Escoffier On Line

I've just read George's blog posts about food trucking in NYC-- can't say I'm surprised...  I've been running a trailer on a part-time basis since '09, and I've encountered a mixed bag of rules & regulations from different municipalities.  (I'm actually contemplating the creation of a video to recap all of the lessons learned -- it's been a lot in a short period of time!)  In '09 and '10 I was in southwest Ohio, now I'm in central Texas.

There are a lot of different ways to apply your mobile kitchen to make $$, but it sounds like the preference so far on this site is the "restaurant surrogate" approach, which happens to be the same path I have taken.  My first 2 years have been a loss, but I'm happy doing it, and am still confident I can make it work with the right combination of food, location, marketing...  all of the things you need in a B&M restaurant.

My impressions of the business so far is that, yes, the financial risk is MUCH less than starting up a fixed location.  However, other challenges arise to prevent it from being easy money.  In my mind, these are not deterrents, but do need to be considered.

1)  As George illustrates in his blog, being mobile can actually make it *more difficult* to find a good location!  The zoning code in most areas is much more restrictive for "itinerant" vendors than it is for fixed structures.  I agree that setting up on privately-owned, commercially-zoned property is the way to go.  But, you're going to be getting into a lease/rental agreement, and you'll have that expense.  Moving to a new location is certainly possible, but you can't just do it on a whim one day.  So scope your spot carefully.

2)  People don't normally expect high-quality, gourmet food out of a trailer.  As George reports, only 10 out of 1000 in NYC are gourmet.  The business is still dominated by the questionably-safe gut trucks, and in some areas, the only place you can find a food truck at all is the local carnival.  This leaves people with the impression that you are serving hot dogs & funnel cakes, and many will pass you by (or ask you for a hot dog).  It takes time to get the word out that you are doing something new, different, better.  But once you do that, you will start developing a following.

3)  It's hard to develop enough volume to get the best food pricing.  This will cut into your sales & profits until you get some momentum.

4)  Storage, water, power, all need to be sorted out, and may not be available at your desired location.  On-board generators are great, but they are loud, have to be filled every day (gas being expensive), and probably can't run all night.  So you have to get your food transferred to a refrigerated location (or the entire unit to another power source).  Fresh water has to come from somewhere, and gray water has to go somewhere.  Utilities will be expensive to install.  I've been quoted everywhere from $600 to $5000 to run electricity -- it depends on what is available at the site.

5)  Your guests are not protected from the weather, so your business is susceptible to heat, cold, rain, snow, wind, etc.  Most people, looking for the indoor, sit-down experience will go elsewhere to eat.  You'll be limited to the intrepid outdoor diners and the takeaway crowd.

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The way to go... Part Three

Another opportunity to do Mobil Food in NYC is street fairs.  There are hundreds of street fairs in and around NYC and its Boroughs each year.  You can purchase a spot at many of these for between $195 and $400 but some get sold out.  You do have to jump through a lot of hoops to do these- “Food Vendors: FOOD VENDORS MUST Register in Person and present their VALID, FOOD HANDLERS CERTIFICATE and NYS SALES TAX ID. We will document your FOOD HANLDERS CERTIFICATE and SALES TAX ID and once your SPACE is booked you will receive an EVENT PERMIT. With your EVENT PERMIT you will need to go to the Department of Health to get a TEMP FOOD SERVICE ESTABLISHMENT PERMIT to participate in the EVENT and you MUST present this PERMIT”

In the early 90’s I spent a summer doing these as “Bubba’s Baby Back Ribs”,  in between other off premises catering events.  The street fair was a 14 hour day and two days prep at my commissary and another day dealing with the show sponsor(no internet sales back then) and yet another day getting the NYC HD permit.  You have to do the NYC HD permit dance for each event and you have to go to their HQ It was a lot of work and fun but not profitable.  The biggest problem was and is that spaces are assigned by seniority.  Booths that have been clients for decades get the good spots and newbie’s get sent into the Siberia of the fair.

Another alternative to do Mobil Food in NYC is to find a privately owned commercial location to place your truck there (IMHO this is the way to go) You will still need ‘The Restricted Area MFV unit permit” from the NYC HD but this opens you to a much less regulated opportunity to seek your fortune.  With the state of the economy there are many locations with great traffic that are available because the previous occupant has gone out of business.  Other possibilities are gas stations with extra space, business with parking lots that will be closed when you will be operating (think across from that busy night spot) or just about any other commercial location that has the traffic and fits your profile. Just find a location that fits your niche and contact the owner of the lot and make them an offer. 

This concludes a brief overview of doing mobil food vending in NYC.  In my next blogs I’ll go over my progress with getting my Mobil Food Truck started in Nassau County NY.

Cheers,

G

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Part Two-  “Mobile Food Vendors with Deep Pockets”

First in my opinion don’t even consider doing a Food Truck in NYC as a “Street  Vendor”, defined as someone vending on the public streets of NYC.  There are just too many issues- no permits legally available, a vicious bureaucracy looking to fine you and a myriad of other obstacles.

However I’m not saying not to do a Food Truck in NYC.  There are several other ways to do it without going to the public streets.  To do this you need what is called ‘The Restricted Area MFV unit permit”

This type of permit “authorizes vending on private property in a commercially zoned area or on property under the jurisdiction of the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation; it does not authorize street vending. This permit does not require a waiting list.”

The NYC P&D Department permits are sold by auction and give you a two year permit to use a specific location.  The price and value of these locations vary widely, and yes there are locations currently available. Perhaps the current most famous one is in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art where- “Cake & Shake will pay the city $108,000 a year for the museum spot, going up 10% each year.”  That’s a LOT of Cupcakes.  Locations that are cheep or are available are probably in locations that might jeopardize you health just walking around let alone sell anything, that’s an exaggeration, NYC is safer now than it has been in 40 years but you get the gist.

In the next edition I will give a couple of other possible alternative and what I really think is the best opportunity!

Cheers,

G

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Being a Street Vendor in NYC is easy and fun- NOT

Last night I went into NYC for the “Street Vending 101” course given by the “Street Vendor Project” www.streetvendor.org .  It was presented by Sean Basinski one of the founder of the project.  The SVP was started to help out the 10,000 people with Street Vendor Licenses in NYC, over 1000 are members.  After listening to Sean describe the way the city treats street vendors it is obvious that they desperately need this representation.  99% of it’s members are hot dog cart, nut cart, fruit cart, books cd’s and hat and glove type vendors and most are recent immigrants.  The most prominent ethnicity is Bangladeshi.  Only 10 of the members have “Gourmet Food Trucks”

The city does everything it can do to make life miserable for these vendors.  The most onerous one is the Health Department fine structure and what a fine can be given for.  The fine structure is $50  for the first ticket. $100 for the second, $250 for the third. $500 for the fourth and $1000 for the fifth.  As is that isn’t bad enough the nature of the violations are ridiculous.  If a vendor is setting up their booth (not even selling food yet) and they don’t have their license in plain sight it’s a ticket.  Too close to a  entrance to a building a ticket. Too far or too close from the curb a ticket. And the list goes on.  The time period for the tickets to escalate is 2 years.

What even is more absurd is in order to get a Mobil Food Vendor license you have to take a mickey mouse course that takes a week and pass a test that is all pictures, along the lines of a picture of a gloved hand and one without a glove picking up food, you have to select the correct one.  I’m fine with requiring food safety instruction and wish it went a little further, but there is one additional requirement-  each vendor has to get their own NY State Tax number,  in their name.  If you are working for an employer why do you need a tax number?  In NYS you have file quarterly reports with the tax office, even if you had no sales. Every employee on a truck has to have a license, even a driver or gofer. If every one on the vehicle doesn’t have their license of if it not visible guess what- ticket.  This makes no sense at all.

Oh well have to go, will continue with the dificulties involved with being a street vendor in NYC in the next entry

Cheers,

G

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Moving Forward!

Well I must say my first impressions of dealing with the NC Health Department were way off the mark.  I talked to the gentleman who is in charge of regulating Mobile Food and he was very friendly and helpful. 

He asked me what I was planning on selling and went over the requirements.  It’s all pretty much the same as a brick and mortar place but his biggest concern seemed to be the water supply.  They have several different volume requirements depending on what type of truck you are doing. The lowest for a truck dong packages products, then more progressively for a hot dog truck, full serve and finally more if you are be a dipping (that’s what they call the thing with the slow stream of water the you dip ice cream scoops into, live and learn).  I’d have to have 70 gallons of potable water and a waste water storage container that is 15% bigger.  No big deal.

IN NYC you have to have your truck garaged and work out of a commissary, restaurant of some type of licensed foodservice establishment.  NOT IN NASSAU COUNTY !  The only requirements are that I have to tell then where I am parking the truck, have a waste water disposal point and buy my food from a licensed purveyor.  The beauty is that purveyor can be BJ’s, Costco or my local favorite Restaurant Depot.  Just to keep everything running right I’m going to have to rent space in a licensed facility of some sort to do prep and storage but that shouldn’t be an issue.

Good news all around.

I’m excited because tonight I’m going into NYC for “Street Food Vending 101”, a seminar being given by the “Street Vendor Project”, the organization that represents about 1000 of NYC’s street vendors.  I have no immediate plans to work in the big city but I’m sure the information will be enlightening.  I also plan to buy tickets to the Vendy’s- “Called “the Oscars of food for the real New York” by Chef Mario Batali, the Vendy Awards are New York City’s annual competition for the title of Best Street Food Vendor”  http://streetvendor.org/vendys/  which are beheld on September 25th on Governors Island, and incredibly cool venue that is a short ferry ride from lower Manhattan.

Cheers,

G

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George Starts a Food Truck

I’ve decided to get back into the trenches.  I really don’t want to work for someone and want my own food business.  I don’t have the capital to open a brick and mortar business like a restaurant or deli but I still want to do food.  I’ve decided to start a “Mobile Food Truck”.

This whole segment has been going nuts for years on the left coast and is really starting to get legs here on the right coast, especially in NYC.  I’m in Nassau County just outside of the Apple and the only thing you see out here are hot dog wagons.  I don’t want a hot dog wagon.  I have nothing against them, in fact when I was weighing my options after I decided to leave EMS in NYC a dog wagon was one of my top three choices.  I am so happy I chose to go to the CIA in Hyde Park instead, best 2 year vacation I have ever had.

I have a lot of experience doing catering, on and off premises, have been a Chef/Manager for an off premises catering business and even done street fairs in NYC.  I also have a large local following from when I did weekly BBQ’s at a local marina.  We did 120 to 160 covers under a tent with a grill, coolers and some chafers and the town loved it.

The food is the easy part.  The royal PITA is dealing with the system here in NC NY.  You have to get a permit to brush your teeth around here and if you try to do anything on the slide you will get caught if you are lucky, and sued and loose your house if your not.  I’m doing this thing by the book, period.

My first step is to write a business plan and do a lot of research to flush it out.   So far I have touched base with the local town and the County Health Department.  Getting the permits from the town will be pretty easy (at least it appears that way, we’ll see) but the real hurdle is getting legal through the Health Department.  I have a name and number to call this morning to get the scoop on what they require.  Should be interesting.  (note: called and left a message and they have not called back yet.)

That’s about it for this installment.  I’ll update later on the call to the HD.

Have you done and mobile food or a food truck or are you considering it?  Post a comment and let me know your experiences.

Cheers,

G

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