Patrons Jerrold Anub, left, and Elaine Dano of Rancho Cordova receive their food through the window of the 'Mini Burger' food truck in Sacramento on Saturday, December 3, 2011. Randy Pench, Sacramento Bee
You'd think the competition would be especially steep for local food trucks at Saturday's Sacto MoFo 3 mobile food festival. With such favorite Bay Area food trucks in the mix, including Chairman Bao and Seoul On Wheels, you'd think that locals would flock to the trucks that might only stop in the area a couple times a year. But even late in the afternoon, the local food trucks were getting plenty of love in the form of long lines.
Late in the day, Sacramento's own MiniBurger was pulling the longest lines by far. Anyone remember the three-hour wait for Chairman Bao at the first Sacto MoFo? By 4 p.m. you could get your order in less than 5 minutes. Meanwhile, MiniBurger set a personal sales record and cranked out more than 500 orders - a 10% increase over its previous record which was set at the inaugural Sacto MoFo. Overall, Sacto MoFo 3 drew about 5,000 people, according to the festival organizers.
Even MiniBurger owner Davin Vculek was surprised at the demand for his truck.
"It was very humbling," said Vculek. "It was a compliment that people wanted to try some of the newer trucks but we still had some of the longest lines. The event showed that the local appetite for food trucks is still strong here."
Behind the scenes, a veritable food fight is developing between local mobile food operators and restaurateurs, who apparently don't like competition even though some of them have based menu items and entire businesses on food truck fare. Two hearings about current mobile food ordinances, including the 30 minute parking rule for food trucks, were scheduled to be heard before the City of Sacramento's Law and Legislation Committee were postponed apparently due to gripes from restaurateurs. Word is that these hearings may happen in January, so stay tuned to see if that comes true.
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