Mobile food vendors aim to form food truck association
LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) - Year after year, new food trucks continue to pop up in the Greater Lafayette area, but now they are hoping to team up together to form an even brighter future.
Matt Bestich, owner of The Guac Box, said although everyone who owns a business is out to make a profit, local food vendors are not in fierce competition with one another.
Forming the Tippecanoe Food Truck Association, as it is tentatively named, is a symbol of that, Bestich said, as he is looking to get everyone on the same page of business operation.
This new association also forms as a community to lean on when advice or assistance is needed, too, Bestich said, something he has increasingly grown aware of since starting his business in June.
"I have had roughly a dozen calls and emails come my way with people wondering how they go about starting their own mobile business, and I know I am not the only one who gets that from people, either," Bestich said. "This association is for all mobile vendors though, not just food trucks, so that includes booths, carts and trucks. There is a lot of research that goes into starting a business like this, and we all lean on each other for that."
The quality of food the trucks serve is a common language all of the vendors share, Bestich said, something this group will ensure and emphasize.
"I get people who ask why they should go to a taco truck when they can get a fast food taco for a dollar," he said. "I would rather someone eat a taco from one of the other taco trucks here in town than go to a fast food place. If you have a good experience at one of the many trucks we have around here, then you are 10 times more likely to have a good experience at all the others."
Getting to know one another as well as each other's business models is part of the meeting that was planned for Jan. 26, Bestich said, something a little more formal than leaning out of their trucks' windows while they are out on the job to shake hands. Bestich said the hope is to come together as a group to form new events for the community to enjoy, something he said has been lacking in the Greater Lafayette area.
"Seeing Dancing in the Streets and the Uptown Jazz and Blues festival leave was a real downer. With the growth the city is seeing, we need more events, and I don't see why we couldn't be a part of that," he said. "Things like food truck festivals or having food truck Fridays are easy things we could do and plan together for everyone to enjoy."
Part of looking out for one another, too, Bestich said, is looking at collectively setting minimum guarantees for when trucks are invited to set up at various events around the Greater Lafayette area, ensuring a fair profit for all involved.
Jordan Mirick, owner of the Roasted Toasted and Baked (RTB) food truck, said the creation of a food truck park is something those behind the meeting are interested in discussing as well. While there are some places in the county trucks can pull into and serve their food, forming a food truck park as well as a group commissary would be beneficial to their businesses.
"The group commissary would be something that needs further discussed with the health department, but essentially they could come in and inspect the commissary utilized by the group and then be able to inspect the trucks in a big group setting," Mirick said. "It would create a simpler system and a way to save time."
The creation of a website is on the group's radar, too, Bestich said. The idea would be to have a place patrons could go to check out all of what the trucks in the association have to offer, possibly paying a varied rate to have certain trucks attend their event in order to get the particular foods and services they desired.
Another hot topic on the agenda is getting their wheels more easily onto Purdue University's campus, Bestich said. While this is something some trucks have already done, like Mirick's RTB food truck, Bestich said trucks are not allowed on the campus unless the university invites them.
Bestich said he respects the university's rules, but he believes it would be beneficial for Purdue to be more flexible with allowing trucks onto their grounds, even if that means only allowing them to park in one spot for a certain time frame during a day of the week.
"I understand Purdue's motive because they don't want to lose money from the dining courts, and I definitely don't want to break their rules and get kicked out," he said. "But they can't handle every single student's business. We aren't in competition with the dining courts, either. There is plenty of business for everyone to go around."
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Source: Lafayette Journal and Courier
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Information from: Journal and Courier, http://www.jconline.com