Crowdfunding is coming to the food truck world with a bang.

We recently told you about the Snap Truck raising the last $10,000 they needed to get their truck on the street via Kickstarter.

Now we hear Dessert Truck, the two-time Vendy Award Finalist, is looking to raise money for packaging to get their products into grocery stores.  We had their warm chocolate bread pudding w/vanilla custard sauce at the 2010 Vendy Awards, and it was spectacular!

Jerome Chang, owner of the Dessert Truck and DT Works is working with Paperwhite Studio to create a new brand and packaging so you can enjoy delicious Dessert Truck goodies in the comfort of your own home.  They have already raised over $3,000 and there are still 3 days left.

You can help fund the project with pledges of $5, $25, $50, $100 or $500.  For your pledge, you get desserts worth more than your pledge amount in return.  If the goal is not reached, your credit card is not charged for the pledge.

Jerome is using Lucky Ant for this project.  Check out the short video below for more details or click here for more details.

We also heard about another crowdfunding project coming down the pike from a Vendy-nominated food truck, but have been asked to keep quiet until the vendor is ready to go public.  We’ll let you know about that one soon.

Jerome Chang at the 2010 Vendy Awards (Best Dessert Finalist)

Do you want to learn how to start a food truck business in NYC?  How do you get the necessary permits and licenses?  How much does it cost to buy a food truck?  Which foods have the best profit margins?

These and other questions will be answered at The Learning Annex on April 19th by Jerome Chang of The Dessert Truck and Sean Sullivan of Feed Your Hole.  Jerome and Sean have two of the best food trucks in NYC, and Jerome also opened a storefront on the LES last year called DT Works.

Sean Sullivan

Click here for more information on the class, which costs $45.  Some of the course description sounds like an infomercial with lines such as “You could make thousands of dollars your first day!” and “Take control of your life by gaining financial independence and success for your future!”.

Don’t be taken in by the hyperbole. While it all sounds very exciting and glamorous, be forewarned that food trucks are a very difficult, low-margin business.  You are constantly dealing with commissaries, mechanical problems, bad weather, police, and a whole host of other difficulties that make this a very tough endeavor.

In fact, less than an hour ago, The Kimchi Truck tweeted “Not a good day. Being forced to shut down by restaurants & building owners. Times Square Alliance busting our balls about the line. CBRE needs to mind it’s biz!”

If you truly have the stomach for this type of business, both Jerome and Sean have been through the process, and should be able to offer real insights into the food truck business.

Dessert Truck's warm chocolate bread pudding w/vanilla custard sauce

Best Dessert winner Alex Rein, last year's winner Thomas De Geest, host Pat Kiernan and Sean Basinski, Street Vendor Project

The Vendy Award Dessert category was a very difficult category to predict.  Any of the nominees could easily have been justified being chosen as the Best Dessert vendor, with 2 past Vendy finalists chosen again this year.

But the people at the event voted, and they chose Kelvin Natural Slush Company as the Best Dessert.  This has to be the first time a Vendy Award winner took their name from a temperature scale.

Kelvin came onto the scene a few days before our Dessert Alert on July 25th, which contains our first review of their delicious drink.  They came up with a couple of special slushes for the event: The Vendy, which was 1/2 ginger and 1/2 citrus slush with blueberry added, and The Governator, which was 1/2 citrus and 1/2 tea with pear added.  Congratulations to Alex and his team on this great win!

BGICT's Salty Pimp

Doug and Bryan from the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck were nominated again this year after being a double nominee last year in the rookie and dessert categories.  They probably had the longest lines of the day, but everyone who read Doug’s blog post would understand that no ice cream machine could meet the demands of the Vendy Awards.

To help alleviate this, they set up a table on the side of the truck with small samples and toppings for people who did not want to wait on line.   I waited on line for about 1/2 hour for a Salty Pimp – and it was well worth it.  Thank you Doug and Bryan for serving such great ice cream and making us laugh at the same time – as long as your ice cream doesn’t come shooting out my nose because of it.

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Dessert Truck's warm chocolate bread pudding with vanilla custard sauce

Also back at the Vendy’s was Jerome Chang’s Dessert Truck, who were dessert category finalists in 2008.  Since then, they opened a store on the LES called DTWorks, took the truck off the road in 2009 – and put it back on the road in 2010, leading to another Vendy Award nomination.

Jerome served two of his most popular desserts – warm chocolate bread pudding with vanilla custard sauce and buttermilk panna cotta with cassis compote and pine nuts.  We loved the warm chocolate bread pudding.  We didn’t try the panna cotta, but several people I spoke with during the day raved about it. Excellent work Jerome and crew.

Guerrilla's 72% chocolate and port wine ice cream

Guerrilla Ice Cream was new to the Vendys this year – and they showed they deserve to be here.  Ethan Frisch and Ori Zohar create gourmet ice cream and toppings based on p;olitical movements.

I tasted the 72% chocolate and port wine ice cream topped with a bruleed banana and cashews, which was inspired by the Guinea-Bissau revolution.  It was wonderful!

They also had a lemon poppy seed ice cream topped with crumbled spice cookies and lemon zest, which was inspired by the Czech Republic Velvet Revolution.  Excellente Ethan and Ori!

Yao's Dragon Beard Candy

The last Vendy Award finalist in the dessert category was Yao Ai Kui of Yao’s Dragon Beard Candy.  They pulled sugar into lace-thin strips and rolled them around peanuts and coconut.  We had some dragon beard candy in Chinatown a week ago, and enjoyed it very much.

Yao's Dragon Beard Candy

Everyone in the Vendy Award Dessert category was amazing.  Congratulations to Alex and all the Vendy Award finalists.

To read more about the Vendy Award winners in each category, click here.

To read more about the Vendy Award main category finalists, click here.

To read more about the Vendy Award Rookie of the Year finalists, click here.

]]> http://newyorkstreetfood.com/10209/vendy-awards-2010-the-dessert-category/feed/ 1 http://newyorkstreetfood.com/7365/breaking-dessert-alert-dessert-truck-back-on-the-street/ http://newyorkstreetfood.com/7365/breaking-dessert-alert-dessert-truck-back-on-the-street/#comments Thu, 01 Jul 2010 19:07:01 +0000 admin http://newyorkstreetfood.com/?p=7365

After opening a storefront on the Lower East Side last January and keeping their truck garaged except for special events, the Dessert Truck is hitting the pavement again this summer and into the fall.

Jerome sent out this message on facebook and twitter: “The truck will be back on the street thru the end of Oct 2010. We just got a seasonal permit and will give it a go at our old spot tonight beginning at 6pm. 3rd Ave & St. Mark’s Pl. Streamlined menu. Special thanks to Ben, John & Ernie”

Definitely a welcome return for those of us with a sweet-tooth.

Buttermilk Truck

Mainstreet.com recently published a list of their choices for the best food trucks in America.  While there are the usual suspects such as Calexico Carne Asada (not actually a food truck) and Dessert Truck (which is now a storefront) in New York and Kogi Korean BBQ, Skillet and Buttermilk Truck in L.A., there were a few left-field choices too.  Click here to see them, as well as to read a (very) short history of food trucks.

It’s nice to see some lesser-known food trucks getting props.  Food Shark (Marfa, TX), The Chef Shack (Minneapolis, MN) and Sweetflow Mobile (Washington DC) get some love here too.

However, our favorite part of the article is their short history of food trucks:

“Food trucks have been around for decades.  Actually, if you consider the chuck wagon, created in 1866, mobile eateries have been around for well over a century.  Of course, the first diner, established in 1872, was actually a food truck.  Creator Walter Scott parked his horse-drawn freight wagon in front of the Providence Journal offices and sold hard-boiled eggs and sandwiches to its workers.” [mainstreet.com]

Gotta love the chuck wagon shout-out.

Chuck Wagon

]]> http://newyorkstreetfood.com/6907/one-sites-take-on-the-best-food-trucks/feed/ 0 http://newyorkstreetfood.com/5129/the-latest-in-food-truckretail-crossover/ http://newyorkstreetfood.com/5129/the-latest-in-food-truckretail-crossover/#comments Wed, 28 Apr 2010 02:35:16 +0000 admin http://newyorkstreetfood.com/?p=5129 Some people think the end game for a food truck is to open a brick-and-mortar restaurant or store and put the ol’ truck up on cinder blocks, metaphorically speaking.  While some food trucks, such as the Dessert Truck, did this, it’s becoming much more common for a food truck vendor to open a physical location and keep the wheels on the truck turning.  The list keeps getting longer every day.

Calexico Carne Asada cart

One of the best-known street vendors to open a restaurant is Calexico Carne Asada, the 2008 Vendy Award winner who opened a restaurant in Brooklyn and recently won the Best New Mexican category in Time Out’s Eat Out Awards 2010.  They still have 2 carts operating in Soho.  Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream recently opened a store in Greenpoint, and their 2 trucks are still going strong.

Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream trucks

There are some other food trucks in varying stages of opening retail establishments.  Lev Ekster from Cupcake Stop told me they are taking space in the upcoming Limelight Marketplace.  Le Gamin also opened a restaurant in Greenpoint, and have now sent their truck on a cross-country trip.  And the latest to take the plunge is the NYC Cravings truck, who have reportedly signed a lease for a new food court scheduled to open in Koreatown later this year.

Go Burger truck

A few restaurants have taken the reverse route (pun intended).  Go Burger, the new food truck hitting different street festivals each weekend, was created by the people behind the BLT restaurants.  And just yesterday, Cafe Habana confirmed they will have a food truck, Habana Outpost, opening soon on the Upper West Side near the American Museum of Natural History, one of our all-time favorite places in New York.

Habana Outpost

Both of these types of expansions make sense.  A retail restaurant or store can provide some financial cushion for a truck vendor during the winter or bad weather, when significantly fewer people want to get their food outside.  Operating a food truck is also a fairly difficult proposition, with truck repairs, finding good spots to sell, permits and licenses, and police/other vendor harassment being some of the fun things food trucks deal with regularly.

For restaurants, a food truck can provide a second source of income, as well as expand a  restaurant’s “brand” in the marketplace.  When times are tough, people want cheaper alternatives, which a food truck can provide.

We told you about the next big dessert fad, macarons.  To help jump-start the process, the Macaron Maven (François Payard) has declared March 20th the 1st Annual Macaron Day NYC 2010.  This will coincide with the 5th Annual Jour du Macaron in Paris, which was created by Pierre Hermé.

There will be free macarons given away at around a dozen bakeries (maybe even a bakers dozen bakeries), including Bouchon Bakery and our old friend, Dessert Truck Works.  To receive a free macaron tell the shop you are there for Macaron Day NYC.  Limit one per person while quantities last.

For all macarons purchased that day, a portion of the proceeds will be donated to City Harvest, who are dedicated to feeding the city’s hungry men, women, and children. [Macaron Day NYC 2010]

The Dessert Truck has officially opened their storefront on the Lower East Side called DT Works, at 6 Clinton St, between E. Houston and Stanton Street. They retained the original menu that made them a 2008 Vendy Award Finalist, including carmelized apple over puff pastry, warm molten chocolate cake, and warm chocolate bread pudding with bacon custard sauce (pictured).  Desserts are $6 each and hot chocolate or a milk chocolate bark with pretzels and hazelnuts is $3 .

High/Low Food/Drink was there and took some yummy-looking pictures.  It looks pretty comfy, too. Can’t wait to check out their new place. Congratulations!

The duo paired wines with different types of street food, and were joined by Zach Brooks of Midtown Lunch at their first stop, the Kwik Meal cart.  Gary threw a fast ball, pairing the platter with a 2008 Premiado Torrontes.

Then it was off to meet up with Jerome Chang of the Dessert Truck.  There they sampled his award winning chocolate bread pudding and the warm chocolate molten cake.  Quick on his feet, Gary whipped out a 2006 Tohu Pinot Noir, which paired perfectly with the sweets.

Fun and interesting viewing below.

David Byrne’s oft-quoted lyric was applied to the street food craze by Black Book magazine.  According to their article, first there was Treats Truck, then Dessert Truck, then Rickshaw Dumpling Truck, then all hell breaks loose! [Black Book]