by Brian Hill, Pitney Bowes Business Insight
There’s been some buzz in the news recently about traditional bricks-and-mortar food chains joining the ranks of the taco truck. Last summer, Portland, Oregon’s Burgerville debuted their “Nomad” mobile food truck at the popular Waterfront Park surely raising the eyebrows of the other traditional food cart vendors there.
In February of this year, The New York Times ran an article about San Francisco’s efforts to manage the burgeoning mobile restaurant scene as new players—licensed and unlicensed—have started to spring up. The allure of fewer employees, no rent, and little overhead seems to be feeding this growing trend. But when these mobile units deploy in traditional commercial and dining areas, nearby established traditional restaurants aren’t very happy. In the NY Time article, one restaurant operator says, “All of our permits and fees have gone up. We pay high rents, we pay high minimum wages. So anybody that parks a food van across the street from you and is competing with you has almost an unfair advantage.” But then, how likely is it that three business people will meet at a mobile restaurant to share lunch and review a contract? It will be interesting to see if more established fast food chains jump in the game to broaden their presence, rather than for the purely promotional efforts seen to date.
Along this thought, an unexpected tragedy spawned a new trend in New Orleans. After losing many of its restaurants to Hurricane Katrina, Domino’s Pizza’s largest franchisee, started opening up mobile pizza units at gas stations and parking lots throughout the city. This program helped foster the creation of a new, small 700 sq. ft. carry-out only store that is now being built in small towns throughout Louisiana and Mississippi–towns that traditionally were viewed as too small to support a standard delivery and carry-out Dominos store. But, no matter whether it’s in a van or in a building, the food’s got be good, or customers won’t come back<!–more–>
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