Welcome back to our blog! Being a slightly new phenomenon in itself, part of the excitement of the food truck community is the fact that it is constantly evolving. Customers give feedback both in-person and online every day and truckers learn new ways of operating. So without further adieu, let’s take a look at some of the most recent trends in the food truck industry:

Locally- sourced ingredients: The public has become so much more educated and therefore more discriminating about where there food comes from; food truck operators are taking note. Rather than using freeze-dried vegetables and meats that are flown in from different states and countries, truckers have begun building relationships with local farmers who can supply them with fresher ingredients. These days, you will often find food truck chefs visiting green markets and sites such as basis to meet vendors who can provide them with better quality ingredients for a fair price to feed their fans.

Eclectic cuisine: What started as simple hot dog carts and ice cream trucks has morphed into an incredible array of international options. Though food truckers are not working with much room for storing or cooking food and they face new competition every day, they know that whatever they create must be Good with a capital “G”. On top of that, they must also be creative. Enter fusion fare and focused specialty trucks. While Korean taco trucks, Mexican barbecue, and Jamaican comfort food have become the norm, truckers continue to push the envelope. In the near future, keep an eye out for Native American eats, traditional Nordic dishes, and Algerian dessert trucks.

No longer only accepting cash: Does anyone carry cash anymore? Food truck entrepreneurs realized that they were losing potential business when they had no way to accept debit and credit cards and knew they needed to find a way to make it easier for their customers to pay. Developers to the rescue! Nowadays, many trucks accept debit and credit cards via smartphone/tablet card reader attachments such as Square and apps such as LevelUp and Tapviva. You can also now find food trucks on delivery/pick-up food sites such as SeamlessWeb and GrubHub.

Corporations jumping on the bandwagon: No longer only one, two, and three-person business ventures, trucks are now being operated by chain restaurants looking to test new menu items, to reach new communities, and to be available for large events such as concerts and festivals.

Power in numbers: Because food trucks are a relatively new phenomenon, the entrepreneurs who open them oftentimes find themselves going up against antiquated city laws and regulations. Expensive parking tickets and the possibility of being towed away are constant threats to the food trucker; many have decided to ban together to change these regulations and to work around them. For example, the NYC Food Truck Association represents 42 food trucks in the City and is in constant contact with city officials on their behalf, attending city council meetings and maintaining a respectful dialogue about the issues. Because there is no public parking space for food trucks in the City, the NYCFTA also negotiates with landowners to use their empty land as food truck lots. If you would like to help us out with our mission to create fair operating conditions for NYC food trucks, please sign our online petition!

What are your thoughts on some of these trends and what others have you noticed? Please share your thoughts with us on Twitter and on our facebook page!