Topic: Cleveland: Food Trucks/Carts News & Discussion

[rockandroller]

Saigon is really a sit down restaurant that offers takeout, not the same thing as a more takeout-focused place. I mean, Tomaydo Tomahto, another one I forgot, has some tables but it's really a counter service restaurant. Any place that is counter service IMO is a fast-casual takeout place, even if they have a few tables. Different than a table service place. There's also captain tony's there in that little plaza.

[tedders55]

Daves Cosmic Subs, better than Jimmy Johns by far, by Tea House Noodles but they may have reached chain status. 

Tuckey's @ Reserve Square- its not "good" food, but it is that great bad food for those days when you really need something greasy.

[DeanSheen]

I sent Cimperman an email and his assistant replied.  That was interesting that I received a response.  Yes, I'm very concerned about this and I also feel that the trucks make the food scene and downtown more vibrant.  I rarely sit down to eat lunch and I work downtown so options like these are important to me.

RE Takeout:  Not exactly downtown but on E30th between Superior and St. Clair is Tastebuds. 

[rockandroller]

I love tastebuds, and slymans and many others that basically require either a car or at least 1:45-2 hours for lunch if you're going to walk.

[327]

Slyman's is one that could really benefit from a truck.  Its physical location is kinda obsolete, not nearly as much employment around there anymore.

[rockandroller]

they are doing a fantastic business, there is always a line out the door and really "need" no truck, but us downtown proper workers would sure love to see one, for sure.

[TMH]

Food trucks can't yet park on downtown Cleveland streets, but Cuyahoga County is open for business.

On Friday, Dim and Den Sum -- purveyors of fish tacos and pork BLTs -- will serve office crowds from a small Ontario Street parking lot, behind the county administration building.

The truck will be open 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., said county spokeswoman Nicole Dailey Jones. And in future lunch hours, other Cleveland food trucks may feature daily specials from the lot.

http://www.cleveland.com/cuyahoga-county/index.ssf/2011/04/cuyahoga_county_to_open_parking_lot_for_food_truck.html

[rockandroller]

that's a brilliant move! I feel bad for those in the DT area who are not near this particular section of downtown though. I've walked up to star plaza to eat at the truck for example, it does a brisk businsess.

[McCleveland]

like i said though, this is odd. they have been told they are allowed to use many of the private lots dt.

[TheBeaver]

like i said though, this is odd. they have been told they are allowed to use many of the private lots dt.

I agree about this whole controversy about food trucks in the CBD being a bit odd.  Part of me wonders if Dim and Den Sum received a grant/loan from the City's food cart program.  A grant from the City may include requirements on where the truck does business.

If so, the City may have been upset about their grant/loan money being used to fund a food truck that spends a good portion of its time in office parks OUTSIDE the City.  By arguing that the law doesn't allow them to serve in the CBD Dim and Den Sum may be trying to find a way to justify the locations it decides to serve.  Again, this is pure speculation, but highly plausible.   

[tedders55]

like i said though, this is odd. they have been told they are allowed to use many of the private lots dt.

Wouldn't they need to gain permission to use these lots from the property owners?  If the property owners are not giving them the OK then it very much is a problem.  I would be very surprised if they are allowed to just pull into any private lot and set up shop without prior OK.

[327]

I would be very surprised if they are allowed to just pull into any private lot and set up shop without prior OK.

Of course not.  The owner would probably want some rent and there are also liability issues to deal wth.

[McCleveland]

yes. and i was told they were given contacts with private owners who were willing to work out arrangements.

[Loretto]

There was a lot of talk when Cleveland was undertaking measures to regulate food trucks often citing to SF and LA.  San Francisco and California are revisiting their own regulations where similar arguments are arising.


Curtailing a fight over food trucks

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Trucks selling tacos, falafels and noodles as well as high-priced gourmet munchies are a colorful and flavorful slice of life in San Francisco.

But, like everything else in this city, these mobile eateries have become a source of friction between competing interests.

The truck operators want to make a living. Hungry San Franciscans want a varied choice of luncheon fare. Restaurant owners and other merchants want the trucks to park someplace else. City Hall wants to regulate the businesses without putting them out of business, though city law right now takes a ham-handed approach toward these popular culinary vagabonds.

...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/03/04/EDLN1MNTNQ.DTL

[CBC]

http://www.fireduptacotruck.com/

New food truck on the scene. These guys had their truck parked in the middle of Lakewood last night and were handing out flyers. They weren't cooking anything yet. Very enthusiastic. The kitchen in the truck looked very well done. The graphics on the truck look a little hokey on the website but much better in person.

 

[joey1320]

Humm I had called Lakewood's City Hall and was told the city doesn't allow food trucks. That was at the beginning of the year. 

[BelievelandD1]

Fired up taco truck sets up shop in lakewood all the time, must have been reversed

[joey1320]

Fired up taco truck sets up shop in lakewood all the time, must have been reversed

Oh nice, good for Lakewood to open up to the new ways.

[KJP]

I usually think of food trucks as something that's serving the lunch crowd. But are there food trucks that operate in the evenings and serve dinner crowds? If so, and if these trucks can park in the evenings along Clifton or Lake in the concentrations of apartment buildings (like south of Lakewood Park), then I think they could do a good business. There aren't any restaurants within an easy walk of these locations, despite there being a high population density. I think the Lakewood Park area would do especially well because you also get a lot of people visiting the lakefront park on summer evenings.

Of course, if they want to park in the church parking lot at Clifton and Cove, I'm all for that too.

[MorningTheft]

^Fired Up Tacos regularly parks in the Mini Mart parking lot on Detroit on, it seems like, Thurs evenings.  Since its a private parking lot, I don't think Lakewoods laws are in play, though Dim and Dem Sum used to park on Detroit back in the day, so I don't know what the laws are.

[rockandroller]

Yes, some of them park in Tremont to serve the bar crowds late, but not too many anywhere else late.

[tedders55]

Speaking of food trucks...

Jibaro food truck owners to run restaurant on Middle Bass Island

Published: Monday, June 25, 2012, 12:54 PM     Updated: Monday, June 25, 2012, 1:53 PM
Debbi Snook, The Plain Dealer By Debbi Snook, The Plain Dealer

Good news for fans of Middle Bass Island: St. Hazard's resort will be kicking up its heels this summer to a Latin beat.

The dire legal and financial binds that threatened to shutter the restaurant and swimming pool complex this summer have been loosened enough for a seasonal tenant, Jibaro World Eats, operator of one of Cleveland's popular food trucks.

[KJP]

Yes, some of them park in Tremont to serve the bar crowds late, but not too many anywhere else late.

I'm thinking more of dinner time since there are no restaurants within easy walking distance of the north-central part of Lakewood around Lakewood Park.

[rockandroller]

I thought you were asking, like, searching for info, not making a business suggestion. I don't know that many would be interested. I don't think that would be what they would consider a lot of business. A lot of business for a truck, something to make it worthwhile is them parking at some type of event or an area where people are not only highly concentrated in numbers of bodies, but also a likely candidate to eat there. A few walk up customers at a park compared to, say, a concert will illustrate the difference. The convergence on walnut during Walnut Wednesdays is enough of a mass of concentrated people during a particular time window to ensure a profit. Casually parking at a park where there may be a few dozen people there, most of which who will have eaten elsewhere or who have picky kids who won't want to eat stuff like that, as well as little ability to sit down and cut things up, etc., it's really not their crowd IMO. Bars, concerts, farmer's markets, places where there will be a LOT of people in a short amount of time who are likely to want to eat. You can argue the point with me, of course, that's just my take.

[jam40jeff]

I'm thinking more of dinner time since there are no restaurants within easy walking distance of the north-central part of Lakewood around Lakewood Park.

There are many restaurants in Lakewood just 1/2 mile south of Lakewood Park.

[musky]

Internal discussions are going on to create legislation that will allow food trucks in Euclid. I believe this was prompted by the owners of Paragon on Lake Shore Boulevard.

[KJP]

There are many restaurants in Lakewood just 1/2 mile south of Lakewood Park.

Too far. Each major east-west thoroughfare (Lakewood Heights Boulevard [though mostly eliminated by I-90], Madison, Detroit and Clifton/Lake) is spaced about a half-mile apart from the other. Only Clifton/Lake has no restaurants or other businesses along it (except for a hidden gas station). Food trucks offer an option close by without tearing down anything. I like to be able to walk less than five minutes to get a freshly cooked meal. To dine in a park setting is an extra plus.