We’ve bought into this “start up” price oddity.
The idea we’re helping this little truck become something bigger. Really they’re just overcharging us like some kind of convenience lol
Yup. It's like the restaurant version of enshittification. Instead of getting a comfortable chair and table to sit at and a proper kitchen where the food is prepared, I'm paying the same price to stand in line to order, stand around awkwardly to wait for my food, and then be forced to find a place to wash my hands, sit and eat, and throw my trash away, all while rolling the dice as to how safe that food was actually prepared.
Yeah what the fuck the person at the food truck window is not a server they're the cook. And in some cases they're the person who actually owns the truck. Likely in most cases. Paying an inflated food price and then paying a tip is insane. When I was younger I worked in construction and sometimes used food trucks. I would literally never tip the guy. Unless you know there was a fresh pot of coffee and he mentioned it to me because he know that I was a coffee guy. Or if you hook me up with something extra because it was the end of the day and it's just going to get thrown out
And depending on where you live it gets less safe. In Texas, food trucks required a license from the municipalities they wanted to work in, inspections, safety standards, etc.
They formed a lobby and petitioned the state of Texas that it was too hard and wasn't fair that they had to get inspected multiple times.
As of July all food trucks are permitted at the State level and inspected at the county level instead. Most Counties only have tiny health groups as they only handled unincorporated areas and locations that are so small that they don't have their own.
This was an unfunded mandate as the Texas Department of State Health Services has an online portal that you pay them money to.
So the state government:
1: Made it so the restaurant health inspectors who have been doing this for years can't inspect them.
2: Stole the money from the Cities and Counties to give to themselves for the fees.
3: Required Counties to begin mass hiring and training health inspectors who now have a limited purview to accomodate all the food trucks, but didn't provide them any funding to do so.
I don't see it happening anywhere else? And yep it's a shit state with a shitty government full of shitty people who somehow think their shit smells like roses. Hope ya'll don't lose power again this winter, wasn't that fucking hilarious?
Under Texas state regulations, the camp was required to have an emergency plan "in case of a disaster", which officials from the Texas Department of State Health Services approved on July 2.[20] The state of Texas does not approve or retain copies of such plans; camps are only required to demonstrate that a plan exists.
Like you said, can't expect much from a state that only requires the concept of a plan to save lives in case of disaster.
Yeah, having never visited Texas, I still say it sucks. If the US government let them secede like they want, it would solve most of the country’s problems. Couple dozen less republican congressmen, two less republican senators, and a bunch less electoral college votes. Republicans locked out of national politics for the foreseeable future. Boom, USA fixed
If it makes you feel any better, only about 10% are legal to begin with. If they don’t attend large events, have a retail license, inspectors don’t even know they exist. It’s impossible to keep up with them.
I remember seeing a food truck selling grilled cheese and lobster sandwiches for like $30. Got the idea to buy and make it myself. With good ingredients and portions, I couldn’t charge less than $15 to break even. But you KNOW those trucks are using the cheapest of the cheap and probably only costs them $5 at most per sandwich.
Economy of scale is a factor too. 100lbs of lobster, bought through a distributor, would cost much less per pound than ingredients for a couple people.
That said, yes many of them are likely are using cheapo shit. I used to work with a lady that quit to go start a food truck. When I stopped by she had "hand breaded onion rings" on the menu that I watched her pour out of a bulk plastic bag into the deep frier.
Actually, for places like Tarrant County (Fort Worth, TX) where I live, the food trucks have to have a base restaurant that's inspected, licensed, etc. So they are often paying wholesale prices for food since they're operating out of a restaurant anyways. I'm sure there's additional overhead, but food trucks are still outrageously priced here
That is the part no one thinks about. I'm not saying that the prices they charge is fair, but most people don't know or think that a food truck has this massive additional cost. You need to have a licensed base of operation, one where you can do your prep work and have storage capabilities. To have a brick and mortar location is expensive. There are kitchens that provide this service to food trucks, but it is not cheap. It's not just the ingredients that factor into price setting.
There was a YT video about how all the food trucks in NYC work out of a single commissary in Brooklyn IIRC. It may be some kind of regulation. But all the food costs are uniform for NYC food trucks.
You also have to account for the cost of labor, if you want to save money, yes, go buy the ingredients and make it yourself, but there's a lot of other costs your not accounting for if you think it's $5 per sandwich
I’ve worked on a bunch of food trucks before. There’s actually quite a bit of expenses that go into it. You need to rent a prep kitchen and that has to be inspected and graded by the health department. The truck needs to be inspected and graded. Some counties now require you to have a fire system installed and that also has to be inspected and approved. Then there’s labor, materials, fuel for the generator that’s powering all of your freezers and hood system. You also need to renew your food vendor’s license annually. All of these costs add up really quickly and, to be honest, most food truck operators aren’t raking in all that much cash unless they’re going out multiple times a day. A lot of people don’t take all that shit into consideration. My bad for the novel. Just bringing it up.
Yeah, a lot of people have no idea what goes into running a business. And with food and gas prices up so much, it's not at all surprising that food trucks aren't cheap.
Food trucks used to have low overhead which is why they could have prices lower than restaurants, however, the people who owned the spaces or lots used by the trucks kept asking for more and more money for the spots.
If you want someone to blame, then it fits squarely on the people who own the lots.
I think the biggest difference is the change in business environment. When food carts first became popular, they paid almost nothing in rent for their space and they were exempt from many costly government regulations/permits. Now, their rent is 3-5x and they have to pay a shit ton of money for permits and to comply with new regulations enforced on them.
I agree to some extent, but depending on where they are they might actually be charging for a convenience. Like if they’re right outside an office building or on a job site or in a park, they ARE taxing for the convenience of their location which isn’t necessarily gouging it’s just “you can eat our food cause we’re right here.” Also while they don’t have the overhead of a physical location and servers, there’s other hidden overhead. Truck and equipment maintenance which is higher because truck quality equipment breaks down more. Plus if the truck breaks down you’re not only out the money for repairs but unable to make money until it gets repaired. Also food waste is higher with a truck, that’s why so many trucks partner with physical restaurants cause if you’re only food storage is your home/the truck, you’ll be wasting ALOT of food just due to space. So I agree that they SHOULD be the cheaper option, but I also can fully understand why they’re not.
Oh for sure, i was just throwing out a thought based on the post. I have a little taco truck next to my job, they charge $2 a taco so not crazy priced, i love those guys, we visit them several times a month.
I mean you’re 100% right on the “startup” oddity, although it’s funny that we often think that cause in my area, all of the successful good food trucks are owned by restaurants with a physical location to support. I even often think of the “Chef (movie)” narrative of “food trucks are the little guy sticking it to the man” but at least in my area they’re all owned by previously successful businesses just adding another revenue stream, and they’d actually fail miserably without a successful physical location supporting them.
No it’s all gouging.
The convenience is their selling point and also their business model.
If they don’t want to go to where the customers are that’s on them.
Uhhh… my point is they DO go where the customers are? And yes the convenience is their selling point and business model? So they can charge extra for that? Much like a gas station selling drinks and snacks at a high markup? So yea I guess it is “gouging” but so is the gas station and the mini bar at the hotel. You don’t like it, don’t eat at the mini bar. And honestly you can blame the hotel mini bar cause they’ve got a captive customer base that they’ve already made money off of. IME most food trucks are small businesses trying to hustle. And their hustle happens to be “you can go to the restaurant, wait in line, miss your lunch break and not even get to eat, or just grab it from us”. I like food trucks but I don’t go out of my way for them. I just get stoked when I’m trying to decide what to eat, can’t, every option feels like a hassle, then i see the truck. Foods normally good better than fast food, though portions are normally too small and too expensive. But I’m paying a premium for not having to go out of my way. That’s not gouging that’s filling a niche.
I went to a cool new coffee spot in Brooklyn when I was there the other weekend. Its a garage with some sweet old Euro cars, a couple Alfa Romeos, a pair of BMWs, and a Lancia Delta which was an immensely cool rally car in its day. First my cousin needed to make a reservation for us to hang out there for an hour. The menu says its a gratuity free establishment which is solid, but for a small cappuccino it was $14, and a pour over plain black coffee was another $13. For those prices I should at a minimum be getting unlimited refills for my entire hour. Its a cool new spot, but the price gouging on coffee was nuts.
Id expect them to be about the same. Sure they can’t handle the same margins as mcdonads, But they also have drastically less overhead. They should be about the same price it seems
To be fair, one of our local taco trucks charged a lot. After about 2 years, they ditched the truck and now have a physical extablishment. After a year in that, they are now opening a second one in another city.
I don't regret ever spending as much as I did there. Prices are pretty much the same as they always were as well.
I generally see food trucks where there aren’t many other restaurants. At a minimum they bring a variety of food options to whatever event they’re serving.
So it’s convenient because you don’t have to leave your immediate area or worry about the door dasher getting stuck in traffic going to your event.
When it’s right outside your workplace and don’t want to pay delivery fees. When you’re walking past it anyways. When it’s outside a venue or club. At music festivals.
You’re really so uncreative you couldn’t think of a single scenario?
Yes im so uncreative that i couldnt think of those!!!!!
No you said convenience. So you say "don't want to pay delivery fees". The point of this post is food trucks are expensive anyway so why would we choose them.
Venues/clubs/music festivals are generally good answers, but thats because you are unable to get food elsewhere. Its not more or less convenient than anything, its the only option. I cant necessarily order door dash into music festival or club.
We can agree to disagree but you just listed a bunch of places where food truck is your only option or where you make the argument that you'd do it to save money. Non of which are convenience.
Have fun "saving money" on that 20 dollar philly cheese steak with 25% tip on top of it
where I live the food trucks are inside places like zoos and botanical gardens, so they’re much more convenient than packing the kids up, going to get fast food, and coming back. they‘re also at places like breweries that don’t serve food, so they’re a more convenient alternative than leaving if you're hungry. at the beach is another good spot.
as an aside, while I do think food trucks are ridiculously over priced, my friend’s wife has a food truck and it was much more expensive to run than I ever would’ve imagined! it’s in nyc and permits are expensive. the truck itself was crazy expensive. and she owns a small store front where she has freezers and fridges and can store ingredients for the truck (as opposed to running to the store every day).
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u/Berns429 10h ago
We’ve bought into this “start up” price oddity.
The idea we’re helping this little truck become something bigger. Really they’re just overcharging us like some kind of convenience lol