Are food trucks made for this moment? Owners want to fill coronavirus takeout void

It’s a good thing food trucks don’t have dining rooms. Of 160 such units in Pierce County, about half are mobile, while the other half are permanently “parked.” Across the state, more than 1,700 trucks roam the streets.

A few of them continue to hit the pavement as millions of Washingtonians stay home and will remain there for at least another two weeks after Gov. Inslee’s March 23 stay-at-home directive. Restaurants may continue takeout and delivery services, but dining rooms must remain closed.

Jen Gustin, owner of Boss Mama’s Kitchen food truck, has continued her typical hustle, despite the fact that the spread of COVID-19 befell her industry at the same time it did theaters, sports arenas and fairs. The waterfall of large event cancellations started in early March, when the Washington State Fairground canceled its annual St. Paddy’s Day party.

She asked vendors if she could park in their lots, such as the Smart Foodservice in South Tacoma, where two nearby businesses dropped $200 each on a recent Friday.

As a paying member of the Washington State Food Truck Association, Gustin uses the app Street Food Finder, which allows customers to find nearby trucks, schedules and menus. They can order her Elvis burger (bacon and peanut butter) and Parmesan garlic fries and pay directly through the app, allowing for quick and easy contactless curbside pickup.

“I can’t freak out about it. I can’t have a meltdown,” she told The News Tribune last week. “That’s not gonna fix my problems.”

The issue isn’t so much orders, Gustin said, but supplies. Though the Smart Foodservice is open to the public — unlike Restaurant Depot, which requires a resale license to shop — she estimates that 80 percent of customers are food retailers.

“My vision of being in there now, that number is reversed,” she said.

The hoarding started at the beginning of the month, agreed Trent Jurgensen, who opened The Frying Dutchman, a fish-and-chips truck, five years ago. He usually shops at the Costco Business Center in Fife, but the lines have been so long that he gave up and placed an order online. That, too, took two days, as the server kept failing. Even propane was hard to find, and a 90-minute drive to a second location proved fruitless.

Buying more fresh produce and bread helps, as those perishable items remain mostly intact, but he said, “It’s just stressful.”

Indeed, the shelves where hefty bags of Domino and Pillsbury usually sit were empty on Friday afternoon. Chickpeas, gone. Beans, gone, Rice, nada. SPAM, unavailable at Costcos across America.

For context, a 50-pound bag of flour would make more than 100 pizzas, or enough to make one loaf of bread every week for a year.

Smart Foodservice has noticed the uptick in non-restaurant customers and their newfound penchant for commercial products, said John Mathews, vice president of sales and marketing. The company now limits certain items.

“Our stores continue to receive almost daily deliveries, and we are working closely with our suppliers, making every effort to meet the needs of our customers and provide the best possible store experience,” he told The News Tribune in a statement.

Adam Moyuh, loading his truck outside the store, said shopping for his deli in Aberdeen has been arduous. On top of losing 30% of sales, he struggles to find basic ingredients like sugar, rice, flour and cornstarch. This was his third visit this week, and every day it’s the same story.

None of these small business owners has time to hop around from store to store looking for the products they need or brands they typically buy. In some cases, they settle for what’s left. In others, they leave empty-handed.

“It’s not that we don’t wanna work,” said Gustin. “I’m a hustler. I will make it happen. My peers and I work together; we help each other. We want to succeed. It’s just tough because if I can’t get anything, I can’t do anything.”

FOOD TRUCKS DEAL WITH DIFFERENT REGULATIONS

Melissa and Devyn Morgan set up their barely year-old Starvin’ Marvin pizza truck in the Beer Star parking lot on Sixth Avenue and Stevens Street every night, catering to the happy-hour bustle of a taproom that sells retail snacks and cheese but not hot food.

Last week, with the taproom closed, they cooked a small handful of orders, compared to 40 on a typical weeknight.

“I’m sitting in an empty parking lot just hoping somebody drives by and wants food,” said Melissa Morgan. Family and friends have been supportive, and some regulars, “but not as many people are out.”

Plus, “People are also very worried about their pocketbooks. People look at the menu and say, ‘I just can’t afford that.’”

Regulations add another wrinkle to the food truck industry. Not quite a restaurant, they abide by local health department regulations, but every city has its own rules about where they can park. In Tacoma, for instance, they must sit within 300 feet of a restroom. The city also requires special events permits to park outside pre-designated areas, which include intersections near Pierce Transit Park, Courthouse Square and Tacoma Dome Station.

The Washington Food Truck Association has been busy these past few weeks organizing grab-and-go sites where trucks can park to reach as many customers as possible. The trick is finding a private entity to open up its space. Most recently, executive director Lori Johnson announced the addition of a Hilton Hotel parking lot in Bellevue.

“Many local food truck operators are really struggling to find viable vending locations, and many are struggling just to stay in business,” she told The News Tribune in an email. Those that rely on corporate office parks and busy downtown streets during the slower fall and winter months have watched sales drop 90 percent.

Morgan cited that number, too.

“It’s been a business that’s been able to provide for us, but to hit a brick wall has been shocking,” she said. “If it doesn’t change soon, I’m not going to be able to operate. It’s different for everybody, but it’s bad for everybody.”

Jurgensen at The Frying Dutchman hasn’t seen the windfall of less foot traffic yet, but he also has a more established audience after five years in business.

“I have a really good following,” he said. “I assume that until we go on full lockdown that we’ll still be busy. A lot of people can’t cook, which is the other thing.”

To help these small business owners and to feed the public, especially “essential” workers, local governments could approve temporary vending locations, said Johnson. She added that many Washington cities have “outdated code” for mobile food vending.

This crisis might just change that landscape. Jurgensen views this moment as similar to the post-recession economy after the global financial crisis: that those who adapt will survive.

What’s changed since 2008? Food trucks swelled outside their existing stomping grounds in cart-friendly cities like Portland, Oreg., and Austin, Texas. We can thank Roy Choi, the venerable Los Angeles chef of Kogi who inspired the Jon Favreau film “Chef” and a subsequent Netflix show.

“I think this is another paradigm shift. This is a psychological change for us,” said Jurgensen. “Do you think you’re going to want to sit next to people during flu season? I think we’ll see that change quickly.”

This story was originally published March 25, 2020 at 5:05 AM.