New York City has a love / hate relationship with food trucks, but according to BusinessWeek.com, the citizens of the Big Apple are united in their appreciation of these mobile restaurants. Food trucks have been harshly criticized by restaurant owners, but developers are now creating space for them to serve in areas without power or water, as well as nearby office buildings where meals are not otherwise available, following the devastating effects of Hurricane Sandy.
Even the city of Hoboken, NJ hailed to its Facebook fans, “Have a food truck? Come to Hoboken and help us feed our community.”
JetBlue pitched in, and is subsidizing free meals by food trucks in partnership with the NYC Food Truck Association, and some food trucks are offering the use of their generators for cell phone charging. According to Mark Perry, a professor of economics and finance at University of Michigan in Flint, Mich., and a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, mobile food trucks are a viable resource in emergency response situations, and have the ability to respond where emergency relief is needed more quickly than emergency response agencies.
Perry told BusinessWeek.com that “it’s win-win-win.” Where restaurants may be shut down for weeks to come, food truck operators can continue to operate, and provide much needed relief to those affected.
Read the story http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-11-01/new-yorks-food-trucks-to-the-rescue
