http://www.raleighpublicrecord.org/news/city-council/2012/12/06/food-truck-and-garbage-can-laws-amended/

now allowed downtown except Glenwood South and Hillsborough St

12/6/2012 1:35:14 PM

USA! USA! USA!

12/6/2012 1:36:02 PM

The downtown restaurant owners are pissed about them in Greensboro. The City of Greensboro allowed some to come in from Charlotte and Raleigh as a "test", and all they did was steal business from all the downtown restaurant owners. That being said, downtown Greensboro is really small, so the need/demand for food trucks is low as hell.

[Edited on December 6, 2012 at 1:39 PM. Reason : a]

12/6/2012 1:39:11 PM

durham (brightleaf) had food trucks done away with two years ago

pricks

12/6/2012 1:50:44 PM

^^ I was going to say, I don't remember there being many restaurants in downtown Gboro last time I was there. Or at least good ones. Maybe the problem isn't the food trucks but the quality of food in the restaurants

12/6/2012 2:17:20 PM

don't we already have a long thread on this topic?

12/6/2012 2:22:22 PM

m'couls, grey's, natty's are all good. is ritchy's still there? i used to love that place back in the day. i really like downtown greensboro, but admittedly haven't been in awhile.

12/6/2012 2:22:58 PM

True Natty's is good. But we have one here so I don't ever go out to the Gboro one. Last time I was there my friend brought me to some hole in the wall place downtown that had biscuits as big as your head. That place was pretty awesome for a good, cheap breakfast.

12/6/2012 2:25:40 PM

Quote :

"I was going to say, I don't remember there being many restaurants in downtown Gboro last time I was there. Or at least good ones. Maybe the problem isn't the food trucks but the quality of food in the restaurants"

Nah, there are plenty of decent restaurants downtown. The issue is that downtown is so small that they are all within easy walking distance of the businesses. So food trucks would just rob business from those brick and mortars that are paying the serious rent down there.

Now if I had a food truck, I would try to get a contract with VF. You could just pull up in the parking lot every day and make a killing.

Quote :

"Last time I was there my friend brought me to some hole in the wall place downtown that had biscuits as big as your head. That place was pretty awesome for a good, cheap breakfast."

Smith St. Diner. Best breakfast in NC, hands down

[Edited on December 6, 2012 at 2:31 PM. Reason : a]

12/6/2012 2:28:42 PM

Quote :

"The City of Greensboro allowed some to come in from Charlotte and Raleigh as a "test", and all they did was steal business from all the downtown restaurant owners."

Lol at the idea of "stealing business" in a supposedly free market. It's crooked for the government to prop up one business owner's livelihood by restricting the livelihood of another.

There are real issues with food trucks that have to be addressed when they enter the market, but protecting the profits of the existing businesses shouldn't be one of them.

[Edited on December 6, 2012 at 3:33 PM. Reason : s]

12/6/2012 3:31:18 PM

^But food trucks don't pay property taxes MAN!

12/6/2012 3:34:18 PM

^^ agreed

[Edited on December 6, 2012 at 3:37 PM. Reason : a]

12/6/2012 3:34:41 PM

Sure they do. If I have to pay property taxes on a jet ski trailer I'm sure they are paying property taxes on their $50k mobile kitchens. Then there is sales tax, licenses, highway use taxes, registration, etc. to bring in revenue to the local governments.

[Edited on December 6, 2012 at 3:36 PM. Reason : s]

12/6/2012 3:35:43 PM

^ you can't make that argument. it is WAAAAAAAAAY cheaper to operate a food truck than it is to operate a brick and mortar restaurant.

which is why there is way more profit in it, and hence lower prices to customers

[Edited on December 6, 2012 at 3:39 PM. Reason : a]

12/6/2012 3:38:31 PM

It's also way cheaper to send DVDs through the mail or offer them in vending machines.
Nobody is crying that their local blockbuster couldn't cut it.

You're basically supporting the idea that the city should force you to pay a high price for food when vendors want to offer an alternative. Ultimately you're the one who loses in the current deal.


Cheaper to operate, higher profit, lower prices. Sounds like a good idea when you put it that way.

You realize higher profit = higher taxed income, right?

[Edited on December 6, 2012 at 3:43 PM. Reason : l]

12/6/2012 3:39:58 PM

Its not very often that when I go to a restaurant I stop on the way there and say "Hmm you know what would be better than that meal I wanted? To stand outside and eat a $2 hot dog"

Know what I do think very often? "Motherfucker, its 12am and all the god damn bars/restaraunts stopped serving food. Oh Helllllllllll yeah. $5 burritos"

or this one

"This band sucks balls, i'm gonna go get a hot dog"

I'm Krallum and I approved this message.

[Edited on December 6, 2012 at 3:42 PM. Reason : ]

12/6/2012 3:40:32 PM

^ apples to oranges.

^^ and no, I am not supporting anything. I could care less about the argument all together. But if I owned a restaurant downtown for over 20 years and all of a sudden out of town food trucks rolled through and stole my business, I'd be pissed. Especially if the situation was brought about by the same government I had been paying taxes to for the said 20 years.

[Edited on December 6, 2012 at 3:46 PM. Reason : a]

12/6/2012 3:42:49 PM

^wut

if anything ^^^ THAT is apples to oranges

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12/6/2012 3:43:28 PM

apples bro, apples

12/6/2012 3:47:36 PM

^^^Then you don't have a mind for business. There are tons of restaurants that are getting food trucks. Neomonde is a great example. They now have a food truck. If there is a close enough market, then do what you can to appeal to it.

I'm Krallum and I approved this message.

12/6/2012 3:50:37 PM

again, comparing Raleigh to Greensboro

[Edited on December 6, 2012 at 3:51 PM. Reason : apples, bro]

12/6/2012 3:51:15 PM

So stealing business doesn't qualify a market as a need? Pretty sure greensboro is not some magic metropolis with its own set of economic rules.

I'm Krallum and I approved this message.

12/6/2012 3:52:05 PM

Food trucks are required to operate our of a Health Inspected Kitchen, meaning that for every food truck you see there is a brick and mortar building where they prep & cook food before loading it into the truck.

Some trucks own their own kitchens which is really great if they are operating from an established restaurant. Other trucks rent their space from commissaries which will rent time and equipment out to several food trucks. The downside here is that while the truck owners aren't having to pay for a full kitchen to be up and running, they are at the mercy of commissary owners.

12/6/2012 3:55:54 PM

Quote :

"^^ and no, I am not supporting anything. I could care less about the argument all together. But if I owned a restaurant downtown for over 20 years and all of a sudden out of town food trucks rolled through and stole my business, I'd be pissed"

Like Krallum pointed out, nobody who is planning to have a sit down meal with their family/friends is going to change their plans and eat a burger/taco/hotdog while standing on the sidewalk. At a restaurant you're paying for the staff and environment as much as the meal itself. That's something the street vendors will never be able to compete with.

You're completely disregarding the possibility that food trucks might attract their own clientele; something that would be a win for the businesses surrounding them. If anybody needs to be worried about competition it's the fast food restaurants. And nobody really cares about those faceless corporations so fuck em.

But my only real argument is that competition brings out the best in businesses. If your 20 year old restaurant can't cut it then maybe it's time to evolve or close up shop. There's nothing stopping the 20 year old restaurant from opening their own food truck with a scaled down menu if food trucks really are that lucrative. Their name and goodwill, if they have any, will carry over to their new venture. Coddling a mediocre restaurant by protecting them from competition isn't making downtown any better. Let the free market decide what it wants.

12/6/2012 3:57:30 PM

^^^No. Greensboro has a small downtown, especially compared to Charlotte and Raleigh. There is no need for food options, as everyone can walk to the restaurants that already exist. And said restaurants have great food at great prices. I get it in bigger cities, just not here.

^ I am not arguing that point. Food trucks typically fit 2 markets: Lunch for business people and late night drunks. Neither of which would effect the regular diners at downtown Greensboro restaurants, but both of which would effect them at those times......and clearly have with this "test".

[Edited on December 6, 2012 at 4:01 PM. Reason : a]

12/6/2012 3:57:39 PM

Carrboro has food trucks. Go back to 1950.

Carrboro has like 3 bars and if you seriously want food there is tons of shit on franklin street and a few places on main street in carrboro. No one from chapel hill will ever walk all the way to carrboro to buy food from one of the food trucks.

Down town carrboro is the size of the brick yard. Your point is invalid. If it is generating revenue (no matter who had it before) then there is a market for it.

I'm Krallum and I approved this message.

[Edited on December 6, 2012 at 4:02 PM. Reason : ]

12/6/2012 3:59:59 PM

^ oh, you mean West Chapel Hill? Good comparison, bro. Apples to Oranges again

[Edited on December 6, 2012 at 4:05 PM. Reason : While we are at it, let's compare Winston-Salem to Cary]

12/6/2012 4:03:54 PM

You know what, i am wrong.

There is only one city exactly like greensboro. Lets just forget about all those valid points you aren't addressing.

I'm Krallum and I approved this message.

12/6/2012 4:05:55 PM

Sounds good, glad you came around

12/6/2012 4:07:23 PM

Greensboro is like the exact same city as durham, with less $$$ and more niggers

I'm Krallum and I approved this message.

12/6/2012 4:08:47 PM

actually you got that backwards. If you said Winston, you would have had it right

12/6/2012 4:10:42 PM

There is a good study on food trucks here: http://www.portlandoregon.gov/bps/article/200738

I was looking for something that studied the impact on local businesses, which this is not, but it does have a good chart (pg 35) comparing revenues and cost of business between push carts, food trucks and small businesses.

12/6/2012 4:18:09 PM

hahahaha portland

I'm Krallum and I approved this message.

12/6/2012 4:18:50 PM

I was looking for something that studied the impact on local businesses, which this is not, but it does have a good chart (pg 35) comparing revenues and cost of business between push carts, food trucks and small businesses.

12/6/2012 4:20:29 PM

I realize this thread is about the impact of food trucks on local businesses....which this study is not. Hear it out, maybe it can offer some insight.

12/6/2012 4:23:07 PM

local businesses can suck my dick

I'm Krallum and I approved this message.

12/6/2012 4:24:46 PM

Not legally in this state, sir

12/6/2012 4:25:23 PM

^^ hey bro, pimpin' ain't easy

[Edited on December 6, 2012 at 4:26 PM. Reason : and ^, actually]

12/6/2012 4:25:59 PM

I will be going downtown a LOT more often if theres a food truck court I can rock after a night of drinking!

12/6/2012 4:46:30 PM

^ who's going to carry you down there?

12/6/2012 4:48:05 PM

hopefully a light rail

12/6/2012 4:49:09 PM

I expected teleports by now

12/6/2012 4:50:26 PM

we gotta become a 21st century city before we can jump to 24

[Edited on December 6, 2012 at 5:09 PM. Reason : first step-food trucks!!]

12/6/2012 5:08:50 PM

Isn't Greensboro's downtown about the same size if not bigger than Durham's?

12/6/2012 5:43:47 PM

I like having the food trucks here in Carrboro. If I am going out for food and I want to sit down though, I don't think having a food truck option has kept me from going to Bandido's, Carrburritos or another restaurant instead. Now I will say that if I am just riding around trying to figure out what the hell I want to eat, then I obviously keep the food trucks as an option. But generally I know where I want to go eat before I head out. I don't think food trucks are killing any restaurants in Carrboro.

12/6/2012 6:13:04 PM

I don't know why restaurants get their panties in such a twist over this. The food truck owners I know and have talked to prefer to stay away from areas like Glenwood south where there's a restaurant every 15 feet and a hot dog cart in between. Why would they want to go to a place that is so heavy with competition?

Most end up at large office complexes/campuses where they only have to compete against the shitty work cafeteria for lunch.

And on the nights and weekends the Breweries love them, and vice-versa. The Brewers don't have to worry about patrons leaving to go get a bite and a beer somewhere else, all they have to do is set out some picnic tables and a cornhole set and the customers are happy, the food truck makes tons of sales and the brewery can keep selling beer all night.

[Edited on December 6, 2012 at 6:27 PM. Reason : ]

12/6/2012 6:27:17 PM