Food in the Street

Last night, the Food We've Eaten team (that is, Jennifer and I) went to check out Street Food Activism in ATL, an installment of Charis Books and More's Urban Sustainability Series. Basically, it was an informal discussion about the issues surrounding Atlanta's street food scene (carts, stands, and trucks cooking and serving food) in Atlanta. For those not familiar with Atlanta's street food scene, don't worry – it doesn't really exist.

Why doesn't it exist? Hayley Richardson, who founded the Atlanta Street Food Coalition and led the discussion, said that it came down to Atlanta and Fulton County's interpretation of state health regulations. The main obstacles in those regulations are that you can't cook on a truck/cart, and whatever kitchen you do cook in has to be a shared commissary (as in, a commercial kitchen – think restaurant-style). Not being able to cook on location obviously limits the type of food that can be served up, and needing access to a commercial kitchen dramatically changes the economics of a street food business. Vendors are basically forced to serve pre-prepared food at an extra financial risk, even though the appeal of street food is that you can get freshly prepared food at a low price. In cities like New York, LA and Portland, vendors are able to cook on site, giving them more financial freedom and giving the customer a more delicious experience. 

Personally, I think there's something really appealing to being able to walk down the street and pick up a hot dog, or a burro pollo, and enjoy it al fresco. There's none of the experiential overhead of a restaurant to deal with  (waiters, counters, decor, elevator music, etc.). It's just about the food. Plus, when everyone is forced to improvise seating, you end up a little more connected to the people around you, even if you don't necessarily talk to them. The last time we were in NYC, we bought a couple of tacos from a random stand that we came across. Well, there were no seats or tables or benches, so a couple dozen people were leaning on walls, fences, and trees just eating tacos together, not able to isolate themselves the way they could with a four-top table or a booth. This effect is difficult to quantify for political impact, but I always think it's a good thing when people participating in the same community have/get to interact and acknowledge each other's existence, especially over tasty food.

So I'm clearly in favor of street food for community and visceral reasons, but I think the biggest damage from the current regulations is to aspiring food entrepreneurs. Starting a proper restaurant, with real estate considerations and all of the equipment and staffing that goes with it, is enormously expensive. I doubt even the simplest, smallest restaurant these days can be opened for less than six figures. But a food truck or cart should be significantly less daunting to someone with more ambition than collateral. If you look at the regulatory obstacles again, though, they're basically saying that you have to have access to a brick-and-mortar, commercial kitchen in order to sell out of even the most modest of carts. Well, that will pretty quickly put the cost of that modest cart a lot closer to the cost of opening a full-fledged restaurant. That's why most of the trucks and carts around Atlanta are basically extensions of a brick-and-mortar business (the Yumbii Korean/Mexican/Southern truck is like a rolling Hankook Taqueria). But rather than extending an existing restaurant, food carts should also be able to be a stepping stone up to a restaurant. As things stand, though, street food will likely be dominated by the well-funded usual suspects that typically inform Atlanta food. That's well and good, but I know the community has more to offer if the current arbitrary barriers to entry were removed.

What do you think about street food in general? I didn't really touch on some of the political and permitting issues (I think these issues will always transcend any food business), but are there other considerations besides health regulations? If you're new to the idea of street food, a good local resource for information (and a little advocacy) is Christiane Lauterbach's Atlanta Food Carts blog. There are a lot of great links and stories to learn about/get involved in the street food culture. And stay tuned, this is definitely a hot stove issue with potential breakthroughs coming soon. The Atlanta Street Food Coalition has an economic impact study in the works and will be making a presentation to city leaders in the coming months. Let them eat (street) food!