Atlanta Restaurants Say Food Trucks are Taking a Bite Out of Their Sales
Decatur Metro | October 12, 2011One of the main reasons we’ve heard that the City of Decatur has hesitated to jump to the cutting edge of the food truck craze in the past year is the potential impact on existing brick-and-mortar restaurants and other food businesses already set up in the city. So, I suppose it’s little surprise that in Atlanta, where food trucking has become easier recently thanks to the lifting of some restrictions, there’s been a bit of backlash from local restauranteurs.
The AJC reports this morning…
But in some cases, the trucks have brought controversy along with gelato, tamales, Venezuelan corn cakes and char-grilled hot dogs. They have lower overhead than restaurants and — some restaurateurs suspect — tenuous allegiances to particular neighborhoods and their existing businesses. In a tough restaurant market, is that an unfair advantage?
“My main issue is, how are they helping the community?” said Coggin, who noted that his restaurant is hit up for charitable donations every week and wonders if food trucks are also asked. “Are they just making a buck and leaving? It’s like poaching.”
The “Art Stroll” in Castleberry Hill became the focus of the food truck debate earlier this year when the trucks got a special exemption from Atlanta to park in a public area.
And while I’ve come down on both sides of this argument in our time discussing it, the more I read about it and see real examples of its impact, the more respectful I am of the complexity of the situation.
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Hardly any hard details to back up claims, but I think it’s funny to hear “It’s not a competition thing” and “We’re not trying to steal any business from restaurants or bars.” Of course they are!!! It’s the nature of the business. There was going to be complaining no matter what. The strong and best will survive on their merits and the weak will fade away for good reasons.
mmmmmm….corndogs….
If the restaurants are so worried, they should join in the food truck business! (As Marlay, Duck’s, etc. have) If not… then they should make their food better and more appealing than the food truck. It’s just business… everything changes, and it is up to the restaurant to keep up with the competition. If people are choosing food trucks over your restaurant enough to harm your business, then maybe it’s time to make a change with your restaurant.
I’ve patronized the Duck’s truck a few times when they hit midtown. The food is cheap, super-fast, and very tasty. And obviously Duck’s and Marlay (and I am sure this is true of a few other food trucks) are local businesses. I can’t see a downside to the food trucks at all. The complaints of the existing businesses remind me of the petition of the candlemakers.
“Petition of the candlemakers.” I had to Google it. Thanks, DEM. Love me some 19th century satire.
Incumbent businesses might be hurt by the extra competition and don’t like that. I understand that reaction, but I don’t see it as any reason to protect them from the competition. If consumers like food trucks more, then let them have food trucks. This is the sort of situation where it seems we should let the market work its magic.
The only caveat to the above is that I can imagine that brick-and-mortar businesses might have a legitimate complaint if they’re required to pay a bunch of property taxes to support infrastructure, whereas food trucks are granted special parking passes on public property for next to nothing–don’t know if that’s true, but if so, I can see a case for ensuring that the different sorts of businesses are taxed equitably.
I can’t wait for the Beer trucks.
The Growler Prowler!
<3
The brick and mortars that are feeling a negative impact should organize an occupation of the Food Trucks.
#occupyfoodtruckThursday
“My main issue is, how are they helping the community?” said Coggin
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By selling food that people like and want to buy.
+1
-1
Brick and mortar restaurants contribute property taxes and jobs to the local economy. They are also usually involved in urban planning since they have “skin in the game”. Food trucks, however, pay no taxes (teachers, police officers, and firefighters aren’t cheap), are less likely to hire locally, and couldn’t give a rat’s ass about the longevity of the community they are currently parked in.
IMHO, food trucks are a step down the path of lowest common denominator rather than an improvement to the community. If I could vote, I would vote *not* to stab our local, tax-paying businesses in the back.
Judgmental often? But I will let you review your own comments to find the assumptions you made. And then you can argue with yourself about them.
Please enlighten or at least disprove whatever you believe I’m implying.
1) you assumed food truckers don’t participate in urban planning. Do you have proof they don’t? 2) you assumed they have no interest in the community, and that they are only back-stabbing established restaurants. Do you have proof for this?
Did someone in a food truck run over your family? Why the angst over food trucks, huh?
“stab our local, tax-paying businesses in the back.”
They saw a niche and filled it, that’s business, not backstabbing. It wouldn’t be fair if there were some process in place that prevented brick and mortar places from having food trucks, but that’s not the case. There’s nothing stopping from having their own trucks, and some do.
It sounds like your real beef is with the government that you believe gives them an unfair advantage, not the vendors. Food trucks are a relatively new thing here, and I have absolutely no doubt that the government will start taxing and feeing every penny they can out of them, once they get hip to it. Be patient, before you know it, you’ll see a $4 tax on a $2 hot dog, and we’ll all watch while the government squeezes the life blood out of a new concept, and many will cease to exist. Yay!
Seeing a niche and filling it is one thing. Taking advantage of a (property) tax loophole is another. I’m all for fair competition. I’m not for rewarding unethical cleverness over loyalty.
But there really isn’t a law at this point that makes a way for them to pay for property taxes on property they don’t own. Whoever they pay rent to, if they do, pays tax on their property.
Should they have waited on the government to sort out their end of it, before they started their businesses, if or when that ever happens?
It’s like buying something from Amazon in GA. No sales tax. I don’t buy from there to avoid sales tax, but the system just isn’t set up like that yet, and that’s not anyone’s fault who purchases things from Amazon. (Of course I always pay at the end of the year…)
The trucks pay no taxes? I guess they bought the trucks without paying sales tax? Neat trick. And they pay no sales taxes on the stuff they buy to make the food or the food they sell to customers?
DEM – How clever of you for taking two words out of context. Taken in context, it was pretty clear I was speaking of property taxes.
No, it wasn’t clear, since you parenthetical clearly implied that the trucks contribute nothing to police, fire, etc.
No taxes?
From the AJC article:
“Operators also have to make the food at a licensed and health-inspected kitchen or commissary. Operators have to get a food service permit from Fulton County’s environmental health department before getting a vendor license from Atlanta. [...] Through rent, the food trucks would pay at least some of the property taxes of the kitchens that make their food. And the truck itself has to get a permit from local health departments, which can run about $500. Compared to what a restaurant has to go through, it’s the “same process, same fee,” Smith said.”
You think food trucks are less likely to hire locally? Maybe hyper-locally, but this seems insignificant. The brick & mortars in Decatur hire people who live in Candler Park and Alpharetta and unincorporated DeKalb. Outsiders aren’t driving in from Florida to exploit Food Truck Thursdays or anything. And I assume that a food truck owner would care about the longevity of the community, because they’d like to keep selling lots of people in that community delicious corn dogs.
“Through rent, the food trucks would pay at least some of the property taxes of the kitchens that make their food.”
Rent and propery taxes in what area ? Not likely in the City of Decatur. Hence, my assertion stands. City of Decatur property taxes are *not* cheap, thus putting local businesses at a disadvantage compared to food trucks. Brick and mortar business invest in the local community while food trucks poach.
“And I assume that a food truck owner would care about the longevity of the community, because they’d like to keep selling lots of people in that community delicious corn dogs.”
That’s a generous assumption for a food truck, that by its nature, moves to new/different neighborhoods all the time. Rather, a closer analogy is a parasite. It doesn’t care if it kills its host – it moves on to other hosts.
How about rephrasing the question as “on balance, which option better serves the community – bricks-and-mortar, or food trucks?”
I mean, we don’t have to be anti-food truck to recognize that some bricks-and-mortar businesses (Brickstore being a prime example) provide a lot more than just product.
Food Trucks aren’t required to have bathrooms ( much less handicap compliant ones ), mandatory gigantic grease traps, parking lots, etc. etc. – they currently enjoy a huge competitive advantage.
Seems that location is perhaps a focal point here. So maybe a partial leveler is for food truckers to invest in the space they will use to make it safe and workable for pedestrian and car traffic, etc. They would still probably have a compeitive advantage.
Re my involvement in and thoughts about competitive advantage, how would I feel if a manager of Home Depot complained to me that the Lowes or Ace’s low overhead or better supply chain (all hypothetical of course) was killing his store’s business? The explanation for me laughing at him is not that they are all cogs in corporate wheels either.
Similarly, Google doesn’t need to buy paper or ink to make Google Maps. Huge competitive advantage over Rand McNally. I suppose we need to do something to level the playing field. Maybe we should just vote to ban Google maps to keep the printed map companies in business. Ditto for GPS systems, while we’re at it.
DEM – Dude, that’s weak. Falling back on inaccurate analogies rather than debating in context is a sign of a weak hand. You can do better than that.
Well then how about the posts above re: trucks stabbing local businesses in the back and being parasites? In any event, my post was intended to be a bit toungue and cheek, looks like I failed in the effort.
Sarcasm doesn’t across well in text. My apologies (seriously !) for not taking it as you intended it, DEM.
Food trucks are here to stay – adapt or die.
I agree with the statement that if your restaurant is losing business to a guy selling food out of a truck a mile away then there is something terribly wrong with your business and there is something you are not providing your customers.
I have to agree with this argument. The other cities mentioned in the article as having a thriving food-truck industry (not sure if that’s the right term) are also known for their restaurant scenes. The trucks don’t seem to have done in brick-and-mortar places in those areas. They should be able to peacefully coexist here. It may be that licensing and other issues need to be thought through more. For example, I could see a bigger buffer zone between a truck and a restaurant selling the same kind of food. And, the issue of if and how much rent they pay, which was also raised in the AJC article, should be addressed.
As a consumer, the trucks don’t compete—in my mind—with restaurants like DBA, but with chain fast food. If I am going to go to a restaurant, I want to sit down and spend time enjoying my meal. If I have to grab something fast and I am not brown-bagging then I would have to resort to vending machines or fast takeout. I appreciate the alternatives that the food trucks offer.
TDS and Farm Burger would likely politely disagree that food trucks have orthogonal clientelle.
Orthogonal? I know angles, axes and functions can be orthogonal, but clientele? Business term?
For what it’s worth, when I lived years ago in Los Angeles, most of the food trucks were not mobile extensions of brick and mortar restaurants. They were Mom n’ Pop operations staffed by immigrants and serving locations that otherwise were not well-served by brick and mortar food establishments, e.g. residential East L.A. The food was usually incredibly yummy and authentic, not necessarily safe, and it was never clear to me whether the plain white trucks were licensed to sell it. In other words, they filled a niche not filled by anyone else. Other than the food safety issues (which has its costs), they seemed to contribute to the general business economy, not compete with more established businesses.
If current food trucks use city services and deplete resources, then their fees should reflect that. I’m not sure we should worry about competition. The restaurants that have failed lately in Decatur seemed to have tanked quickly without any help from food trucks. One consideration should be food safety. I used to watch food truck staff in Los Angeles grilling meat and filling tacos and be skeptical about their ability to serve food that was both fresh, cheap AND safe.
Huh? did you survey them? really, you dont have to weigh in on everything here. i
Excuse me, but why are you being so nasty? AHiD/Karass (or anyone else) can “weigh in” on any topic here, as often as they like, as long as they’re not breaking the blog rules of civility– rules which you’re coming pretty close to violating. As my girl Becksb would say, “Better check that ‘tude, dude.”
Brava, Cuba. I look at this place like a great cocktail party. Excellent conversation, lots of points of view, and gratitude toward the folks who keep it lively. Why be a mean girl/guy?
As the one bringing the ‘tude more often than not, all I can say is, +1….
Also, I really effing miss Karass,,,,
Me too! I’m staging an Occupy Decatur Metro to bring back Karass!
The worst part is, I’m pretty sure I know who makresident is…anonymity rules!
My husband?
Competition only good if everyone pays the same fixed costs!
I didn’t read that in “Atlas Shrugged.” Is it in your edition?
Bottom line: competition is great and necessary and is what keeps us moving forward.
That being said, for me, food trucks provide a very different product and service than brick and mortar restuarants. When out alone running errands, I have stopped by fast food drive ins for the speed, however, I am very inclined to go to food truck in lieu of these stops. Same with a day out with children. I would not go to Leon’s or No. 246. But food truck? Absolutely. But, date night/meet up with friends/quiet night out alone? Of course it’s brick and mortar and the ambience it provides.
A similar analogy: need quick fast cheap meal and cat food : I go to baby Kroger. Want special ingredients, ready willing able to pay more: go to a specialty market and peruse.
Where would food trucks “park” if allowed to setup shop in Decatur?
It seems to me that the food trucks are simply a nice alternative to a fast food restaurant. If I have time for a relaxing lunch, I go to a regular restaurant…if I’m in a rush, it’s usually a drive thru window….this is a nice other option to that.
Oh my God…food trucks are going to ruin McDonalds and poor Ronald is paying taxes and hiring lots of young people which keeps them off the street so they’re not skateboarding around scaring people and wrecking curbs and starting fights in Chik-fil-a which puts a burden on our police who can’t be wasting time dealing with hooligans because then we would have bikers running stop lights willy nilly and getting run over by crazy drivers thus staining all of our sharrows with biker blood causing everyone to lose their appetites which in turn keeps customers away from all kinds of eateries which are a major draw for downtown and without which the economy will completely dry up and the whole thing just makes me want to bust up my neighbors house with a 2×4. Stop the madness…join me in front of the courthouse at 11:00 for an occupy Decatur protest against the evils of food trucks. Twitter all you friends. See you in an hour.
What I want is a food truck that comes to my house at dinner time!
Having been guilty of it myself, I have to say–as a parting word–, Jesus the shIt Decurites will complain about.
Replace “complain” with “care” and you’re spot-on, mate !
One cannot care by remaining silent.
Not having been to any food truck ever, was wondering do they have to have Health Inspections like brick and mortar restaurants? I eyeball that piece of paper when going to restaurants.
Don’t know if this counts as a food truck but I look forward every Friday after work to treating myself to a Popsicle on the Square from King of Pops for making it through another work week.
According to the Georgia Dept. of Public Health website, yes:
” Q. What are the requirements for operating a mobile food service unit?
A. Individuals interested in applying for a mobile food service permit must submit an application, proposed menu, all assessed fees, HACCP plans (when required), and the establishment plans and specification documents to the local county health department in the county where the mobile food service operation’s base of operation is located. The mobile food service unit must operate as an extension of a base of operation or a permitted food service establishment. In addition to submitting the application for the mobile food service unit permit, the applicant must enclose a copy of the food service permit for the base of operation, a copy of the current county of origin approved menu, a copy of the most recent food service inspection report (if the facility is in operation), and list the 2 locations/routes that the mobile food service unit intends to operate within the county. A separate application must be submitted to each county Health Authority that the mobile food service unit intends to operate. ”
I didn’t find anything addressing specifically how a mobile unit has to display their inspection report but what I read indicated that all food service establishments have to display inspection reports.