Not my first food truck rodeo

I’ve been called a lot of names, by a lot of people throughout my varied career. One was restaurateur.

Early on, after launching my first weekly newspaper, I learned some of the best stories were planted in restaurants and bars. That’s where sources hung, snitches snitched, mentors mentored, competitors leaked scoops and features were born. Bars and restaurants have always been vaults of information and they have always intrigued me.

After moving to St. Paul, Minnesota the allure of a 100-year-old specialty food store, with a bounced check from F. Scott Fitzgerald in the safe, was all it took for me to alter course, close the Underwoods, and begin a culinary career.

When we purchased The Crocus Hill Market we knew nothing about food except how to prepare it and market the talent. Many lessons in Crocus Hill and an article in Time Magazine became the catalyst for the Cottagewood Store, Chez Foley, the Charcuterie, The St. Alban’s Boathouse and seven other food businesses ranging in size from 20 to 350 seats in Minnesota and California.

San Francisco was the center of the food truck movement and caused concerns a hot dog cart on steroids would impede my Chestnut Street restaurant.

The last thing I needed was a food truck in front of Camp Americana. I was wrong. The gourmet taco truck helped business that day.

An opportunity to offer complimentary samples of my BBQ Brisket and entice those standing in line to eat at a table was all I needed to fill empty seats.

Food trucks do not hurt local restaurants, they offer an option for people looking for a new culinary adventure and an opportunity to promote other restaurants and businesses in the area.

Food truck operators depend on social media to inform followers of their upcoming locations. It’s their lifeline to success. It also helps bring hungry people to town. Their promotion definitely helps other area businesses and restaurants.

Currently, Williamston officials are grappling with the current food truck and mobile vendors ordinance. The current ordinance was initiated when a former downtown restaurant owner was concerned about food trucks in the area. That restaurant has since closed.

The current discussion centers on distance and how close a food truck can be to an operating restaurant. Distance doesn’t matter. As a restaurant owner, I want the food truck in front of my restaurant with a long line of hungry, impatient customers waiting to order, with no place to sit.

Legitimately licensed operators offer little threat to area restaurants, they offer opportunity to expand a customer base.

Bad food, bad ambiance, bad customer service and bad attitudes do more to harm a restaurant’s future than any food truck during one event. Whether 50 feet or 250 feet away from a restaurant, food trucks are an asset and a destination draw for small towns.

Use them wisely, they bring a captive audience of hungry diners on the sidewalk outside of restaurants. The owner’s job is to simply steal their palates and please them, inside, at a table.