Food Truck Culture

Brian said:

Food trucks seem to be evolving from a novelty to a staple. Once found chiefly near beaches, music festivals, and out-of-the-way business parks, food trucks now appear nearly anywhere, including grocery store parking lots, neighborhoods, city parks, and even at purpose-built food truck pavilions. What’s driving (ahem) the food truck craze? To help us understand this growing industry, we recently met with Eliot Steimle, General Manager of the Food Truck League.

The Food Truck League organizes a network of food trucks in Utah. They work as sort of a broker between food truck operators and the companies, communities, festivals, and events that need food services. Providing a stream of available food trucks makes it easy for organizers to plan events, thus increasing the number of opportunities for food trucks. Similarly, ensuring an abundance of suitable events drives growth in food trucks.

Indeed, since it began in 2015, the Food Truck League has witnessed tremendous growth in this area, albeit somewhat interrupted during the pandemic. They began by coordinating just ten trucks. Now, about 150 trucks participate with the league each year. Steimle estimates that there are between 300 and 350 food trucks in the area.

Kathy said:

The only time I can recall ordering from a food truck was on the Hawaiian Island of Oahu. Someone was making and selling shaved ice on a truck that had parked at the bottom of the Diamond Head State Monument hiking trail. After our hike, the cold, flavored shaved ice was a welcome treat.

Since that time, I’ve seen food trucks featured on TV shows, and I’ve seen them in mall or grocery store parking lots, but I never really gave them much thought. In the back of my mind, they’d been deemed a novelty.

Then, recently, Brian suggested that we try out food trucks. Food trucks? Hmm. I wasn’t so sure. However, Brian did some research and discovered that Utah has the Food Truck League. Brian approached me about contacting the administrator of the league to ask him some questions about the food truck craze. That’s how we met Eliot and became introduced to the culture of a different kind of “meals on wheels” set-up.

Brian said:

We met up with Eliot at the weekly food truck event at Daybreak’s Highland Park. One of the first things we noticed was the crowd. The event—which consisted only of a row of food trucks and no entertainment—drew a lot of people. Yet, they didn’t come just for the food. They came to mingle, play, enjoy the sun, and to eat food. Frisbees and soccer balls flew through the air, chased by enthusiasts both young and not so young. Energetic dogs with quickly wagging tails pulled at their leashes, hardly containing their enthusiasm as they greeted other leashed friends. We saw many strollers pushed by mothers—and fathers. Sounds of happy reunions filled the air. We were struck by the strong sense of community.

Kathy said:

What I learned is that the food truck league isn’t just about coordinating opportunities for food truck owners to sell their wares. Nope, it’s about more than simply food. It’s about community. It’s about rapport with the food truck owners. It involves bringing families and neighbors together so that new friendships can be forged. I was charmed by watching children completely enjoy themselves, hanging out on the playground equipment while their parents interacted with other adults, conversing. Catching up. Laughing. Sharing. Teenagers were tossing frisbees on a grassy knoll in the distance, while people of different ages walked their leashed dogs around the perimeter of the park.

And it’s the love of food—or maybe just their hunger pangs—that brought them all together.

Brian said:

Steimle explained that community is a strong part of food truck culture. The trucks allow the food vendors to meet people where they want to congregate, rather than requiring patrons to come to them. He also noted that a single food truck—or even just two or three—will often struggle to draw a productive stream of customers. But when six or eight trucks attend a single event, they seem to establish a critical mass that attracts a good crowd (there were eight trucks at the Daybreak event we attended). Many customers like the variety they find with multiple trucks. Families can split up, each member finding something suitable to their tastes.

In addition to the community of patrons, there is also a sense of community among the food truck operators. The state of Utah requires food truck operators to have a stationary commercial kitchen (to guard against vendors preparing commercial food in their own homes). Many food truck operators share commercial kitchens, or commissaries, where they bond and network together.

While the requirement to have a fixed kitchen may add to food truck costs, it helps ensure the high quality and safety of the product. While food trucks may once have been considered a budget option, they also had a reputation for questionable sanitary safety. Though today’s food trucks may be more expensive than they once were, they offer a wide variety of high-quality foods.

Kathy said:

While at the Daybreak Food Truck Night, we took a look at the participating trucks. With eight food trucks all lined up along the curb in the parking lot, people had choices. One truck offered hamburgers, while one offered hot dogs and corn dogs. Another offered a variety of tacos. Waffles, barbecue, burritos, and Filipino cuisine all made an appearance. At the end of the caravan, a vendor sold Dippin’ Dots. That’s one franchise that was very familiar. If I hadn’t already pigged out on a burger and Frites from the Brugesmobile, an order of Dippin’ Dots would have served as a nice dessert.

Haphazard bunches of hungry customers browsed the menus tacked on the outside of the trucks, then lined up and placed their orders before standing nearby to wait for their numbers to be called. For anyone wondering, there were plenty of metal picnic tables situated under the park’s pavilion for sitting and dining—in the shade. Others had brought blankets and camp chairs that they’d set on the grass. After picking up their food, that’s where they sat.

The informality and laid-back vibe of the event really appealed to me.

Conclusion:

There was obviously more to food trucks than we initially realized. When events combine a variety of food trucks with good weather and room to run around, families come together to enjoy a greater sense of community.

Visit https://thefoodtruckleague.com/food-trucks/events to see a calendar of the Food Truck League’s upcoming events.

Visit https://www.hesaid-shesaid-reviews.com/review/salt-lake/brugesmobile to see our review of the Bruges food truck.