All across the country, chefrepreneurs are taking their highbrow palate pleasers to the streets. Foodies have evolved the roach coach concept to stylish refurbed trailers vending complex flavors in compostable packaging. You can grab a lemongrass pork sammy, blackberry lavender hand-shaved snow cone, or warm chocolate bread pudding with bacon custard sauce for affordable prices.
My street food experience a couple of weeks ago went something like this:
I was in New York for one night only and my friend and I wanted to find the best dessert in the city. She posed the question on Facebook for her friends to give recommendations.
Top pick: Dessert Truck at St. Mark’s place.
image from desserttruck.com
Visit their Twitter page to see if they are out tonight.
Uh-oh! They’re running out of bacon custard! But no worries, they’ve got a vanilla custard backup.
Take subway. Get oriented. Find truck. Shovel warm chocolate bread pudding with vanilla custard into mouth. Do happy dance. (Really. I did it. And it brought in a couple of new customers.)
Tell all my friends and write blog post about it. Cycle continues with other sugar addicts.
~FIN~
Part of the experience was discovering it, and we felt like we were in on a really juicy secret. (By the way, that bread pudding was the most amazing dessert I’ve ever put in my mouth).
What’s fascinating about these businesses is the fact that they can be successful despite the lack of a brick and mortar location. Apparently, word-of-mouth popularity, the reliance on online social networks for marketing, and the attention to design and branding really works.
LEFT: image via the Fresher than Fresh flickr site. RIGHT: Image from Michael E. on Yelp
Getting people to the location is all well and good, but it’s the delicious food and the experience of being there that keeps customers actually looking for these trucks and going back. Tasty food, fun design, and a novel concept makes for an adventure you’ll tell your friends about.
Have you sampled any highbrow street food lately? What is your favorite?
–Jennifer Pritchard
