When did Papagayo close? I went in there maybe a dozen or so times and it was always packed.
The New Retail Thread
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When did Papagayo close? I went in there maybe a dozen or so times and it was always packed.
New report on food trucks in US cities: https://www.foodtrucknation.us/
Guess where Boston lands? Last. (Or if you're an optimist: top 20!) This shouldn't be surprising to anyone as, outside of a few top-down scheduled, approved food truck stops in specific seasons, food trucks are extremely rare.
Interestingly, the report gives grades on three different aspects of food truck operation. Boston is last in "obtaining permits and licenses" and in "operating a food truck" but actually does okay in "complying with restrictions."
Food trucks are purveyors of cheap and creative food, particularly from small, upstart creators (who can't afford massive rents or ridiculously expensive liquor licenses that are essentially required for sit-down restaurants). Making it easier to obtain and operate a food truck would significantly improve the culinary experience in Boston in both the short- and long-term.
Guess where Boston lands? Last. (Or if you're an optimist: top 20!) This shouldn't be surprising to anyone as, outside of a few top-down scheduled, approved food truck stops in specific seasons, food trucks are extremely rare.
Interestingly, the report gives grades on three different aspects of food truck operation. Boston is last in "obtaining permits and licenses" and in "operating a food truck" but actually does okay in "complying with restrictions."
Food trucks are purveyors of cheap and creative food, particularly from small, upstart creators (who can't afford massive rents or ridiculously expensive liquor licenses that are essentially required for sit-down restaurants). Making it easier to obtain and operate a food truck would significantly improve the culinary experience in Boston in both the short- and long-term.
I go to the TJ Maxx sometimes. Maybe Newbury Comics to get that gift for a nephew's birthday or the occasional Pixies, Fugazi, or Heatmiser/Elliott Smith re-release on vinyl (and to relive the time I saw him perform there in 1997 or 1998).
It's the Globe.. which has a very specific and sharp axe to grind with most things Seaport-related as evidenced by several hack-job "stories" (to call them news articles would be comical) over the past year or so. No one should be surprised at all by a negative review.
Do I think Mastro's has the best steak in town? Nah, I can think of a handful of better steakhouses in town in about five seconds. But the Globe storyjust sounds like another hit piece. According to the story, no one in the area knows Lola's exists, though it gets full quite regularly. Take it from me, when I go, I often see patrons who are from the neighborhood and/or people from the neighborhood who have invited the out-of-towners. The Globe is laughable. Do they even care about facts anymore?
JeffDowntown
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OK, but can we be fair about this. It is a lot easier to deploy food trucks in cities like Denver or Houston that are concrete wastelands than in a dense area like Boston. Locations where people are located typically lack open space to safely park the trucks. (And where there is open space like Government Center or Dewey Square, trucks are parked.) You cannot just plunk them down anyplace and not seriously impact traffic and pedestrian safety.
You will note that San Francisco is also low on the list -- likely for many of the same reasons.
Good point, but something tells me we could be doing better if the city didn't need to regulate the fuck out of everything around here. And that's coming from someone who's definitely left of center.
Suffolk 83
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I think food trucks in the city have to be 500ft away from any brick and mortar restaurants as well dont they? Makes it pretty difficult to find spots
tmac9wr
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lol, when did Denver become a concrete wasteland? It's obviously not anywhere near the density of Boston, but concrete wasteland paints it as some hideous place, which is certainly isn't. I do agree that the density makes it easier to deploy food truck here vs Boston, but I think there are other reasons you see such a gap between a place like Boston & Denver. One stark difference is the number of breweries here vs Boston. I count 24 total in Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, Everett, Chelsea and Malden on this map (https://craftbeerboston.com/breweries-map/), but Denver has 29 in its central neighborhoods alone, and something like 50-60 in the city proper (http://denverbreweryguide.com/breweries.aspx). Furthermore, the bulk of those are taprooms-only with no food, which is more of a recent-phenomenon in Boston if I'm not mistaken (didn't Blue Laws require any place that serves alcohol to also serve food or something like that?). Boston can definitely catch up in this area, as the Boston area is producing some of the best beer in the world.
Craft breweries & Food Trucks generally cater to younger crowds, and these days the younger crowds like to be in more urban areas...so while Denver certainly isn't Boston when it comes to urbanity, a lot of these food trucks are principally operating out of urban areas. Breweries simply carve out some parking spots in front of their place and let the trucks park there. There's no reason something like that can't be done in Boston.
The biggest problem I see is the horrific license & permit restrictions. The average cost of licenses & permits on that list is $1,864...Boston is $17,066!!!!! The next most expensive is Seattle at $6,211, nearly 1/3 of the cost! People running food trucks are often young, cash-strapped individuals. $17k is a massive barrier to entry and I can't see how it makes any sense in any world that it's literally 10x more expensive to obtain these permits than in other major cities. Can anyone explain this?
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FenwayResident
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This is certainly a contributing factor but there are other forces at work - despite their density both NYC and Philadelphia seem to make it above Boston on the list. Clearly something is going wrong with Boston that isn't in those two cities.
Thats ridiculous, like any other business, food trucks rely on walk-up traffic.
DC is packed with food trucks.
Yeah its called the parking lane. We have those, literally everywhere.
dirtywater
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If true, wow. It didn’t last very long.
I always thought it was an odd choice to be the anchor store in that building anyway.
dshoost88
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If a food truck operator has a solid business model and a competitive product, a bank will provide a loan for the ‘young, cash-strapped individuals’ needing money to secure the licenses & permits for a food truck in any city. I imagine those licenses are for one year. So to answer your question of how Boston lands at $17,066, I would look at the bigger picture of the operation. For starters, compare the cost of those fees with the average cost of a retail space in Greater Boston for a small retail business—to be located downtown or in the Back Bay, $1,450/month would be highway robbery!
Say you have a food truck that sells ‘product x’ for an average of $10–a reasonable guesstimate compared to what I’ve seen people spend on a meal from food trucks. Some food trucks may serve as many as 50 people per hour during peak hours, which may realistically translate to 200 patrons per day buying Product X. That’s $2,000/day of money coming in, or $10,000/week if the food truck is a weekday only operation. That means under the right circumstances, the food truck could bring in anywhere from $250k-$500k per year in my fantasy scenario. Pay 25% off the top for expenses like value of merchandise, upkeep, marketing, etc ($62,500-$125,000) and another $40k/year to your 3 employees ($120,000). That leaves you with $67,500-$317,500 to draw from before you have to pay next year’s permits/license fee ($17,066).
If a food truck is selling product x and sales are forecast on the middle range to high end, I think Boston’s relatively high fees are worth it for a savvy food truck operator. Boston means business: if you don’t know what you’re doing, then get some experience first to build confidence before taking the risk.
Not good enough. There's nothing in these three paragraphs justifying why it should cost 300% more in Boston than in any of the other 19 cities. And many of those other cities also "mean business," and are relatively expensive to operate in.
FenwayResident
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So... you're arguing for barriers to entry? You realize that only benefits incumbent food truck operators and is decidedly anti-consumer and anti-innovation? Makes no sense unless you already own a food truck.