Minneapolis, as with many other localities, is in the midst of a war, Food Trucks vs. Restaurants. Yesterday there was a meeting of the Downtown Food Committee (comprised of food retailers), who asked downtown restaurants to come and discuss how they have been negatively affected by food trucks.
According to the flyer, “All Retailers are invited to the meeting to provide information on how food trucks have affected your sales and number of employees. Be prepared to say if you sales have changed (“we’re down 12% over 2011”) or if your payroll has changed (“we had to cut hours for our staff by 12%).”
The best response we saw to this meeting and to the general war, Food Trucks vs. Restaurants – was from Stewart Woodman, a chef and co-owner of two Minneapolis restaurants. Stewart wrote in the Twin Cities Daily Planet:
This is ‘merica son, freedom ain’t free, that means that if another guy or gal has a killer idea, it might kills yours. You gotta jump in with both feet and fix your product to get it where it needs to be, ain’t no two ways about it. I’d be happy to offer my services as a consultant, me and Kevin Sawyer, if you can handle the truth.
For the record I think the city has been careful, and considerate in how they have implemented the food truck rules. Of course there is room in the conversation for improvement, but not for using government to limit competition.
Finally food trucks have given us a lot in the way of delicious food over the last few years, they have certainly established a place for themselves. The public has been introduced to a lot of wonderful flavors and experiences, how that is bad for the resto biz is beyond me.
A higher tide rises all boats.”
Yeah boyyyyy! We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.
Stewart and his wife owns 2 downtown Minneapolis restaurants, so you know they are in the middle of this…but they’ve stepped up to the plate and competed.
There was another article on the City Pages blog that asked people for their opinions on the matter of Food Trucks vs. Restaurants. Of the 23 comments left as of last night, only 2 were not pro-competition.
They were mostly along the lines of “maybe your business wouldn’t be suffering if your food was good, or your prices were reasonable.” and “why are there lines at some of the food trucks? Because they spend the time and care to make damn tasty food. If Mr. Sams could move beyond his Sysco inspired menu he might increase his customer base.”
And finally: “This is silly. If your food is good people will come…Free enterprise is an amazing thing.”
In our opinion, if a restaurant with a full kitchen to work with, seating, bathrooms, and often a bar can’t provide a compelling alternative to a food truck, they are in the wrong business.
