How to Start a Food Truck in Huntsville, AL
Summer 2013, officials in Huntsville, Alabama released an ordinance allowing Food Trucks to park in certain areas downtown. Initial regulations, though great to introduce the street food scene possibility, forced the Trucks to only open between 9pm and 2am, so as to thus avoid ‘upsetting’ local restaurants. As such, one could imagine survival worries; would the scene actually kick off? Luckily for us, a year later Downtown Huntsville Inc, an organization focused on revitalizing the area, stepped in to start promoting these mobile businesspeople. With a plan to increase interest through a set of 6 Food Truck events during the [...]
Food Trucks that are Giving Back to Charities
Being the holiday season, we wanted to take a step back and look at some of the ways food trucks are being used as a catalyst for positive change in their communities. Whether it’s outfitting their truck to help in Disaster Relief, utilizing their mobility to reach and serve homeless, or donating extra time and profits to charity, the service provided by each of these food trucks can be described as nothing less than amazing. As such, we’ve decided to find and feature various food trucks and associations that, in one way or another, have done their part in assisting [...]
How to Start a Food Truck in Orlando, FL
It’s hard to think of Florida without imagining the cultural and tourist center of Orlando, that city of bright lights, palm trees, and I’m sure many residents who’d like us to stop the annoying idealizing of the city and stay home for once! Or at least, that’s what I imagine them to think… I certainly wouldn’t blame them, wanting to keep the city to themselves, especially with the particular year-long climate (not counting rainy season and Polar Vortex irregularities. Hah, suffer you spoiled gulf coast sun-warmers!). And the food truck owners seem to agree; around 2010/11, the new fad business [...]
The Gourmet Aviator Concession Truck Flying High in Jacksonville
The Gourmet Aviator is a food truck that received high praise for it's design when it was built in 2012. The truck was even featured on the cover of ADVANTAGE Business Magazine (cover image shown to the right) that same year. Fast forward two years, the Gourmet Aviator continues to receive recognition for their food. Not only has the truck become a familiar staple of the Jacksonville food truck scene, but Alex Montanez of the Grilled Aviator competed on and won a cooking competition on the program American Grilled on the Travel Channel. The video below is a teaser to [...]
A Closer Look at Orlando’s Bem-Bom Concession Truck
Bem-Bom is a truly unique food truck serving up Portuguese and Tex-Mex inspired dishes to residents of the Orlando area. In many cases, Bem-Bom serves meals you simply can’t find anywhere else. A couple examples from the menu include Piri-Piri Chicken Prego and The Running Duck, a duck confit sautéed with chilies and Thai basil that received two thumbs up from Bob. Bem-Bom is owned and operated by Francisco Mendonca whose customers often refer to him as “Chef Chico” for short. In today’s video, we learn more about Chef Chico, Bem-Bom, and the concession truck used to operate his business. [...]
How to Start a Food Truck in Jacksonville, FL
Jacksonville has grown fast and strong as one of Florida’s central street food cities, building its ranks with a solid lineup of owners peddling their delicious offerings. The city itself plays home to a couple of the state’s Truck Associations, showing its mobile use and relations with the nearby regions. For anyone going into the mobile vending business nearby, Jacksonville is THE place to aim for. Only just a month ago the city set up a new food truck court near Beach Boulevard and Carmichael, where at least 25 businesses will set up on a regular basis, just to show [...]
How to Start a Food Truck in Savannah, GA
The advent of Food Trucks and their culture throughout the US has proved a miraculous thing; excitement and creativity in the culinary industry has never been higher, burgeoning entrepreneurs have found a new means to express themselves, and many a city has found great benefit in working alongside these mobile dishers of flavor! Hell, even local restaurants in some of the more well-known cities for this, such as Portland, have developed strong and friendly ties with their wheeled counterparts, working alongside one another to further both businesses’ goals. Many cities have embraced this world, and through much hard work have [...]
Ultimate List of Food Truck Associations in Florida
Trying to survive on one’s own is always a hard thing, whether it’s in life, wilderness, or business. Being able to have others to lean on, help with and shift responsibilities to can be vital to keeping sanity, but more importantly the power of a group can take one to heights and opportunities impossibly done by oneself. As it is that many big cities in the street food scene have formed their own Food Truck Associations, groups focused on fighting for rights and laws to help their fellow business owners, along with creating event opportunities for trucks to cater that [...]
How to Start a Food Truck in Tallahassee, FL
It's no secret that the Food Truck scene in Florida is as hot and kicking as the state itself; its cities were some of the first to turn frontrunners as US mobile cuisine headquarters, and they still keep turning out new businesses every year. Only a few years back, Truck growth outstripped restaurant growth by almost 10x the annual rate, showcasing the growing need and accessibility of the market. As such, it feels only fitting we start our "How to Start a Food Truck" series in the hot SE, featuring the cities that many of you upcoming business owners may be setting your sights [...]
How to Start a Food Truck in Tampa, FL
Continuing our coverage of the top Florida street food cities, we move onto the highlight of the state, Tampa. With over a hundred trucks in their roster, the city has proven itself to rank just second behind San Antonio as the best city to open a food truck. So it's not much of a stretch to hypothesize that many new business owners may be setting their sights on this ray of sunshine to make their new stomping grounds. Beware, though; for just because it's one of the best cities to start a truck doesn't mean it's one of the EASIEST. In fact, [...]