Professor Mark J. Perry's Blog for Economics and Finance
"It's getting hard to keep track of DC's fleet of mobile food purveyors, which seems to get larger every month. Here are a few of the Washington Post's favorite curb-side kitchens." 
Dr. Mark J. Perry is a professor of economics and finance in the School of Management at the Flint campus of the University of Michigan. Perry holds two graduate degrees in economics (M.A. and Ph.D.) from George Mason University near Washington, D.C. In addition, he holds an MBA degree in finance from the Curtis L. Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. In addition to a faculty appointment at the University of Michigan-Flint, Perry is also a visiting scholar at The American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C.
6 Comments:
Although I can see a glove on the hand of the employe inside the truck which may be an indicator of good food handling practices none of the trucks identified in your link describes what makes them deserve the term "Best Food Trucks".
The next time you have the opportunity to see one of these trucks maybe you can perform a food-safety inspection from what you can visualize from the customer's point of view. ...and on hot days don't forget the sweat pouring off the brows of the employe and onto that roast beef on rye! (LOL)
Norm
Storm'n Norm'n,
Why do you suspect there are food safety problems with these trucks? They are extremely popular, and serve tens of thousands of people each day. Do you have any information that a higher percentage of people that buy from these trucks get sick than from any other food source?
In fact, maybe part of the attraction is the great taste of those roast beef on rye sandwiches with the added "secret sauce" you describe.
Every customer who is served and doesn't get sick is a testament to the care the operator is taking in food prep and handling, and is as valuable as a thorough food safety inspection. Any operator who made people sick would lose business, and soon be gone.
I got violently sick from a food truck - twice. (Different trucks).
Have also eaten many times, no problem.
Still, it is hard to see how they could be as clean as a normal kitchen, with their limited supplies, and on-board waste retention.
Which is not to say a kitchen can't be dirty as a truck.
The real issue is that local restaurants seem overpriced.
You want a break and get outside, you buy from a truck and take your chances.
Restaurants could offer walk up window service, but most don't have the location for it.
They could have a wheeled annex, but no one does it that I know of. "The Palm, au Pied"
One of the trucks that made me sick is still in business. Nice theory, though.
"One of the trucks that made me sick is still in business. Nice theory, though.
Hydra, Please don't use yourself as an example of ANYTHING. If there is some problem, it will happen to you. If something can possibly go wrong, it will go wrong for you. We should talk about typical, real world experience, not yours. Do you have any statistical data on the number of food caused illnesses from eating food from a truck compared to other restaurants?
here are some further info, concerning different food trucks http://www.myvan.com/2011/03/01/the-la-food-truck-revival/
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