Sunday, October 30, 2011

Food Trucks in DFW

There's a new business that has become rapidly popular in the DFW area in the recent year, and it's different than any restaurant at which the average consumer has dined. They're called food trucks; they sell gourmet asian cuisine to homemade BBQ sandwiches directly from mobile restaurants that travel on the roads of Dallas daily. The food truck explosion has drawn attention with its uniqueness and affordable yet delicious food. Parish even hired Ruthie's Rolling Cafe to serve their "finest melt in your mouth grilled cheese sandwiches" at the recent senior tailgate. Although they seem relatively new to consumers in DFW, food trucks attempted to begin the trend early last year. So why didn't this business take off quicker? Many of the restaurants on wheels struggled the most with obtaining parking permits from the city of Dallas. The city believed these trucks would be a menace to firms that they would park in front of, not only taking up parking spots but also their customers. In other words, the level of competition would be thrown off by these food trucks, who would have an unfair advantage by parking in front of smaller shops while taking customer's of these stores parking spots. However, when Michael Siegel paved the way with his Green House Truck, it was proven that the attraction of the mobile restaurants helped increase the profits of the jeweler it was located in front of. The City of Dallas began granting more parking permits to different kinds of food trucks such as Jack's Chowhound and Ssahm Korean BBQ. Now these trucks travel around DFW selling food to hungry customers that are seeking out a new experience and savory food!

-Natalie J

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Natalie,
I really enjoyed reading your blog post! One of the most interesting things that you mentioned was how the food trucks can actually increase profits of the businesses they were parked in front of. I think that it is in a way a decision of costs and benefits for the owners of the businesses: does the benefit of potentially having more customers attracted to your business outwiegh cost of letting the food trucks take up parking spaces that could have been for customers? You mentioned that many businesses have already answered "yes" to this question. Great job! :)

jack attack said...

this was a very intersesting post which leaves me to wonder whether or not other big name companies such as mcdonalds, bj's, sub shops or any other large lunch hot spots will invest in these type of food trucks. their could be great finincial gain in this business if companies do it correctly. Large restaruant companies could invest in these trucks and drive to places where they know there are lots of hungry people on their lunch break. this would make getting lunch so much faster and more convienent for business people on their lunch break. companies could hire resturaunts to park outside their firm to attract more business as well as feed employees. these resturaunts might also think about raising their prices since they would be spending money on gas to drive to hot spots of hungry people.

nataliejohnston said...

Abby- Thank you very much! Also, I couldn't agree with you more! The idea of the food trucks parking in front of small retail stores has everything to do with costs and benefits, and indeed many of these retailers have decided for it. I can see where perhaps these food trucks could take potential clients from these stores, so it is most definitely a risk that a store owner must be willing to take. However it proved beneficial for many of these companies. Thanks for your input!

Jack- That's a very interesting point that you brought up. I didn't even think about existing restaurants such as McDonald's investing in a food truck. I think this could be a great entrepreneurial idea, but the one thing about McDonald's especially is that they are abundant. I feel like I see one on every street corner. But smaller restaurants such as BJ's like you pointed out could most definitely benefit! Also, I like the point you brought up regarding businessmen and women on lunch breaks. After working all morning the incentive to get in the car and drive somewhere, sit down and spend the money that you just worked for is very low I would assume. These food trucks could provide food right outside their workplaces so they would not have to travel anywhere or spend as much money, but could still eat delicious food! Great points, Jack!