Four New Trends for your Events
Growing up, my experience with street vendors was limited to chasing after the musical sounds of an ice cream truck with the rest of the screaming neighborhood children and, much later in life, scarfing down a hotdog at 3 a.m. once the nightclub shut down. I can just imagine sharing these stories with my grandchildren many years from now as they look at me with wide eyes and mouths agape. After all, street eats have morphed into a burgeoning industry of über-chic eateries on wheels. From lavender crème brûlée in San Francisco to soy, lemon and edamame dumplings in New York, these mobile solutions give even the pickiest foodies something to enjoy.
Although high-end mobile trucks have been around for a few years now, they have seen unprecedented growth, in large part because of the recession. Consumers are looking for less-expensive but equally satisfying alternatives to eating out. And vendors, for their part, can start a mobile truck business for as little as $30,000, as opposed to $700,000 for brick-and-mortar. As a result, demand and accessibility have bred tremendous choice. Event planners now have a multitude of high-quality mobile goodies to choose from, complete with staff, kitchen, food and eating utensils. It has never been easier to incorporate mobile food into events.
The mobile trend isn’t exclusive to edible treats. Discover some more seriously cool businesses on wheels:
Mobile Space for Rent
Based in Miami, 13 Wheels rents its 7-foot by 21-foot mobile space for events of all kinds across North America. The mobile space comes complete with 52-inch LCD TV/monitor, DVD player, 2,000-watt professional EV sound system, fog machine, lighting and laser show, string LED lights, black lights, strobe light and other features. www.13wheels.com
The Audio Truck
Great for concerts and events, the Audio Truck is a full-service, state-of-the-art, multitrack recording facility based in Toronto, Canada, but available almost anywhere in North America. www.theaudiotruck.com
Games2U
These self-powered, climate-controlled mobile video game theaters have state-of-the-art electronics, lighting and sound, as well as multiple flatscreen HDTV displays inside and outside. They even have laser tag during the day or night! www.g2u.com
Video on Wheels
GoVision offers mobile LED video screens in three different screen sizes, from 9-foot by 12-foot to 18-foot by 32-foot. www.jumbo.tv/mobile-led-jumbotron-video-screens.html
More Mobile Event Ideas
The Vendy Awards — Eighty dollars buys you a ticket to this awards show to sample some of the best street vendors in New York www.streetvendor.org/vendys
Find LA Food Trucks — Find out where the best food trucks in Los Angeles are at any given moment www.findlafoodtrucks.com
MobileCravings — This L.A. food truck blog helps you find vendors by food category www.mobilecravings.com
Street Vendor Project — This not-for-profit assisting New York street vendors can be a resource for your next event www.streetvendor.org
How to Start your own Food Truck Business — Step-by-step instructions and advice www.newyork.grubstreet.com/2009/08/usersguidehowtostart_your.html
About the author: Lara McCulloch-Carter
Columnist Lara McCulloch-Carter is the author of the number-one independent meetings and events blog ready2spark (ready2spark.com) and is a brand, marketing and social media consultant.
Contact: lara@ready2spark.com or @ready2spark