Central Florida food truck events face competition

Central Florida’s signature food truck events are feeling the fatigue of a trend that is 8 years old.

The mobile food trucks helped spread Korean barbecue, lobster rolls and Swedish wraps to the region. Now, food truck owners and customers say the gatherings are losing steam as crowds shrink and the area’s premier mobile kitchens fill schedules with private work.

One of the region’s pioneering food truck events, TheDailyCity.com Food Truck Bazaar at Orlando Fashion Square, was nearly canceled in December because of lackluster turnout. Organizer Mark Baratelli is now seeking to feature lower-priced, smaller portions, and plans to set up tables in February to shake things up a bit.

“The events aren’t as consistent as they were, but there are some that are very good,” said Brandon Gantt, of Orlando, owner of the Caro-Bama food truck, which started in 2010. “The corporate lunches are now better — and the catering. It seems like the older trucks that are still around developed

their own business outside of the events.”

Events helped introduce Central Florida to the food truck trend in 2010 and 2011, spreading the word on social media about gatherings with a dozen food trucks or more.

Over the past decade, food truck popularity has grown in cities small and large, with each municipality often developing its own rules and culture. In Central Florida, food truck gatherings became the dominant way to experience food trucks for a few reasons. Many local governments prevented parking on the streets, and food truck owners also found they drew bigger crowds when there were many options in one spot.

Food truck gatherings helped give exposure to Gantt’s barbecue-themed truck and also created a network for food truck owners to swap ideas, he said.

What’s causing the recent decline in popularity for the events is up for debate. Baratelli said the prices for food truck dishes have increased in recent years and quality has declined. Others say the best trucks aren’t focused as much on the public events.

“If you’re charging $9 for a child’s chicken finger platter, guests won’t come back,” Baratelli said. “Trucks tell me all the time about food costs. Well, guess what? Guests don’t care. They want quality.”

Prices, he said, have increased from $9 to $10 for average dishes to $12 or $14 this winter.

Competition from fastcasual restaurants is also growing, where food is cheaper with seating, bathrooms and air conditioning.

Evan Dobkin, of Altamonte Springs, said he was once a frequent customer at the area’s bigger food truck events but hasn’t attended as many as he once did.

Dobkin works downtown and frequents trucks during Friday lunch gatherings on the lawn at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, sampling dishes from Peru Power and KBBQ Box. But he travels to fewer evening gatherings.

“I think that the price-tovalue ratio is still out of whack,” he said. “Especially when I can get usually better quality restaurant food at the same price at more places now.”

The number of food trucks in Central Florida is still large. Food truck owner and Kona Luau event organizer Doug Trovillion said there are more than 100 food trucks he draws from for his events stretching from Mount Dora to Titusville.

“Food truck events aren’t going anywhere,” Trovillion said. “But as far as food trucks doing fewer events, I encourage all the trucks I work with to get out there and get their own business outside of this because if they are depending on us, they might not be able to make it.”

At the same time, entrepreneurs April and Dustin Williams are hoping to import the food truck park concept from the West Coast, having a designated place where trucks can park permanently or rotate. Up to five trucks would park at the site east of downtown Orlando, at 615 Irvington Ave., near Colonial Plaza.

Graffiti Junktion owner Greg Peters is making food trucks a major part of his new Truck Stop Pop-Up — a brick and mortar restaurant with rotating chefs.

“We want to reserve Thursday, Friday and Saturday for food trucks,” Peters said. “We have alcohol and seating, which should help them out.”

It will all create competition for food trucks and customers.

While crowds are smaller at some events, many food trucks are doing well. Wedding and catering business is usually more profitable than public sales, truck owners said. Treehouse Truck owners Sarah and Vinnie Olivieri are planning to launch a second truck to fill this need.

They are out working eight or nine events a week, often doing lunch and dinner service on the same day.

“Some of the events we still love and are busy,” Sarah Olivieri said. “But as far as the really big food truck rallies, we really stopped working them about three years ago.”