Jersey City Food Truck Regulations Still Under Discussion

Jersey City regulations on food trucks have been hotly contested in the last several weeks; however a new law received initial approval from the City Council with only a few objections. The regulations were initially set for approval in May, but food truck vendors said that they would be put out of business by them.
The new regulations state that mobile food vendors would have to submit to criminal background checks, be unable to remain stationary for more than two hours unless they pay a $400 monthly fee, and be at least 200 feet away from any permanent eatery.
Though these regulations initially received approval, some council members have objected to the $400 fee, saying that it is in fact too low. One member said “That seems to be quite a bargain, in my estimation, to give someone and opportunity to do business from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day.”
Brick and mortar restaurant owners still object to these new regulations, claiming they pay well over $400 monthly to the city just to remain in operation. In a business where food trucks could potentially make $2,000 a day, $400 once a month seems very cheap in comparison. Restaurants also claim that many food trucks parking in one area steal business from permanent restaurants.
These regulations still require further approval before the nine member council will be ready to approve them.

Are Chain Restaurants Threatened by Yelp?

A new study from Harvard suggests that Yelp might play a huge role in bringing down chain restaurants across the country. Yelp offers user reviews of thousands of small restaurants, and gives consumers a point of reference when they make the choice to eat out at a new place.
Chain restaurants have always offered customers reliable and familiar menus in places where smaller restaurants seem foreign. An entrée at Applebees in Texas will be roughly the same as one in Nebraska, and gives customers a degree of comfort in knowing what they are ordering. Yelp however familiarizes customers with local establishments, provides ratings and gives insight into whether these restaurants would be suitable to eat at. Armed with this knowledge, customers may have started to depend of chain restaurants less when travelling through new areas.

Recent bankruptcies at Friendly’s and Chevy’s support this theory, though Friendly’s claims their hardships stem from higher prices in cream. Chain restaurants believe that adding healthier meal items and calorie tracking information may attract health conscious restaurant-goers. Harvard researcher Michael Luca however believes that online consumer reviews might now substitute more traditional forms of reputation.

2012 Zagat Survey: Notable Trends

The new 2012 Zagat guide to city dining took not of an interesting new trend to expect in food, the rise of Southern food in New York City restaurants. New restaurant entrants such as Red Rooster and The Cardinal specialize in okra, fried green tomatoes and savory pork chops. Though Zagat was recently acquired by Google, the results if this survey were taken before the acquisition occurred. Regardless, found Tim Zagat claims that readers won’t notice a difference in the guide since joining forces with Google.
The guide also sites restaurants with rooftop seating as a growing trend, and gives insight into the new letter-grade system for sanitation the city enacted on all restaurants to follow. In response to this grading system, nearly four out of five surveyors were pleased with this new system, and 35% said that they would only eat at restaurants given an “A” rating.
This year’s survey rated 2,111 restaurants indexed into wide-ranging categories such as “gluten-free” or “hipster”. The average cost of a meal was found to have increased 4.1% to $43.46 last year. The guide also noted that the average cost of a meal at the 20 most expensive restaurants was $163.34. Zagat said that in the past year there were 135 notable restaurant openings, and 68 restaurant closings.
Zagat surveys began 32 years ago in New York, and have expanded to over 100 cities.

Gusta Helps Food Lovers Connect to Exclusive Events

New website Gusta offers access to some of the most exclusive food events around the globe, with limited tickets to new and upcoming events. This idea has already emerged in various other websites and apps, such as grubwithus and spoondate. Gusta is essentially a means for chefs to promote events and invite patrons without spending many hours handling invites and payments. Gusta also takes time out of searching for events in the elaborate ‘underground dining scene’ in many cities.

Gusta works with chefs to promote events, as customers can subscribe to events they may be interested in, and Gusta will automatically tout these events through email and various social media platforms. All payments for events can be made securely on the website, and chefs have ultimate control over all features pertaining to their events.
The events published on Gusta are ‘underground’, so difficult to locate but gaining in number around the world. The site handles multiple currencies, establishing it as a decidedly international website, and charge 10% per ticket, leaving the rest to the chefs. 10% is a small toll though for access to some of the world’s most unique dining experiences. Supper clubs offer chef-inspired creations in vastly different settings, ranging from mansions to small homes. No matter the cuisine, trying out Gusta ensures a one of a kind dining experience.

The Phenomenon of Food Ordering

The concept of ordering food online is not a foreign one to most of us, however just a few years ago it was almost unheard of. Now there are multiple websites offering similar services throughout the country, many specialized to the areas they serve. These websites offer a variety of options to their customers, and their flexibility is inevitably what keeps them coming back. However these websites can also present a potential threat to restaurants over time.

                One huge advantage of ordering food online is the elimination of waste. Waste can come in all forms, with one of the most annoying being the waste of our time. With online food ordering the food can come to you or you can pick it up when it’s ready. This means you no longer have to wait for your food to be prepared, and can do something valuable with your time until your food is ready. Online ordering also eliminates paper waste. Receipts and menus can be made a thing of the past by their digital counterparts. As sustainability gains prominence in today’s world, online ordering cuts down on consumption and doesn’t scrimp on service.

                The mass information that can be stored digitally also enables online ordering to become as successful as it is. Customers can track their orders, set preferences and essentially become a ‘regular’ through the website they order from. With advanced suggestion tips, websites can recommend dishes or restaurants to consumers, or simply suggest they order their favorite dish. Payment options are also streamlined in this process. Paying beforehand through credit card is safe and easy, and customer’s can essentially pay in whatever manner they prefer.

                The prevalence of online ordering comes with some serious concerns as well. The primary concern is towards the laziness of the customer, having food come to them at a nominal fee rather than getting exercise by seeking out a meal. Online ordering is diverse enough that customers can pick up their food as well, giving them the option to be as active as they wish. The more interesting scenario resulting from online ordering is the rise of a middleman and the relationship between the food service and the restaurant. Food ordering websites can gain a substantial restaurant base with increasing dependency on the service for customers. This can dramatically skew the power relationship, as restaurants come to depend on these services for a steady customer base. When a restaurant comes to depend on a third party ordering service then the service can control the vendor’s actions, forcing it to abide by certain rules or contracts, and increasing fees at will. In this sense a food service can monopolize restaurants over time and seize significant control over the market.

                This phenomenon however is no different than those that can occur in nearly every industry. Wal-Mart for example controls such a large share of the market that many of its suppliers are indebted to the company for business. The difference is that companies whose products are sold at Wal-Mart are often multinational corporations, whereas most restaurants are small businesses fighting for their stake in an overcrowded market. These restaurants have little means to protect themselves in such a situation, especially considering a food service website could corner a substantial share of the market. Food order websites simplify our lives and consolidate information for us, but unregulated they could disrupt and manipulate many small businesses.

                At foodtoeat.com, we try to avoid such a level of control by seeking out new markets and vendors. Our strategy focuses largely on food trucks, which have never worked with a food ordering service before. Taking an alternate approach to this third part scenario, we work alongside these trucks to increase their customer base and reduce long lines. We’ve analyzed the pros and cons of food ordering and we are working on making this process as profitable as possible for every side of the equation. We increase traffic at food trucks and restaurants, we avoid all binding contracts and large overheads, we provide a service to many customers who wouldn’t have the time to take a break for a meal, and we reduce waste through paperless ordering. While still young, we at foodtoeat hope to streamline ordering food without disrupting the community.

Food Genius: The Netflix for Food?

Food Genius is a new application available for Android, iPhone and other platforms that acts as a customized food recommendation engine to help those who just cannot decide what to eat. It works in a similar way to Netflix in that users rate food they have tasted and enter in their preferences to receive customized suggestions based upon distinct flavors and ingredients.

                The app is based out of Chicago, and works with users and restaurants to help choose the perfect restaurant dish based upon a user’s taste profile. It’s no easy feat for technology to customize food based upon ingredients, and requires a great deal of understanding of each ingredient, cooking process and other variables that go into food preparation. The application links these variables together to classify how a dish would relate to each user’s taste profile. Reviews from across the internet are cross-referenced with the user’s preference to make impressively accurate recommendations.

                Food Genius’ founder, Justin Massa, says that what makes Food Genius unique is that it understands what makes a certain dish taste good, whether it be a crunch, smoothness or warmth. In this way Food Genius collects information from each dish and files them under its complex taxonomy system. Massa also notes that many user’s were not aware of what ingredients were in the food they eat out, and would sometimes rate an ingredient low without knowing that it’s in some of their favorite dishes. Because Food Genius is highly ingredient based, a working knowledge of what’s in the food we eat certainly helps the process along.

                Though based in Chicago now, Food Genius has over 150,000 dishes and is rapidly expanding. Expect to see this app in your area soon, and be ready to surrender your taste buds to this Netflix of food. To download this app, click here 

The Future of Food Trucks in Our Cities

Food trucks have come under increased scrutiny this year as restaurants, store owners and police have clashed with them for limited real estate in Manhattan and other urban areas throughout the country. With trucks and carts becoming increasingly popular, more chain companies are looking to get involved in the mobile game; with Taco Bell and Jack in the Box unveiling their trucks, and even Trojan set to release a contraceptive truck.

                Legislators face a difficult decision ahead as they debate how to address these trucks in each city. While food trucks are hip, give entrepreneurs an ease of entry into the restaurant business, and serve a growing demand, they are able to tactfully maneuver throughout urban landscapes to follow crowds. This gives them an undeniable advantage over brick and mortar businesses, and their lack of rent fees makes it very difficult for these grounded businesses to remain competitive. In New York, discussions have been made to turn a parking lot in Long Island City into a type of food truck safe haven, where they could park without disturbing local businesses and traffic and attract visitors to their condensed location. The problem with this, food trucks would lose most of their lunch business in Manhattan, with no guarantee that their customers would commute to Long Island City, Queens.

                In cities across the US, legislators are restricting the movements of food trucks to specific areas so as to protect local businesses. Parking regulations are the most popular way to curtail their movement, as cities understand the potential value of food trucks, given that they are placed in a public space without too much business.

                Ultimately, food trucks create a dichotomy in urban areas because they can stimulate the economy and attract an eclectic group of visitors. However, they can also hurt preexisting businesses, clog up streets and release fumes into the air, disturbing residential areas. Though food trucks offer a distinct product and enliven certain areas of many cities, they must adhere to the rules of their trade and act responsibly around their brick and mortar peers, or else public support may collude with government regulation to send these mobile vendors far away.