General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI Can See Food Trucks Being The New Normal....
Imagine food trucks driving into your neighborhood and setting up block by block to bring restaurant food right to your house so you can enjoy your meal right in your safe & secure house.
I see this as an alternative to take out & delivery of food. I see this as an alternative to going to a restaurant having to eat amongst others.
I kinda wish I had a food truck for that very reason.
Food trucks can promote self distancing and work around lines forming to wait for the food.
I see a proliferation in food trucks in the future.
What do you think? Alternative or not?
onecaliberal
(32,864 posts)fierywoman
(7,686 posts)opportunity to begin start-up businesses. A food truck has to be much less expensive to run than a restaurant.
milestogo
(16,829 posts)Tipperary
(6,930 posts)I am happy cooking at home. Rarely do I find any food good enough to order takeout. When I do order out, it is usually laziness on my part.
Midnight Writer
(21,768 posts)Picking up something at a food truck sounds ideal to me.
msongs
(67,420 posts)and gets mad if you wont let him
Igel
(35,320 posts)And wanting to use his (her?) john.
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)for some time,the work place Lunchrooms and Cafeteria's will be replaced with outside dining,whether Food Trucks or some other type of Food Service with no contact.
GusBob
(7,286 posts)Witness all the cooking at home and such now
lunatica
(53,410 posts)It cant be done everywhere but where it can the restaurants will have an advantage. They can even keep their waiters and waitresses who would be waiting on cars instead of tables. All kinds of new things could be done to create an ambiance outside the way they do on the inside. Even live entertainment could be provided with the musicians keeping a safe distance from each other. Lighting and something like outdoor gardens could be developed.
Booths would make a big comeback. All kinds of innovative barriers could be put between booths. We might see some pretty cool stuff happening. There is that very apt saying, Necessity is The Mother Of Invention.
ProfessorGAC
(65,076 posts)I expect you're right about outdoor/parking lot dining.
But, here in NE Illinois you'd be lucky to be in business 5 months a year.
Too bad, but indoor dining is the only option around here, Oct - late April.
Geez, we had snow here and it was nearly May!
JustABozoOnThisBus
(23,350 posts)Are the restaurant restrooms available to the sidewalk/street diners? Or is there new technology on the horizon? I hope I don't have to learn to use three scallop shells at Taco Bell.*
* - obscure old movie reference
newblewtoo
(667 posts)know more about sanitation and licensing first. I do confess to being a germaphobe with an instinctive disdain for most brick and mortar restaurants. Kitchen Nightmares is all too real. I have always carried hand sanitizer and gloves in my car for when I have to use highway rest stops and gas pumps.
doc03
(35,348 posts)are several guys with BBQ trucks making a killing. They will pay $100 for ribs and tip $50.
justgamma
(3,666 posts)warn us about having a taco truck of every corner?
Shermann
(7,423 posts)CousinIT
(9,247 posts)...announced the delivery time, and neighbors went to pick up their food. SIX FEET of distance between them and masks required - one person at the delivery table at a time. Customer names were on the wrappers. Everybody got what they ordered. Took the food home and enjoyed it.
Lately, a coffee truck has visited the neighborhood too. Not sure how they're working it but it's nice to see.
brooklynite
(94,598 posts)Tipperary
(6,930 posts)Baclava
(12,047 posts)global1
(25,253 posts)Many restaurants can't make rent, utilities and pay employees on just take out & delivery business. Also hard to make it on only 25% customers at any one time because of social distancing. Also upon reopening they have to employ wait staff and potentially expose them to the virus. If one of these waiters/waitresses come down with Covid - the restaurant may even have to shut down. What about the cost of sanitizing the restaurant; masks; gloves and sanitizer?
So many restaurants will go out of business. Your favorite restaurant might be one of them.
On the other hand - if they had a food truck they can reduce their expenses quite a bit. You wouldn't have to go to the restaurant to pick up your food. They wouldn't have to pay a percentage of their sales to a delivery service.
If I were a fast food restaurant (i.e., McDonalds, Wendy's, Burger King, Taco Bell, etc) I'd be investigating utilizing food trucks. Think back to your childhood days when ice cream trucks cruised thru your neighborhood.
A fast food company can even have a centralized kitchen where they can get their food truck resupplied.
I'm just trying to think out of the box and think thru a new format for distributing restaurant food - maybe a new normal.
It may be a long time before we get a vaccine and put this pandemic behind us.
I'm thinking this might be a decent alternative.
brooklynite
(94,598 posts)Food Trucks are designed for a single meal of 2-3 items. They'll never support a full restaurant menu.
Baclava
(12,047 posts)Full menu meals, inexpensive, with a great selection and great food. Theres a dozen different Thai/Asian places within a couple miles all bringing me hot food delivered to my door in less than 30-40 minutes after placing order, no contact delivery.
U want to wait in a line at a truck, go ahead.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)isn't the best pay, the great view I never had time to look at, or even the work I enjoyed. Frivolous, but it's the fantastic food truck. Omg. Uncomplicated pleasure every time. Wherever they are now, I hope they've gotten it back many times over.
yortsed snacilbuper
(7,939 posts)global1
(25,253 posts)an insect or rodent problem.
Food trucks can be subject to licensing, inspection and public health requirements.
I'm not suggesting they go unregulated.
yortsed snacilbuper
(7,939 posts)aikoaiko
(34,172 posts)Sometimes in terms of quality, but often in terms of quantity.