Why More And More Food Trucks Are Opening Up Their Own Shops

I love Food Trucks and really appreciate what they do for the City, and the quality and care in which they do it. However it's not an easy life. Living and working in NYC is already hard enough, but what these vendors have to deal with on a day to day basis is sometimes cruel. Ever drive into the City and try to find a place to park? It's a nightmare, but we have options. We can take the train in and don't have to worry about finding a spot. Food Trucks have to find a spot every day in all areas of town, and most times those spaces are already filled. Not to mention every parking law in the City is basically against them. Plus restaurants aren't their biggest fans either since they believe they are losing business to these guys, and in my opinion that's not true. Of course Food Trucks are a trend, a very good trend, but trends tend to fade. In NYC there will always be a need for Food Trucks, it's a way of life. A convenience for the people who don't have time to sit in a restaurant because they have to get back to work. Again all trends come to an end and most of the Food Trucks, I'm sure, have a plan B which would be to open up their own shops, which a lot have already done. Here are a couple of examples:

Mexicue has 2 shops, one at 345 7th Ave (Bet 29th and 30th), and one at 106 Forsyth St. (Bet Broome and Grand

The Treats Truck has The Treats Stop at 521 Court St, Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn

Big Gay Ice Cream has a shop at 125 7th St (bet 1st Ave and Ave A)

I must admit when I find out that a Food Truck vendor has opened up a shop I get really excited because to me it means that they really have made it. Not to say that running a Food Truck only can't be successful, it can, but it just seems really hard to keep it going day after day. You gotta think that the winter is really tough on these trucks, in NYC it's all about the good weather. Having a permanent shop alleviates the issue of having to worry about snow, rain and all sorts of other crazy things that happen on the streets of NYC. In this foodies opinion I hope the Food Truck trend continues on and on with new vendors coming on to the scene, while the oldies but goodies graduate to shops that can provide New Yorkers with tasty treats all year round. Either way it's very exciting. For further reading on this subject, click the link below to the NY Mag story discussing this exact issue...of course in a far more intelligent way than I did...

newyork.grubstreet.com/2012/07/food-trucks-turn-to-stores-for-convenience-reliability.html

Also remember the Food Truck rally is this Sunday 7/15 in Prospect Park from 11-5! Hope to see all you foodies there!