May 15, 2013

While this uniform is alright for Hooter’s, it might not be for food truck employees.

DALLAS, TX - Hypocrisy has entered the discussion between politicians relating to food trucks again. This time, it has happened within the city council chamber in Dallas.

The Dallas City Council’s Quality of Life Committee met on Monday about potentially lowering the costs of streetscape licensing and street vending permits in downtown Dallas.

The proposal is to cut vending licenses by half to $600 annually. Right now, food trucks are allowed to operate between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. daily, but the proposed update would extend those hours to 10 p.m. (Mon-Thursday, Sunday) and midnight (Friday and Saturday). There’s also a suggestion to require photo ID badges for all vendors, prohibit smoking by vendors while operating in the vending locations, and to establish a dress code.

Everything looks good until they delve into a dress code.

Appendix B: Proposed Dress Code

Proposed minimum dress requirements for vendors include the following

Clothing must be neat, clean and sanitary at all times
Walking shorts allowed, but no cut-offs ? No apparel with offensive or suggestive language,images, symbols
No tank tops or halter tops
No outer apparel made of fishnet or undergarment material

Funny thing about required clothing for food truck is that there is no similar code for restaurant employees. Got Hooters?

Biscuit Fun Facts

The internet is full of fabulous facts about everything from current events to the history basket weaving. Because of this, as we research for our daily content on food trucks, food carts and street food, we stumble upon some items of knowledge that we just did not know. We have decided when these fun facts pop up, that we would share them with our readers in our section titled “Did You Know?”

For today’s Did You Know facts we will look at Biscuits.

The Facts: A biscuit is a baked and commonly flour-based food-product. The term is used to apply to two distinctly different products in North America and the Commonwealth Nations.

In the United States and Canada it is a small, soft, leavened bread, somewhat similar to a scone. A Southern regional variation on the term, beaten biscuit, is closer to the British form.
In Commonwealth English, it is a small and generally sweet, baked product that would be called either a cookie or a cracker in the United States, and a cookie (Biscuit in Quebec) in Canada.
May 14^th is National Buttermilk Biscuit Day.
The Middle French word bescuit is derived from the Latin words bis (twice) and coquere, coctus (to cook, cooked), and, hence, means “twice-cooked”. This is because biscuits were originally cooked in a twofold process: first baked, and then dried out in a slow oven.
White flour, commonly used to bake biscuits, is almost instantly metabolized into sugar. Biscuits will quickly spike your blood-sugar level.
Mustard is a common condiment to use on biscuits in the south, especially to accompany ham.
The main difference between biscuits and rolls is the leavening agent. Biscuits use baking soda. Rolls use yeast.

Biscuit Facts We Missed

Please feel free to let us know if we may have missed some in the comment section below. We always love to add to these lists. If we can verify that the facts is just that, a fact, we will give the reader credit in the article.

Reference: Wikipedia: Fun Facts about Biscuits

Using Comment Cards to Keep Your Food Truck Customers

Did you know that it costs three times more to acquire a new customer than to keep an existing customer happy? Customer Comment Cards can help you keep your food truck customers.

Customers don’t speak with their mouths, they speak with their feet. When they’re unhappy, they simply don’t come back. Why? Could be bad service, price increases or a change in portion size. Most food truck vendors will never know.

Don’t spend big bucks on mass mailers, newspaper ads, and weeknight specials to attract new customers. Focus on keeping the customers who already know and love you. And if something does go wrong, set up systems to intercept unhappy guests before they walk away from your truck.

A well-executed Customer Comment Card system gives you the vital information you need, shows that you care about your customers, and offers a simple, hassle-free way to give feedback—good or bad.

Be creative. Design a comment card system that people will want to complete. Include a section for rating food, service and setting. Another section should include a space for short answer, open-ended questions. The last section should ask for customer information. Here’s where you can start building a valuable data base.

We’ve provided a sample Customer Comment Card for your adaptation below:

Please rate the following areas on a scale of:

1 – Unacceptable
2 – Needs improvement
3 – Fair
4 – Good
5 – Excellent

Your server:
Friendly
Knowledgeable
Prompt

Food:
Portions
Taste
Presentation

Cleanliness:
Truck
Line/Queue area

Menu:
Variety
Description
Prices

Other questions to include:

What did you order today?

How often do you dine with us?

First time

1-4 times a year

1-2 times a month

Once a week or more

Would you like to be on our mailing list?

Please add any other comments that will help us improve your dining experience.

Encourage your customers to fill-in the card completely by giving incentives such as a complimentary dessert on the next visit. Birthday and anniversary “treats” are good incentives too.

You’ll increase frequency of existing customers simply by asking these questions and offering a “thank-you” gift to be redeemed at a future date. And equally important, if something goes wrong, you have the chance to make it right—right away. Don’t let that customer walk away from your food truck for good.

Minimizing the Impact of Firing A Food Truck Employee

One of the hardest things to do as a food truck owner is to tell an employee that they are fired. Here are three tips for handling this gut-wrenching situation:

Bring answers. When a person is let go, he’s likely to have a lot of questions and concerns. Come prepared to address his logistical questions, such as when his last day is, how his peers will be notified, etc.
Listen, don’t react. Losing a job can be traumatic. Don’t get caught up in responding to your employee’s emotions. Listen with respect. Offer to talk again later when the emotions are not so raw.
Talk to your team. Firing a food truck employee impacts everyone on your team. Not only does it change work assignments, but people might also wonder about their own job security. Share what information you can to reassure the people left behind.

Weekend Food Truck Roundup May 10 – 12, 2013

In our quest to keep our readers up to date with the latest stories relating to the food truck industry has compiled a list of the stories that hit the wire this weekend from Washington DC, Raleigh, Oak Park and Wilkes-Barre.

May 10

DC Restaurants Are Against the DC Food Truck Invasion Because Terrorism – WASHINGTON DC - Certain unnamed authorities at an unnamed organization are concerned with the potential terrorist threats emerging from within the burgeoning food truck scene in Washington, D.C., and from inside the trucks themselves, unnamed “confidential sources” tell one Washington Times contributor.

Ahead of a public hearing Friday pitting upstart mobile food vendors against sedentary street vendors and old-school sidewalk restaurants, George Farrell — a Washington Times ”community” member — settled on at least one reason to side against the food trucks: “According to confidential sources, authorities concerned about terrorists using food trucks required adding manpower to monitoring the trucks.” That added manpower has motivated D.C.’s restaurant owners to limit food truck locations, Farrell claims, completely ignoring what The Washington Post reports as an actual debate over more food options and crowded sidewalks in favor of Homeland Security department “concerns” over a terror plot — because, you know, “propane tanks inside food trucks could easily become explosive devices” and food trucks “may pose a terrorism threat.”

Find the entire article here

Raleigh politicians, patrons come around to idea of food trucks - RALEIGH, NC - When Mike Stenke rolled out his Klausie’s Pizza truck in Raleigh three years ago, people would ask him what he was doing, and then tell him to move.

Raleigh was slow to embrace this new class of mobile entrepreneurs, and many of Stenke’s competitors hid in the shadows, fearing they would be chased out of the city if someone complained.

May 11

Oak Park Great Food Truck Rally: A Disappointing Success – OAK PARK, IL - Radical Underestimation of attendance, sellouts in first hour. It is fantastic and foresighted that the folks at Pilgrim Congregational decided to hold a Food Truck Rally in their parking lot this afternoon. They had no way of knowing what they were bringing forth.

Vendors were told to expect 200 people, and of 11 trucks, 3 had sold out within the first 90 minutes. The Meatloaf Bakery was out of goods within about half an hour. In the photo picture above, you can see people already waiting in line around 12:50PM in front of a sign that promised the truck would re-open at 1:30!

Find the entire article here

May 12

Food trucks, controversial in Scranton, heading to Wilkes-Barre – Wilkes Barre, PA - A food truck welcomed by customers and not welcomed by some restaurants in the Scranton area is coming to Wilkes-Barre.

Mario Bevilacqua, 25, who owns What the Fork food truck with Katie Grazioski, 24, said he obtained a permit to sell food at the Mayday music festival at Kirby Park May 25-26. Mr. Bevilacqua does not have set plans yet to sell food other places in Wilkes-Barre but he said he would like to test out the market and possibly sell other places in the city.

“We have a pretty good demand from customers on Facebook to go to Wilkes-Barre,” said Mr. Bevilacqua, whose Facebook page has more than 7,800 fans.

Brendan Bell, 43, owner of the Southwest Savory Grill food truck operating in the Scranton area, said he also is researching permits about doing business in Wilkes-Barre. ”If I do it, it would be for special events. It would be difficult to drive down for day-to-day business,” Mr. Bell said. “People are asking us to come there. I have to see if it’s worth it. If the city doesn’t embrace it, I’m not going to come.”

Food trucks have caused concerns among some downtown Scranton restaurant owners, who complained it’s not fair that they pay taxes and food truck owners don’t.

Find the entire article here

LA Drive In Movie, Food Trucks and Live Music in One Event

LOS ANGELES, CA - Eat|See|Hear, a premier LA outdoor movie series, will show Seth MacFarlane’s Ted on Saturday, May 18 at the drive in at Los Angeles Trade Tech College. The LA drive in will feature food trucks and live music from local bands Montë Mar and The Ultimate Bearhug. Tickets for the event are available online at http://teddrivein-eorg.eventbrite.com/. Drive in admission tickets are $15, general admission tickets can be purchased for $10, and popchips-sponsored “Fashionably Late” tickets are available for $20. These tickets allow access to premium reserved seating, and give attendees the option of arriving right before the film starts. There will also be a limited number of passes available at the door for $12. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., the band plays at 7 p.m., and the movie starts at 8:30 p.m.

“These are always really fun events,” says Sharon Sperber, Co-Owner of Eat|See|Hear. “We’ve got a hilarious movie, local music and great food trucks. What more could you ask for?”

Ted is Family Guy creator Seth Macfarlane’s first foray into the big screen. This R-rated comedy stars Mark Walberg as John, Mila Kunis as Lori, and Macfarlane as the voice of Ted, John’s childhood teddy bear come to life, who causes problems in John and Lori’s relationship.

The drive in will feature live music by alternative/pop band Montë Mar and folk/pop duo The Ultimate Bearhug, as well as the following food trucks:

Baby’s Badass Burgers
Rosabella Cucina
Coolhaus
Brasil Kiss

Eat|See|Hear is LA’s premier outdoor movie, food truck and live music series that brings an evening of fun to Los Angeles-area venues each summer. The second annual series is presented by SHOWTIME, featuring up and coming bands from the local music scene, the hottest food trucks and the only 3-story high, 52-foot wide inflatable movie screen west of the Mississippi with the highest quality HD-projection and digital surround sound. The Eat|See|Hear series promises an enjoyable movie-going experience for everyone. Eat|See|Hear is produced through a collaboration between LA-based Trailhead Marketing, Inc. and Hollywood Outdoor Movies.

For more information about the Second Annual Eat|See|Hear summer event series, consumers are encouraged to visit the Eat|See|Hear website, as well as the Eat|See|Hear Facebook page, Twitter feed (@EatSeeHear) and Instagram for the latest updates.

Fruit Cocktail Fun Facts

The internet is full of fabulous facts about everything from current events to the history basket weaving. Because of this, as we research for our daily content on food trucks, food carts and street food, we stumble upon some items of knowledge that we just did not know. We have decided when these fun facts pop up, that we would share them with our readers in our section titled “Did You Know?”

The Facts: Fruit cocktail is a dish consisting of various kinds of fruit, sometimes served in a liquid, either in their own juices or a syrup.

Fruit cocktail is often sold canned and is a staple of cafeterias, but can also be made fresh.
The use of the word “cocktail” in the name does not mean that it contains alcohol, but refers to the secondary definition “An appetizer made by combining pieces of food, such as fruit or seafood”.
Fruit cocktail is sometimes used to make pruno.
May 13th is National Fruit Cocktail Day.
In the United States, the USDA stipulates that canned “fruit cocktail” must contain a certain percentage distribution of pears, grapes, cherries, peaches, and pineapples to be marketed as fruit cocktail. It must contain fruits in the following range of percentages:

30% to 50% diced peaches, any yellow variety
25% to 45% diced pears, any variety
6% to 16% diced pineapple, any variety
6% to 20% whole grapes, any seedless variety
2% to 6% cherry halves, any light sweet or artificial red variety (usually maraschino cherries)

Both William Vere Cruess of the University of California, Berkeley and Herbert Gray of the Barron-Gray Packing Company of San Jose, California have been credited with the invention of fruit cocktail.
Canned fruit cocktail and canned fruit salad are similar, but fruit salad contains larger fruit while fruit cocktail is diced.
The World’s Largest Can of Fruit Cocktail is a Watertower, painted in a retro label to commemorate an industry of the area. It used to tower over the Libby, McNeil and Liggy cannery, but is now the only remnant of the 1906 establishment. In 1982, Lincoln Property Company bought the former Libby, McNeil, and Libby cannery site and by 1985 had turned it into the Sunnyvale Industial Park. The developers were required to save the towering fruit cocktail can.

Fruit Cocktail Facts We Missed

Please feel free to let us know if we may have missed some in the comment section below. We always love to add to these lists. If we can verify that the facts is just that, a fact, we will give the reader credit in the article.

Reference: Wikipedia: Fun Facts about Fruit Cocktail

Mobile Cuisine Food Truck Movie Sneak Peek: Free Samples

What could be better than ice cream? How about free ice cream? Or how about an interview and an exclusive trailer from the indie film “Free Samples“? ”Free Samples” tells the story of Jillian (Jess Weixler) who, after dropping out of law school, spends one eventful day handing out some tasty teases for soft-serve ice cream.

The film also stars Jesse Eisenberg as the guy Jillian can’t remember from the night before but who is determined to go on a date with her.

“Free Samples” also stars Halley Feiffer, Jason Ritter and Tippi Hedren. It was written by Jim Beggarly and directed by Jay Gammill.

We sat down with director Jay Gammill and the movie’s lead actor Jess Weixler who plays Jillian.

Mobile Cuisine: Jim Beggarly wrote the original script, how were you introduced to the project and what was it that made you choose to direct it?

Jay Gammill: I met Jim Beggarly coming out of film school (USC) in 2007 and we wanted to work together on a project. He pitched me on the idea of “Free Samples” and I thought it was fantastic, especially for the fact that it took place on a single set.

MC: What drew you to a script that centered on an ice cream truck as the primary set?

JG: As an independent film maker, you are always looking for something you can do with limited funding. It was really fun to do.

MC: How does a first time movie director come with a cast which includes Jess Weixler, Jesse Eisenberg, Jason Ritter and Tippy Hedren?

JG: We were very fortunate to have Jesse Eisenberg attached early on and we always wanted Jess Wiexler. Both of them really responded to the script, that was really the key. We couldn’t have planned it if we tried.

MC: So why did you choose to work on a project with a first time full length movie director?

Jess Weixler: I’ve worked with a lot of first time directors. I feel that you make choices just because you’d have a good time playing a character Jillian was a character who had a journey’s to take and she wasn’t a character I’ve played before.

MC: What was it like to work with Jay?

JW: Jay was great and super open to discussing scenes and figuring out together what they needed. It was a really fun set, kinda like a summer camp set.

MC: Your character Jillian agrees to operate her friend’s ice cream truck while she attends an intervention for her bother. By agreeing to give out free samples of ice cream from the truck, Jillian stumbles into a working therapy session where the customers help her realize what her real problems are and how she can fix them. Why do you think in certain situations it takes listening to a stranger’s view or advice of someone else’s life to break through their psychological issues?

JW: That’s an interesting question. I think that often times when people that your close to sometimes your stuck in your habits and how you act around them it’s strangers that enlighten you or who you open up to. I think this is true for Jillian especially with the little girl and the older woman.

MC: How was it to work with Tippy Hedren?

JW: She is a total pleasure, she is really caring.

MC: Do you have any memories about ice cream trucks from your youth?

JG: When I was young lad in the 80′s growing up in Louisiana, the ice cream truck was a weekly event, and my treat of choice was the orange-like Flintstone Push Up Pops. What I remember most was the initial sound of the ice cream jingle which set into motion a course of events that could not be stopped until I was peeling back the top of that push pop and licking my tongue into a hue of orange not found in nature. It was very satisfying.

MC: With the idea of mobile food going gourmet starting in LA back in 2008, have either of you frequented any of the hundreds of gourmet food trucks that cruise the streets of Southern California?

JG: Food Trucks to me are like a dessert. I always want to eat at one but allow myself to indulge every so often, but yes I do, often when I’m with friends. I also have a hard time waiting in lines, but once I started bringing lawn chairs, I was fine.

MC: Do you have any favorites?

JG: While we were filming FREE SAMPLES, Cafe Con Leche visited our set a few times, and the coffee was divine. Right now, I’m dying to try the Clean Street Food Truck! It’s on the top of my list.

Find the full trailer for Free Samples below.

Here is a Mobile Cuisine exclusive clip where Jillian (Jess Weixler) gets directions on how to prepare the free samples.

You can visit the “Free Samples” official Facebook page here.

“Free Samples” will be available on demand and for digital download starting on May 21 and in theaters on May 31.

2013 Best Food Truck Graphic Design Contest: Vote Now

With so many food trucks cruising around the country, it’s no surprise that designers are starting to get more creative with their art to differentiate their clients from the other trucks on the road. The result has been some really cool art on wheels, driving around various cities selling food.

We at Mobile Cuisine would like to know who our readers feel has the best custom designed food truck or food cart design. Because of this, we are starting a competition to find out who it is. We started this contest by asking for submissions of your favorite to narrow down the field. The top 10 Mobile Cuisine reader favorites have been added to the final poll.

Starting today, we are asking for you to vote your favorite food truck graphic design.

Check out your choices below and vote for your favorite.

California Love Truck – Sacramento, CA

Chameleon Mobile Cuisine – Milwaukee, WI

Horn’s n Snouts BBQ – Dallas/Fort Worth, TX

Liberty’s Biscuits – Phoenix, AZ

Manna from Heaven – Denver, CO

Renny’s Oki Doki – Tampa, FL

Satay Hut - Phoenix, AZ

Sin City Snoballs – Las Vegas, NV

Surf Turf Truck – Philadelphia, PA

Yeti Frozen Custard – Austin, TX

Let the voting begin!!!

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This poll will close on Friday, May the 31st at midnight Central time. The truck with the most votes from the poll will be declared our winner.

PLEASE NOTE: If you have issues with submitting votes in the poll, we have found the problem can be corrected if you register as a subscriber to the site. You can also submit a vote via email to contest@mobile-cuisine.com. We have the ability to track ip addresses and will only allow one vote per IP (votes via email from IPs that have already submitted votes from the poll will be disqualified)

The winning truck of the contest will have a profile interview posted on Mobile Cuisine, and the design group that installed the artwork will be given one month of free advertising on Mobile Cuisine.

DC Food Truck Plan to be Discussed in Public Hearing Today

WASHINGTON DC - New developments are expected Friday in the ongoing fight between DC leaders and food truck vendors.

A public hearing will look into the Mayor’s proposal to limit the amount of mobile food vendors serving the city.

The hearing is scheduled for later Friday morning. According to the online witness list, more than 50 people are expected to testify. Among the proposed regulation changes are limitations on where trucks can park—one of those places could be Union Station.

The proposal would limit the number of food trucks in many popular locations. Operators would have to take part in a monthly lottery to determine where they could park in 23 of the newly designated “mobile roadway vending zones.”

The problem? There are nearly 200 D.C. food trucks that offer fantastic food choices every day of every week.

Supporters of Mayor Vincent Gray’s plan say it will help alleviate parking problems—and protects brick-and-mortar restaurants.

Opponents say the plan would put several food truck operators out of business.

Dallas City Council Proposes Food Truck Dress Code

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Biscuit Fun Facts

For today’s Did You Know facts we will look at Biscuits.

Biscuit Facts We Missed

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Using Comment Cards to Keep Your Food Truck Customers

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Minimizing the Impact of Firing A Food Truck Employee

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Weekend Food Truck Roundup May 10 – 12, 2013

May 10

May 11

May 12

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LA Drive In Movie, Food Trucks and Live Music in One Event

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Fruit Cocktail Fun Facts

Fruit Cocktail Facts We Missed

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Mobile Cuisine Food Truck Movie Sneak Peek: Free Samples

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2013 Best Food Truck Graphic Design Contest: Vote Now

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DC Food Truck Plan to be Discussed in Public Hearing Today

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