Food Trucks in Boston

I’m reading Food Trucks, Cultural Identity, and Social Justice edited by Julian Agyeman, Caitlin Matthews, and Hannah Sobel. It evaluates the history of food trucks, with case studies that show the different approaches to regulate food trucks. Food trucks have been facing complex regulations and discrimination since the mid-1900s. I’ll talk about how hard it is to grow a food truck business in the past decades.  From tacos to Vietnamese noodles, from hot dogs to Korean barbeque, food trucks reflect diverse cultures and cuisines representing a mixed ethnicity. In 2008, growing up in a Korean-American family, Chef Choi, the food truck pioneer, rented a truck and started selling Mexican tacos stuffed with Korean BBQ meat in Los Angeles. His Seoul Taco Truck got so popular that he opened more trucks and eventually his own restaurants in other cities. Choi showed the world that Korean food doesn’t only exist in Koreatown and that tacos can be something special. However, before...

1. Vendors get their sites through a lottery system Food truck owners get their locations by entering into a lottery system. According to the City of Boston , Boston has 21 public sites for food trucks.  Fee varies among different zones, depending on whether the site is high-traffic and competitive. Places such a City Hall Plaza, Boston Public Library, Opera House are seen as competitive and require a higher fee. Places where residents and students most often go, like Chinatown, BU West, and Charlestown, have "a three-year permit and are selected on a first come, first served basis." To work on a private site, vendors need to get consent from the property owner and submit documents to the Public Works Permitting Office for approval. One example of a private site is the SoWa Open market, which hosts several food trucks on its weekly Sunday market. 2. Most food trucks open at lunchtime Many cities restrict operating hours for food trucks. According to the Food Truck Nati...

On Tuesday, before my 2 pm class, I was thinking about what to eat for lunch. I decided to get something from a food truck and see how long it would take. It was a frustrating but satisfying adventure, even though it took around 40 minutes. I’ll share some problems when using social media to look for food truck information. If I’m looking for restaurants nearby, Yelp is always the first thing that comes to mind, but when I think of a food truck, it’s more of an encounter by chance. A food truck, a mobile kitchen, can roam the streets and move anywhere. Each has its own schedule. This means a food truck needs to constantly engage with customers, such as by posting updates of their menu and locations on Facebook or Twitter, providing coupons or discounts, or hosting special events. The Technology Policy Institute, a think tank, finds that trucks with a Facebook page and website, trucks that send around two tweets a day, or trucks that receive many reviews are more likely to stay in bu...

People usually see food trucks an easy way to start a business. It doesn’t need high startup costs and complicated plans to organize a food truck, but studies show that running a food truck is not easy in some cities, especially in Boston. While restaurant owners need deliberate plans, food truck vendors don’t need to worry about hiring employees, raising capital, or renting a place. A food truck is small. It doesn’t take up space. It’s fast. People wait for a few minutes, pay and go. It’s simple. A cart and a chef can start the business. However, running a food truck is not easy, as local governments in different cities enforce strict rules to regulate the food truck business. A case study on Data-Smart City Solutions about food truck regulations in US cities shows that restaurant owners are concerned about ensuring fair competition between food trucks and restaurants. Debates include the use of space, taxes, public health and safety, recycling and compost, and permit processe...