Food Trucks Research Articles

A Study on the Development of Food Truck Concept based on Demographic Characteristics

This study aimed to develop food truck concept based on demographic characteristics by using conjoint analysis. This study investigated the attributes importance and attributes level based on gender, age and income. Results of the research were following. First, as a result of analyzing the attribut...

A Study on the Development of Food Truck Concept based on Demographic Characteristics

A Study on the Development of Food Truck Concept based on Demographic Characteristics

Antecedents of consumers’ intention to visit food trucks

ABSTRACTThe food truck industry has become a national phenomenon in the United States by gaining attention and praise. However, there has been limited attention on how and why consumers decide to patronize food trucks. The purpose of the study is to investigate determinants of consumers’ intention to patronize food trucks by applying the model of goal-directed behavior. Structural equation modeling was employed to assess the relationships among constructs in the proposed research model. This study contributes significant theoretical and practical implications by first attempting to examine what specific psychological variables influence the decision-making process regarding consumers’ intention to visit food trucks.

Mobile Business Retailing: Driving Experiential Learning on Campus

Engaging students in the classroom is a struggle all faculty face especially in the age of modern technology. This article proposes a novel approach to engage and motivate students through the mobile business “on wheels” marketing concept. The growth in mobile business retailing (e.g., food trucks, mobile dog groomers, etc.) is an appealing concept for today’s entrepreneurial-minded students. This concept provides students with an opportunity to combine their creativity with their understanding of the seminal marketing concepts of a principles of marketing course. The project involves two marketing challenges: the promotion of a mobile business retailing event on campus and the development of a marketing plan for a unique mobile business retailing idea developed by the students. The project provides a variety of hands-on, engaging pedagogies to guide the students from concept creation based on primary research through campaign proposals integrating digital media examples. Resources in project design, implementation, evaluation, and critical analysis of this comprehensive marketing project are outlined in this article. Recommendations for future research and implementation are also provided.

CUSTOMER'S PERCEPTION TOWARDS FOOD TRUCK PRODUCTS IN INDIA

CUSTOMER'S PERCEPTION TOWARDS FOOD TRUCK PRODUCTS IN INDIA

Improvement of user experience using virtual reality in open-architecture product design

User experience has a significant impact on the effective product design and improvement, especially for a personalized product to meet user’s individual need. The development of personalized products requires data from user experience in the evaluation of the product function and performance. The existing methods of Internet-based interactive platforms and direct market user surveys cannot provide users full experience of product features. This research proposes a user interactive system based on virtual reality technologies to provide users a close-real experience in the development of open-architecture products. The system provides users an interface built on the virtual environment. The users can review a product design by virtually operating and evaluating the product. The system records users’ operations and feedbacks for designers to improve the product. Food trucks designed using the open-architecture concept are used as applications to verify the proposed method. A user survey is conducted to examine the system effectiveness.

Eating on food trucks: a study in light of practice theory

In this paper we applied the theory of practice (RECKWITZ, 2002; WARDE, 2005), in particular the notion of entity coordinated by connections between actions and discourses (understandings, procedures and engagements), in the study of the practice of eating out in food trucks. The empirical research results carried out in Curitiba / PR indicate that the foods commercialized by these vehicles are classified as meals and tend to replace lunch. In addition, the rules mobilized by consumers to choose their dishes take into account foods already known to the individual, the visual character and hygiene of the food truck and also the ingredients employed in the food’s preparation. The feelings and goals involved in the practice can be classified into: informality and fun, freedom from domestic activities and relaxation provided by outdoor space.

Urban streets: Epitomes of planning challenges and opportunities at the interface of public space and mobility

Today's urban streets are usually planned for purposes of mobility: pedestrians, as well as a variety of vehicles such as cars, trucks, and sometimes bicycles, are usually factored into an urban street plan. However, urban streets are also increasingly recognized as public spaces, accommodating street vending, food trucks, markets, artistic interventions, political expressions, comfortable benches, green spaces. Although these are mostly not new activities to appear on streets, they are now given particular attention in public discourses, urban planning, media and academia, as public space in cities has become a more contested resource among different uses and ownership-constellations. Growing and diversifying urban populations are generating a particular strain on urban streets worldwide. In short, urban streets epitomize the challenges and opportunities that accompany the negotiations of space and uses attributed to mobility and public space in cities. They necessarily unite stationary and mobile functions – though this is not usually given room for in planning. Moreover, these functions are rarely studied from more than one perspective at once, which limits the analytical and creative thinking that inspiration is drawn from. In order to address these limitations, in this article we rely on insights from three theoretical fields - namely planning regulation, transitions and governance - and illustrations from concrete examples, to explore what urban planning might have to focus on to address the tensions in linking stationary and mobile functions in urban streets.

Using Social Media Mining to Understand Public Opinion towards Destination Image

In the middle of highly competitive tourism market, development of successful destination image is paramount towards memorable experience for visitors. This study aims to support tourism stakeholders from the service providers and national tourism by analyzing, and extracting meaningful patterns from social media, e.g. Twitter, based on destination image information. This data plays an important role for destination marketers to distinguish their destination among others based on Twitter Statistics and key public opinion towards destination image attributes. London and New York were used as destination cities under the analysis of text mining with the concept linkage approach. Results shows five distinct keywords attributed to each city. Each keyword found to be relevant in representing the image of destination cities based on the public opinion on Twitter. For keyword “Culture and Cultural”, term British” and Black represent London and New York the best, respectively. In keyword “Entertainment”, term James Bond and Broadway represent London and New York, respectively. In keyword “Festival”, term Lumiere and “Global Citizen Festival” are best in describing city of London and New York, respectively. In keyword “Food”, term traditional British food best describes London and Food truck best describes New York. The keyword “Shopping” exhibits term Etsy as the image of London and “Kate Spade as the image for New York. This research reveals the value of social media analysis and the ability of text mining as an effective technique to extract opinions from vast amount of available social media data. Recommendations related to tourism strategic plan are made to facilitate possible future destination image studies.

Competition of a Different Flavor: How a Strategic Group Identity Shapes Competition and Cooperation

Using an inductive study of 41 gourmet food trucks, we develop theory about how firms form a strategic group identity that shapes both competitive and cooperative behaviors among its members. Based on an analysis of group prototypes, we find that members cooperate to help each other meet the central tendencies of the group—the properties that typical group members have—and yet compete to strive for the ideal tendencies of the group—the attributes of members held in highest regard. These competitive and cooperative dynamics lead to three surprising consequences in light of previous research on strategic groups: (1) existing members of the strategic group help new firms enter the market; (2) resource scarcity leads to cooperation, not competition; and (3) when competition does emerge, it focuses on status within the group and not on price. To make sense of these empirical puzzles, we develop theory around the micro identity processes that allow a strategic group’s identity to persist and to shape its member firms’ behaviors, which alters how scholars understand the inner workings of strategic groups and their impact on both firms and markets.

Do food trucks and pedestrians conflict on urban streets?

In the late 2000s, food trucks became common in US cities and municipalities debated controversial food truck regulations. When they justify the regulations, municipalities raise safety, health and general welfare concerns, including potential pedestrian congestion. This paper uses the insights from pedestrian behaviour research to determine whether food trucks interfered with pedestrian flow. Based on direct observation of food truck customers and customer-pedestrian interactions in and near the Chicago Loop, the findings show that food trucks served customers most often without interrupting pedestrian flow. In part, this was due to the street furniture zone, including trash cans, bike racks and utility poles that created waiting space along the kerb. During periods of crowding, pedestrians adeptly manoeuvred through lines of food trucks. Food truck customers were also responsive to pedestrian flow and the lines moved in ways that reduced impact.

Can Latino food trucks (loncheras) serve healthy meals? A feasibility study

To conduct a pilot study to assess the feasibility of modifying food truck meals to meet the My Plate guidelines as well as the acceptability of healthier meals among consumers. We recruited the owners of Latino food trucks (loncheras) in 2013-2014 and offered an incentive for participation, assistance with marketing and training by a bilingual dietitian. We surveyed customers and we audited purchases to estimate sales of the modified meals. City of Los Angeles, CA, USA. Owners or operators of Latino food trucks (loncheras) and their customers. We enrolled twenty-two lonchera owners and eleven completed the intervention, offering more than fifty new menu items meeting meal guidelines. Sales of the meals comprised 2 % of audited orders. Customers rated the meals highly; 97 % said they would recommend and buy them again and 75 % of participants who completed the intervention intended to continue offering the healthier meals. However, adherence to guidelines drifted after several months of operation and participant burden was cited as a reason for dropout among three of eleven lonchera owners who dropped out. Lonchera owners/operators who participated reported minimal difficulty in modifying menu items. Given the difficulty in enrolment, expanding this programme and ensuring adherence would likely need to be accomplished through regulatory requirements, monitoring and feedback, similar to the methods used to achieve compliance with sanitary standards. A companion marketing campaign would be helpful to increase consumer demand.

The impact of temporary uses on property prices: the example of food trucks

Food trucks represent a temporary use of vacant or underutilised land. They have been assumed to increase the livability, vibrancy and attractiveness of a neighbourhood. However, no previous study has investigated whether this effect is reflected in property prices within the surrounding neighbourhood. We investigate the impact of a food truck pod on the values of single-family homes nearby. Using a quasi-experimental design, transaction data from Portland, Oregon and a difference-in-difference specification of a spatial regression model, we find that food trucks actually represent a negative externality, and that proximity of a home to food trucks is penalised by homebuyers. The closer a home is to the food trucks, the lower is the sales price. Explanations for this effect include increased parking shortages and trash issues in a neighbourhood due to food truck visitors.

Riding Shotgun with an LA Son: Narratives of Race, Place, and Mobility in Roy Choi’s Culinary Autobiography

This article analyzes the narratives embedded within chef Roy Choi’s cookbook L.A. Son: My Life, My City, My Food. Choi rose to success with his highly successful food truck empire, Kogi BBQ. While on one hand Choi’s story represents a new narrative for the next generation of American chefs, on the other his story operates as a modern retelling of the myth of immigrant mobility in America. Through his reflections on his life, city, and food he situates his cooking and his story as a pan-immigrant story of mobility, despite the social realities of Los Angeles and his road to success.

An Introduction to Zero-Coupon Risk-Free Bonds

This note introduces students to the basics of bonds and the time value of money through the simplest of financial contracts—the zero-coupon risk-free bond contract. The note covers the concepts of present value, yield to maturity, and bond pricing conventions. The note is appropriate as a companion for the Bond Trader simulation. A demo for this simulation is available at https://forio.com/simulate/darden/bond-trader-demo/. Excerpt UVA-F-1799 Rev. Sept. 7, 2018 An Introduction to Zero-Coupon Risk-Free Bonds One of the central principles of finance is that things that pay identical amounts have identical values. This principle is called the “Law of One Price.” The Law of One Price implies that one can value one financial contract by observing the value of another financial contract with similar expected return and risk. A related concept used in finance is that of “home cooking.” In financial markets one can “home cook” a version of a prevailing contract by combining existing financial products to create a “home-cooked” version. As such, the “home-cooked” version has the same value as, say, the “store-bought” version. As an example of this concept, suppose that you often buy chicken teriyaki sandwiches at a local food truck called the Big Kahuna. Your brother Rupert, an enterprising young man, has figured out how to exactly replicate the Big Kahuna chicken teriyaki sandwich. What is the value of Rupert's “home-cooked” exact replication of the Big Kahuna sandwich? Since the two sandwiches are identical, the sandwiches have the same value according to the Law of One Price. In finance, we will determine the value of a financial contract by observing the value of an identical replication of that contract that we can “cook up” by combining other contracts that are traded in security markets. In this note, we explore some first principles of pricing financial contracts using the Law of One Price. Although debt contracts go by many names, to simplify the discussion in this note we will use the term “bond” to denote any market-traded debt contract. Because the principles used to value simple contracts also apply to complicated contracts, we begin with the simplest of financial contracts—the zero-coupon risk-free bond contract. “Zero-coupon” bonds are simple promises to pay a certain amount at a specific point in time without any promise of making interest payments (or coupon payments) along the way. Zero-coupon bonds are simple IOUs. “Risk-free” bonds are promises that have certainty in the contracted payment. A risk-free promise of $ 1,000 is a sure promise that the payment will be made (there is no possibility of default or failure to make payment). . . .

Constructing Hybridized Authenticities in the Gourmet Food Truck Scene

In this article, I construct three ideal types of identities operating in the New Orleans gourmet food truck industry (Down-Home, Foreign Foodie type, and Hipster). Using evidence from three years of ethnographic observations, as well as qualitative interviews, I then examine the process of hybridization, in which the two forms of authenticity (food truck and brick-and-mortar) blend together, modifying each original authenticity to create a temporal product, hybrid authenticity. The value of this product is derived from the concrete but temporary relations between the product, the producers, the consumers, and the spaces where the product is produced and consumed.

The Influence of Customer Orientation, Market Activity, and Store Operation Activity on Performance: Focusing on Small Food Business Owners

Objectives: To explore performance influence factors in customer orientation, marketing activity, and store operation activity in small food business owners (excluding temporary food trucks and trolleys) among restaurants to seek support plans for stable business operation for small business owners. Methods/Statistical Analysis: The research subjects were business owners not received small business consulting support from the city of Seoul and data was collected through interviews during the management assessment process. Through SPSS 20.0 statistical program, frequency analysis and regression analysis was done, as well as empirical analysis for mediating effects. Findings: The study results showed that customer orientation and marketing activity had positive relations with store operation activity and store operation activity was also found to have influence on performance. It was found that store operation activity fully mediated customer orientation and marketing activity. Improvements/Applications: For positive performance in small business owners that operate restaurants, there is a viewpoint that store operation activity is very important which means that in the process of advising and consulting small business owners, there is need to suggest the importance and methods of store operation activity.

The Budding Aromas from Taco Trucks: Taste and Space in Austin, Texas

This paper evaluates how taste preferences produce space in Austin, Texas. Austin is a booming city. Indeed, it has been the fastest growing metro area in the United States for the past 20 years. It is also renowned for its evolving and enthralling food truck scene. Food trucks of all sorts spring up throughout the city. Some of the more innovative foods stem from gourmet trucks. And these trucks often become symbolic capital that spur gentrification. Other trucks, such as the traditional taco truck, are ensconced in marginalized neighborhoods. They feed the working masses of Mexicans who flock to Austin to find work. Certainly, the gourmet truck vendors experiment with food flavors; however, taco truck entrepreneurs are innovative as well. The taco truck cooks modify their menus to accommodate Austin’s shifting demographics. To this end, I argue Austin’s landscape transformation can be examined through cooking practices. This paper takes a close look at how immigrant cooks negotiate social spaces through the foods they make. In so doing, I interviewed two traditional taco truck owners about how they decide what to cook based on the social spaces in which they park their trucks. Surprisingly, their subtle choices reflect the changing culture and budding taste preferences of the city’s residents.

The Current Condition of Food Trucks in Revitalization of Public Spaces within Tokyo Metropolitan Area

The Current Condition of Food Trucks in Revitalization of Public Spaces within Tokyo Metropolitan Area

RECURSOS ESTRATÉGICOS PARA VANTAGEM COMPETITIVA SUSTENTÁVEL EM FOOD TRUCKS

O Food Truck chegou recentemente no Brasil e devido o relevante papel socioeconômico das Micro e Pequenas Empresas (MPE) faz-se necessário compreender melhor esse tipo de empreendimento. Para isso aplicou-se a Visão Baseada em Recursos (VBR). O presente estudo tem como objetivo identificar os recursos que são a fonte de vantagem competitiva sustentável possibilitando aos Food Trucks desempenho acima da média. A pesquisa é qualitativa e de caráter descritivo, tendo como método o estudo de caso e a coleta de dados foi por meio de entrevistas semiestruturadas e observação. O estudo revelou que o conjunto de recursos geradores de vantagem competitiva é variado dentro das organizações pesquisadas. Assim, os recursos que mais se destacaram como potenciais geradores de vantagem competitiva sustentável foram: modelo do truck, matéria-prima exclusiva, geração de energia, equipamentos, network, conhecimento técnico dos funcionários, bom atendimento, receita própria, reputação da empresa e investimentos, cujo bom atendimento foi o único recurso estratégico comum às quatro empresas estudadas.