Dan Riehl
December 13, 2012
Sio 190 – Brad Werner
Final Analysis
Food Truck Culture: An Analysis Using the Tools of Complexity
A recent cultural phenomenon taking place all over the US is the emergence of
food trucks, the trend started to get popular in California. There are many different
reasons for why someone would choose to start a food truck, rather than a restaurant,
as well as different mission objectives for having a food truck. A food truck is
undoubtedly easier to open because there is less staff needed and less space to be
concerned about, as it is basically just a kitchen on wheels. Another innovation
occurring because of food trucks is a unique worldly, ever changing menu not held
down by the constraints of a typical kitchen where the chef’s have to answer to a
marketable identity. Food trucks can be as creative as they want to be, changing the
menu as often as they want to, which has become one of the values of food truck
culture customers are attracted to. Using the tools of complexity I will be able to reveal
the specific elements of food trucks attracting both customers and owners to choose
this new avenue in food culture which has broadened the possibility of an art for making
a huge comeback.
Using the tools of complexity the first elements to be defined will be the levels of
description, helping to break down what’s happening into easy to define categories in
relation to timescale. The first level of description with the smallest time scale is looking
at food trucks on an individual customer level, meaning who goes to them and why
individuals eat at food trucks. The next level of description with a slightly slower time
scale is on a group customer level, which might be the time it takes someone to become
a regular food truck customer or how long it takes for other people to start hearing about
a particular food truck. The level of description deals with the regulations put in place by
a city allowing food trucks to operate and time it takes to gain the money to purchase a
food truck. The last level of description is the purpose and goal of owning and operating
a food truck, which owners have different motivations for, which range from a source of
income, or the culinary freedom to bring people food not condoned in a restaurant
setting, or simply a chef wanting to see how a given market will respond to their food in
hopes it could spawn a restaurant.
The food culture in L.A., where the food truck or the concept of food on wheels
originated, has always been about bringing food closer to its people and operating
through whatever means fiscally possible. The unique food culture can be traced back
to lochera’s, the first food trucks to appear on the scene which don’t often move from
their popular locations, such as a office park. Raul Ortega, the owner of Mariscos
Jalisco truck was quoted by Jonathan Gold in an article cleverly titled “Moveable
Feasts” in Smithsonian Magazine as saying “I don't move the truck. I've been 11 years
here in the same spot. Twenty years ago, when I had a smaller truck, it was also here.
I've lived across the street from here for 28 years now. I never liked the idea of going
back and forth. People drive more than 100 miles, from places like San Diego and
Santa Maria, to eat my shrimp tacos, the aguachile, the ceviche.” Even though Ortega
has to legally drive his truck back to a commissary, 30 miles away, every night, for an
inspection and to restock he returns to the same spot every day, his pioneering food
truck is almost like a brick and mortal restaurant at this point, people expect it to be in
the same spot, year after year.
The dynamics involved in this scenario refer to a cultural interpretation of what a
food truck should be, someone who is a purest and not familiar or concerned with
foreign flavors might prefer visiting an originally fashioned food truck. Certain areas and
groups of people aren’t catching on to the new food truck movement because they are
more traditional or from a different economic position. High end foods don’t matter to all
food truck visitors, for example a Korean taco from Kogi might cost $2.20, whereas
Ortega’s award winning family recipe for shrimp tacos cost a $1.25, some people
appreciate a traditional bite over a fusion item just in principle, whereas people might
appreciate the exotic nature of some of the more typical food truck 2.0 dishes being
served up.
With running any sort of business whether it be service or product based there
are elements an owner must consider in gaining a customer base through marketing or
other methods. The current food truck movement has benefited greatly from social
media, such as Twitter, some would even say without social media food trucks would
not be experiencing the rapid expansion and popularity they receive today. Through the
use of social media food truck vendors and customers have experienced a remarkable
amount of dissipation allowing a customer to know where their favorite truck is or will be
at an time of day. As Ginette Wessel a UC Berkeley student pointed out in her study on
food trucks and the use of social media “food trucks can rapidly generate droves of
customers even before they park by using social media platforms”. Food trucks can
“tweet” their locations, specials, food items, and, or if they are sold out or out of service
for the day. Social media also allows vendors to more wisely choose their locations
because they can see where competitors are set up and choose to either avoid that
area, finding a location where they won’t encounter other trucks or they can choose to
join their competition potentially winning over customers from say a truck serving the
popular Vietnamese Bahn Mi to a food truck serving sushi. Through the use of social
media vendors are able to bring themselves closer to an optimal target market, while it
also brings customers the ability to know where to get their favorite Argentinean
empanadas, not so easy to find in some markets at a sit down restaurant for only a few
dollars.
One of the main advantages to running a food truck is the lack of money being
paid in rent, electricity and staff, the money not spent on these items could go towards a
higher quality of food at a cheaper cost to customers. During the economic recession of
the late 2000’s restaurant owners went the route of opening food trucks, rather than
physically located establishments and the food truck phenomenon was born. At this
time in history “food truck owners and chefs viewed the mobile trucks as a temporary fix
to combat the declining economy” says Wessel, but the food trend only grew out of this
shifting phase in food culture. Foodies and regular customers were now able to get
great and affordable food at parks, plazas, tourist hubs, private events, college
campuses and corporate office parks because of their new found flexibility and financial
strain which had been lifted. The rapid food movement has even been given its own
competition TV show the Food Network, as well as thousands of websites and specialty
food shows to spotlight all the amazing food and spreading of this culinary sensation.
The lower cost of running a food truck has a positive feedback on its customers
because they can experience a wide range of food for a lesser amount of money, which
positively encourages more participation in this niche food cultures willingness to try
new foods which are able to spread to neighborhoods and people who may not have
previously encountered these foods.
A food truck meet up is a self organizing pattern in which food trucks drop their
gloves and try and help each other gain the attention of new customers in a mutually
concerned manner. Because most food trucks are very unique they have a wide range
of foods and not many trucks serving the same food, so at a food truck gathering there
is little concern about competition, where as a McDonalds across the street from a
Burger King will always be trying to gain the attraction of an almost identical audience.
The meet ups allow for other trucks to make connections with each other as they are all
fighting for the same thing, a successful food truck and a thriving food truck scene which
is necessary to maintaining operation. The food trucks all help each other do marketing
and if two food trucks are friendly enough they will call up another truck and invite them
to park next to them so they can draw in a bigger crowd with more options for
customers pleasing a greater amount of people.
A negative feedback loop which is experienced by food trucks exists within the
local ordinances set forth by each city creating obstacles for the trucks to overcome,
while they are manageable it gives food truck owners one more item to worry about to
run their operations, but food trucks give local sit down restaurants another thing to
worry about. Some restaurants in L.A. and more specifically the owners at Museum
Square on Wilshire “didn't like the fact that their steady lunch rush business was being
cut off at the knees by the influx of food trucks”. As mentioned previously local
restaurants find food trucks threatening especially because they don’t have the ability
and up and move to a new location on a slow day, there is no way for a restaurant to
get away from a food truck. The quick fix these businesses saw was to park cars in
available spots blocking the trucks from parking, since the county of L.A. didn’t see the
need to set any extra limits and regulations on the trucks. They are already help up to
the same regulations by the Food and Health departments, they are required to go be
inspected at a commissary every morning. If we look at the city of Chicago as a case
study for how a food truck would operate in a city with tight regulations against food
trucks we are able to see it is not as prevalent and very hard to make money. According
to Gastrinomica, a food and culture magazine, “Chicago wraps food trucks in more red
tape than perhaps any other major city”. In Chicago food trucks are no more than giant
coolers on wheels because it is against the law to actually cook any food on a food
truck, meaning food truck owners must cook, prep, package, and label every item in a
commercial kitchen and then keep it hot or cold, depending on the item, until it is
actually sold. The operation of a traditional food truck, in the sense that you can actually
cook food in them is a foreign concept and practice to the city of Chicago and many
other cities. This is negative feedback which is preventing any type of a food truck
scene in Chicago.
Now that the negative aspects a food truck faces are out of the way it’s time to
talk about all of the positive feedback they generate. The individual and group level
customers are engaged in a positive feedback loop with each other as they are the
reasons a food truck with succeed. As an individual comes across a food truck and
enjoys their experience they most commonly will feel compelled to tell other or introduce
other people to the food truck. This can be done through a multitude of different ways
from word of mouth, to posting a photo on a social media site like Facebook or
Foodspotting, an app that allows you to post a picture of a dish you’ve had and other
people can basically go on a food treasure hunt to find that same dish. This individual
who has shared their experience to other people will likely bring new business to the
food truck allowing it to grow. Another positive and unique element about food trucks is
the ability to at a food truck gathering try food from a variety of different ethnicities and
cultures without having to go very far or spend a great deal of money. The easy access
of food to customers is called dissipation, trucks are bringing the food from countries
near and far right to a parking lot of downtown business district.
In an interview I conducted with two friends to get a better perspective on why
people would go to a food truck versus going to a restaurant and what one offer that the
other doesn’t I was able to get a really good understanding of food truck culture. Alex is
a major foodie and loves to eat the food of other cultures, his favorite type of food is
Mexican food, but if he were to go to a restaurant he would go to a steak house
because “it feels like it is really high value, but that might be for a special occasion like a
birthday, but on the average I like a casual environment with a good value where I am
getting a lot for what I am paying for”. Bonnie and Alex like to go to diners in different
cities to eat American food, but they have very worldly tastes as well. Alex thinks one of
the appealing aspects of a food truck their ability to “eat higher end food in a place
where you can’t normally go”, for instance “at an office park in La Jolla, you have the
same boring choices every day at the UTC mall or Subway”. Bonnie has never been to
a food truck, but she feels that “they are for hipsters, now it’s the cool thing to do. It’s
like shopping at Whole Foods, even in price now”. So on the one hand Alex thinks food
trucks are really expanding peoples regular choices, Bonnie doesn’t buy the gimmick of
the whole experience.
Food trucks have been around for a while, but in different forms. They went from
carts to trucks serving food items that had been prepared and packaged by other
people, and to the current form they are in today which is a culinary experience
constantly innovating and testing the limits of what can book cooked outside of a
traditional kitchen. As a cultural phenomenon food trucks in this new form have taken off
very quickly, via the internet as their main source for marketing and media, adding to
the cost effective and cheap way to operate. Food trucks, inside and outside of
Hollywood, have even experienced what it’s like to be in the media through various food
truck competition shows and specials talking about this new culinary art form. Food
from all over the world can be served from food trucks and as a matter of principle they
try to keep their food interesting and giving people something new is a value. Some
cities are more open to having food trucks run and actually are in support of what it
does to get people outside and boosting the entrepreneurial spirit. By using complexity
tools I’ve been able to gain a better understanding of the players and pieces involved in
the world of food trucks, showing me who is helping the movement grow and who is
halting it, and how exactly they are doing this.
Work Cited
1. Dougherty, Geoff. “Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture” , Vol. 12, No. 1
(Spring 2012), pp. 62-65
2. Ginette, Wessel (2012): From Place to NonPlace: A Case Study of Social Media and
Contemporary Food Trucks, Journal of Urban Design, 17:4, 511-531
3. Gold, Jonathan. "Moveable Feasts." Smithsonian 42.11 (2012). Ebsco. Web.
4. Paulas, Rick. "Do Food Trucks Need More Regulation? | The Nosh | Food | KCET."
KCET. N.p., 22 Aug. 2012. Web. 13 Dec. 2012.
5. Stein, Joel . Gourmet on the Go. Time, 0040781X, 3/29/2010, Vol. 175, Issue 12