The State of the Food Truck Scene

Written By Scott Joseph On September 25, 2013

Swededish truck

It was March 30, 2011. Mark Baratelli of The Daily City was hosting something he was calling a Food Truck Bazaar. I was along as a media sponsor. Baratelli had arranged to take over the parking lot of Discovery Church south of downtown Orlando. Eight trucks had signed on, though a couple of those weren’t legitimate food trucks. But Baratelli was happy to have them so that the parking lot wouldn’t look under occupied.

We didn’t know what to expect.

We certainly didn’t expect the thousands of people who showed up, parking their cars in the strip center across the street and dodging traffic on Orange Avenue to get to the Bazaar. And we never would have guessed that people would stand in lines for over an hour. And that they’d keep coming back for more.

Food truck lineThe line at one of the early Food Truck Bazaars. Off in the distance is Korean BBQ Taco Box.

Now, two and a half years later, the Central Florida food truck scene is still cruising right along. It would be difficult to find a day of the week without some sort of food truck gathering. And that fleet of eight of so trucks has grown to include 80 to 100 and possibly more. (Urbanspoon has 187 listings in its Central Florida food truck category.)

(more…)

Continue Reading
Scott's Newsletter