyched to see food trucks come back and come back with a vengeance.”

Read the rest of this great article here…

http://www.worcestermag.com/city-desk/top-news/Food-trucks-hit-a-nerve-with-city-195525891.html

Street Eats: Mac & Cheese Sandwich from Toast Monster

admin — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 13:59:50 +0000

By NYSF

If you’re like me, you probably looked at the title of this post and said “What? Why would you put macaroni & cheese on toast and grill it?”

The answer is because we were expecting to have sloppy joe on the sandwich too. Unfortunately, they were sold out of the sloppy joe add-on a little after 1pm, so we ended up with just mac & cheese in the sandwich. It cost $6 by itself and $8 with sloppy joe.

It was still pretty darn good. Click through for the down low on a toasted mac & cheese sandwich from Toast Monster.

The macaroni and cheese at Toast Monster was not highfalutin’, like the white truffle mac & cheese we had recently at the Mac Truck.

It was made with American, cheddar and mozzarella cheese, and was a pretty good version.

As an added treat, they put shredded mozzarella on the sandwich, which added a creamy dimension, and made it fun pulling the two halves apart.

In terms of taste, the bread was more of an afterthought. Each bite tasted mainly of mac & cheese, with the exception of the crust, which was breadier.

Read the rest of this great article here…

http://newyorkstreetfood.com/39909/street-eats-mac-cheese-sandwich-from-toast-monster/