From the unscientific survey we took, it appears the Parked! food truck festival held Saturday at the South Street Seaport was a success.
Yesterday we spoke with ten vendors who attended Parked!, and responses ranged from”awesome” to “lots of hard work, but I’d do it again in a second” to “it was a record-setting day” and “almost everyone out”.
A few of the vendors weren’t too happy about their placement with complaints ranging from “being on a side street, which was less desirable” to “being one truck away from _______”, who had the same cuisine. Even these vendors said “we did alright by the end of the day”, and that was the worst response received.
As for people who attended the event, the ones we spoke with said although the lines were long, they moved fast, and they were able to try several different vendors without spending hours in lines. In fact, @Almost Karadise told us she didn’t wait in line for more than 6 minutes at any truck (she timed it).
Some of this could be due to the procedures the event organizers and some of the trucks put into effect this year. This included reducing menus sizes and taking orders outside the truck to have an extra person in the truck filling orders. Kudos to Mean Red Productions for putting on a great event.
Does this mean food truck festivals in the New York City area are over the hump, and it’s now possible to try food from several vendors and have a good time without waiting on lines all day?
We’ll see.
The next big food truck festival we know of is All About Downtown on Sept 17th in Jersey City, and there are several promising reasons to think this festival will be a lot of fun too.
There will be 10 food trucks, some you know and some that might be new to you. There will be some of New York City’s top food trucks (Korilla BBQ, Luke’s Lobster, Coolhaus, Gorilla Cheese) and some of New Jersey’s top food trucks (Two Pitas In A Pod, Lucinda’s Creperie, La Bella Torte, Mamma Marci, and an Indian food truck we don’t know the name of). This festival is in Jersey City, but it’s right outside the Grove St PATH station, which is only 2 stops from Manhattan. We definitely want to check out some new food trucks from NJ that we’ve heard about, and will be attending the All About Downtown festival.
The week after All About Downtown is the 2011 Vendy Awards, who always put on a great event. New York Street Food is a Silver Level Sponsor of the 2011 Vendy Awards, and we are really looking forward to it.
Maybe food truck festivals in the NYC area have gotten over the hump.
