Food Carts and Food Trucks in New York City

The Food Trucks in New York City did evolve over the years from the little vendors with their carts on the street corner. I remember a long time ago there where only Hot Dogs and Pretzels with soda or water. Than there where the coffee carts – with the blue paper cups – i do miss them! Than fruit and more food – the Ice Cream Trucks where the 1st ones that roamed the streets and now you have lots of different food options ones that roam all over the city. Some sell only coffee and others are like a restaurant on wheels. They have a big menu and you have to queue for a long time, order your food and pay only to wait again for a long time to get your food.

Most of them have a quiet little generator to produce electricity but some have old noisy and dirty generators. No clue how the guys in the shops and offices can stand that noise on top of the street noise anyhow?

According to this article in the New York Times it is very difficult to get a license and other paperwork for this kind of business. They write: “There are numerous (and sometimes conflicting) regulations required by the departments of Health, Sanitation, Transportation and Consumer Affairs. These rules are enforced, with varying consistency, by the New York Police Department. As a result, according to City Councilman Dan Garodnick, it’s nearly impossible (even if you fill out the right paperwork) to operate a truck without breaking some law. Trucks can’t sell food if they’re parked in a metered space . . . or if they’re within 200 feet of a school . . . or within 500 feet of a public market . . . and so on.”

So there would be even more trucks with more food options on the street if the city would change the law.