Parked! And Other Food Festivals to Come

This Saturday was the Parked! Food Festival was held at the South Street Seaport, in which food vendors from all over New York City gathered to serve their signature dishes to throngs of hungry New Yorkers. The event has been deemed a successful one by both food truck vendors and customers who attended, remarking that lines were shorter than expected and food came rather quickly. The largest problem at these events in the past has been long waits at the more popular trucks. Some trucks complained about their placement, either on side streets with less traffic or next to direct competition from vendors selling similar products, but in the end every truck said their sales evened out and they did alright by the end of the day. Customers also were able to move between lines quickly and sample many different types of cuisines.

Some new procedures were put into effect this year which may have streamlined the event for customers and vendors. Menu sizes were reduced and orders were taken outside the trucks to maximize efficiency within the truck. All of this bodes well for food truck events, as complaints in the past had decreased their popularity.

With improvements along the way in food truck events, we have many more to look forward to in the coming weeks. All About Downtown is coming to Jersey City on September 17^th, featuring ten of New York and New Jersey’s top food trucks. Among these are Korilla BBQ, Luke’s Lobster, Two Pitas in a Pod and Mamma Marci. Then the week after this event is the one we have all ben waiting for, the 2011 Vendy Awards. This year the Vendy’s will be held at Governor’s Island, and you can purchase tickets here.