re: Has the Foodtruck trend peaked?

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I ran numbers on them many times cause I was thinking about getting into it but just couldn't justify the investment with projected income/time commitment

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Interesting. Doing the same thing. A friend of mine wants to get one started.

I agree a lot of good ones go to B&M and the shitty ones drop out.

In Baton Rouge, at least, the movement ended about 3 years ago when the 2 most popular trucks (Dolce de Vita Pizza and Curbside Burgers) got brick and mortar restaurants in New Orleans. Curbside has since come back to BR with new restaurants. The issue has been that the new food trucks simply have not been able to capture the popularity and following that those 2 were able to garner with their inventive and just freaking fantastic products.

I still see food trucks at festivals, at some bars late at night, and in downtown BR around lunch time.

Yea there's a few spots in the DFW area where trucks stay. Klyde Warren, Deep Ellum Brewery, and even the Roughriders stadium in Frisco has 4 or 5 for each game set up inside an area in the park.

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Yea there's a few spots in the DFW area

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Truck Yard on lower greenville has a dedicated area for trucks too. And I hear there are food trucks the set up at the big soul sucking office/warehouse areas in the burbs. Pecan Lodge Barbecue started out that way and built a word of mouth following.

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In Baton Rouge, at least, the movement ended about 3 years ago when the 2 most popular trucks (Dolce de Vita Pizza and Curbside Burgers) got brick and mortar restaurants

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There are still plenty trucks. I work downtown and can count 8-10 on any given day.

i dont get how most food trucks turn a profit, considering costs and the limited amount of product they can put out. It almost seems like a hobby for most.

In some places it is a land use/availability issue. Most trucks in New Orleans that have steady, consistent locations, generally near bars or large public gathering spaces do well. If you don't have a place to park where people can find you consistently you won't have much long term success.

Also the other thing that helps trucks in NO (and places like Austin) is the large number of outdoor events, festivals, small fairs, etc., that draw people to/in the streets and sometimes away from brick and mortar restaurants.

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Because of what most of them are trying to do, they tend to be very slow.

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This is what I've noticed. Some seem to get too ambitious and forget to keep-it-simple-stupid.

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If you don't have a place to park where people can find you consistently you won't have much long term success.

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The Portland city council tried to put food trucks out of business. Right when food trucks were taking off, the restaurant industry in Portland lobbied the CC to make it illegal to park a food truck on public property. This meant that trucks couldn't drive to where all the people are and set up shop around stadium venues, public parks, or office buildings.

The city council thought they'd screwed over the food trucks, but what happened is that people with private land started renting space out where the food trucks could park permanently in parking lots, vacant lots, etc... Some people with parking lots would rent out space to 8-10 food trucks so it created an outdoor food court. They set up covered areas and picnic tables for patrons, and it took off.

This concept exploded, and I think Portland has over 800 food trucks. There is one food truck pod on Alder St. that has 60 food trucks. I take my family down there sometimes, because everybody can find something they like there.