Winter is usually a slow time for street food vendors. People would rather wait inside after ordering their lunch than outside in the cold.
Well, the Super Tacos truck found a way to entice people to their truck during the cold or rainy weather; a vestibule like the kind you often see pop up in winter to keep customers warm when someone opens the outside door. It helps protect diners from the elements after ordering their food. The Super Tacos truck on 96th and Broadway has used one since at least 2007, but with the renewed interest in all things street food, it’s in the news again.
Back in 2005, the New Yorker ran a funny profile on Lawrence LoIacono, the guy behind the Acme Awning Co., which installs a lot of the temporary winter vestibules in NYC. He kind of hates them! “They’re nothing but trouble,” he said. “They have moving parts; they’re fiddly; there’s a lot of sticking and sewing… Is it just a status symbol? Is it out there like the Hummer? A vestibule gives the client a perceived notion of warmth.”
So whether it actually keep customers substantially warmer is an open question, as is the vestibule’s legality. But with street food growing in popularity, we’re not surprised to see this. [Gothamist]
