Another week, another glorious trumpeting of the success of Vancouver’s food carts!
Yes, I know some of you are getting tired of the way Vision is riding this golden goose. But don’t be cynical. Think about the days of only hot dogs.
Anyway, I did do a story for the Globe here on the latest round of 12 lucky winners, but also took a look at the future. Cart operators have really only been going for a year to 18 months, for the most part, so we don’t know how this is all going to work out. But it is a tough business.
As one owner pointed out, the old hot-dog carts were one-person operations with high volume. These new carts, which are serving the equivalent of very nice restaurant food but at street prices, often require two, three or even four people.
At some point, the people who have figured out how to do it the best are going to survive and others are going to have to pack it in. Or there will have to be some new developments to keep everyone going: more food-cart festivals and dine-out-type events, the creation of food-cart pods to attract critical masses of people, and the like.
As usual, we in Vancouver are taking this explosion of amazing food for granted. Enjoy it while it lasts, that’s all I have to say.
2 responses so far ↓
1 jesse // Apr 3, 2012 at 5:19 pm
The Asian model is to lease space in a common sitting area to vendors who provide a good cross-section of street food. You pre-order, sit down, and they bring the cooked food to you when it’s ready. A common drink stand serves beverages; the food guys only sell food.
A few courts I frequented when there had some vendors so popular they made enough money they closed early. I had to beat the lunchtime rush to get their food (laksa in this case).
Also a great model, the Chinatown night market, when it’s active, provides good Chinese-style street food, not too expensive either. Something worthy of expanding perhaps.
Street food need not be complicated; the model should be about innovation and latitude until something popular sticks. I hope Clr Deal can continue to tweak the system to keep trying.
2 Bill Lee // Apr 3, 2012 at 6:20 pm
All these assume good weather for outdoor (chi-chi Al fresco dining)
But Vancouver averages 166 days per year with measurable precipitation.
[I'd refer to Tim Oke's book which everyone should have. "The climate of Vancouver" by Tim Oke and John Hay. Tantalus Research, (UBC) (1994 2nd ed.) B.C. geographical series ; no. 50 ISBN 0919478751 2 copies on Abebooks.com now. Should be copies around town]
The WMO (World Meteorological Organization) has a quick chart of mean (average that is: sometimes more, sometimes unbelievably less) days of measurable rain for Vancouver
http://www.worldweather.org/056/c00266.htm
Jan 18.5 14.7
Feb 16.3 12.9
Mar 17.0 14.4
Apr 13.9 11.1
May 13.0 9.0
Jun 11.2 6.3
Jul 6.9 2.8
Aug 6.8 4.1
Sep 8.6 6.3
Oct 14.3 9.4
Nov 19.7 15.9
Dec 19.8 15.7
Second column is from the WMO page for the drier desert city of Portland, Oregon where food carts swelter under the sun.
[ worldweather.org/093/c00810.htm ]
So the city needs bus shelters with benches, benches in front of every store with a compulsory awning, tents in the Art Gallery plaza, vast awnings over the streets like Kyoto’s Nishiki Market (錦市場, Nishiki Ichiba), a narrow, five block long covered shopping street, or Teramachi Street south of Oike Street, or Kyogoku-dori and Shinkyogoku-dori nearby.
In Sendai downtown, up on the hill above the tsunami damage, trees can even be found in their covered shopping area, Ichibancho Arcade
You really want to stand out in the rain with your [non-hot-dog]?
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