Just as in Venice where “Each new wave of
enterprising young men… tended to reduce the profits and economic success of
established elites” (A&R 154), food trucks are beginning to challenge the
brick-and-mortar traditional restaurants. In turn, those restaurants, like the
elites of old, are attempting to “close down the system to these new people”
(A&R 155). These two
articles
address the contemporary clash of old and new.
The restaurant owners have legitimate concerns; as
one owner in Vegas points out, food trucks take advantage of the advertisements
that restaurant owners pay good money on to attract people to their locations.
The trucks will often park right out front and “poach” business. Restaurant
owners in large cities are pushing for regulations prohibiting food trucks from
staying in one spot too long or parking within certain distances of a
brick-and-mortar location.
On the flip side, the argument can be made that the
rise of food trucks is modern creative destruction. As food truck entrepreneur
Amy Le points out, “It’s a free market. Let the consumers decide when and where
they want to eat” (Needleman). Allowing their businesses to flourish “would provide an opportunity for small
businesses to continue to grow and to provide benefits to the District, to
other businesses and to residents and workers” (Morris). I wouldn’t go so far to say that blocking the
rising food truck industry will destroy the economy, but food trucks can cater to ever changing
tastes and lifestyles, and in the end yield more positive results than negative.
It's interesting to hear about food trucks using their mobility as a business strategy over other stationary competitors. I've always thought of the nomadic nature of food trucks as a sort of disadvantage because it would make it harder to create a network of regular customers than it is for traditional restaurants if the truck is constantly changing parking places, making it hard to locate.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if this issue of "poaching" customers will cause restaurants to evolve and invest in their own fleets of food trucks to better suit the growing market. The trucks could save, and even make more money for successful businesses; they could be parked outside of the restaurants to take up spaces that other food trucks would try to park in, they would provide mobile and visible advertising space for the business, and they would generate their own revenue by selling food. A very interesting perspective on market competition; thanks for the post, Gabrielle.
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