Frustration with local food truck scene

I look forward to seeing what sort of participation you get. If no trucks use it then everyone is in the same boat of not knowing where trucks are. And while yes, it is the trucks own fault it still doesn't solve the problem. I'm inclined to think Robin's Twitter list will prove more fruitful but we shall see.

I look forward to seeing what sort of participation you get. If no trucks use it then everyone is in the same boat of not knowing where trucks are. And while yes, it is the trucks own fault it still doesn't solve the problem. I'm inclined to think Robin's Twitter list will prove more fruitful but we shall see.

The twitter list only solves the where the trucks today problem. It doesn't provide any long-term visibility for where trucks will be at a given time in the future. Having a calendar would give customers the ability to look into the future to see where a truck they're looking for will be.

Hopefully you guys will find a solution to your problem. Sorry I wasn't able to be more help.

Hopefully you guys will find a solution to your problem. Sorry I wasn't able to be more help.

I hope they find a solution to their problem of not expanding their customer base.

[Robin Garr]

Hopefully you guys will find a solution to your problem. Sorry I wasn't able to be more help.

It's not all of us, Liz. I think it's a matter of expectations, and grasping the fundamental concept that one can't demand that people change a system that works for them because we want it to work better for us.

First, we're really glad you enjoy food trucks!

And to try to address some of your other points -
1. There is no food truck park where food trucks can go every day, like places found in other cities. This sort of central parking area is prohibited by KAR. Therefore trucks do not know where they are going to be until they find a meter. Many/most trucks can't tell you the day before where they will be, because we're literally driving around the blocks we want to set up on and looking for an open meter. The exception to this are the larger volume trucks (with more $) who can buy first an event permit and second pay to have meters bagged for themselves.

2. The Louisville Food Truck Association was chosen to partner with the City of Jeffersonville to create a food truck park. http://www.newsandtribune.com/news/meal ... 07644.html We're ramping up and have high hopes for this to be a destination.

3. A lot of trucks are concentrating on doing festivals and events, plus catering. There's a built in crowd, and we don't have to jockey for a parking space.

4. You can always check the Louisville Food Truck Association page for postings of where our trucks are on the street. It automatically feeds to Twitter if you prefer that format. We're trying to get everyone in the habit of adding the #LFTA hashtag to make our posts searchable. It's been a learning curve.

5. To make it easy, you will always (M-F) find trucks at these three locations: 5th and Market, behind Humana Waterside, and in the Medical Center generally in the 500 block of south Preston and near the Brown Cancer Center. Trucks are adding 3rd and Main and starting to work south Fourth St., south of Chestnut.into their rotations.

6. One place to find a listing of locations simply isn't going to happen, other than a Twitter accumulator like the one Robin compiled. Not all restaurants belong to Louisville Originals, nor are all on Open table. All restaurants don't have their open and close times and menus in one central location. We're no different. The business owners will do what works best, and right now, what we're doing is working pretty well.. Follow your favorite truck on Facebook or Twitter, or go to one of the usual places where you will find a truck. Your favorite might not be there, but a new truck likely will be there.

How do I even find out about trucks like this that are always on the same place at the same day? We don't have a regular schedule so we just supposed to come upon them while driving around? Even if it's a part-time business you need to let people know where and when you are going to be someplace so they can find you!

Well, here's the standard Traveling Kitchen schedule, for what it's worth:
Monday: 4th & Main (outside Waterfront/Galt House towers)
Tuesday: Preston & Chestnut (hospital area)
Wednesday: 5th & Market (between Humana Corporate and PNC)
Thursday: Humana Waterside (Brook and Washington)
Friday: 5th & Market (between Humana Corporate and PNC)

First, we're really glad you enjoy food trucks!

And to try to address some of your other points - ...

This is great info!

I could make a website for this. Basically follow the food truck twitter accounts and when they post a location and time, stick it on a calendar. Then customers just log into one website and see where all the food trucks are at that time. No one has to manage the site and the food trucks don't have to log into anything to manage a schedule, they just tweet where they are.

Would anyone be interested in this?

[Robin Garr]

I could make a website for this. Basically follow the food truck twitter accounts and when they post a location and time, stick it on a calendar. Then customers just log into one website and see where all the food trucks are at that time. No one has to manage the site and the food trucks don't have to log into anything to manage a schedule, they just tweet where they are.

Would anyone be interested in this?

It sounds kind of cool, although I'm perfectly content to keep up the HotBytes twitter feed, which is strictly functional but offers a simple, real-time live stream of who's tweeting what. As above, most of them are using Twitter to announce their current landing spot, so any approach that simply captures that is going to come as close as we can get to a Canonical Listing. Yours might be prettier, though.

I could make a website for this. Basically follow the food truck twitter accounts and when they post a location and time, stick it on a calendar. Then customers just log into one website and see where all the food trucks are at that time. No one has to manage the site and the food trucks don't have to log into anything to manage a schedule, they just tweet where they are.

Would anyone be interested in this?

That Sounds like it would be very helpful to me and to many others.

I could make a website for this. Basically follow the food truck twitter accounts and when they post a location and time, stick it on a calendar. Then customers just log into one website and see where all the food trucks are at that time. No one has to manage the site and the food trucks don't have to log into anything to manage a schedule, they just tweet where they are.

Would anyone be interested in this?

It sounds kind of cool, although I'm perfectly content to keep up the HotBytes twitter feed, which is strictly functional but offers a simple, real-time live stream of who's tweeting what. As above, most of them are using Twitter to announce their current landing spot, so any approach that simply captures that is going to come as close as we can get to a Canonical Listing. Yours might be prettier, though.

I just don't think twitter is ideal way to visualize where something is if you are trying to find where/when a food truck will be somewhere. The data would be much more understandable on a calendar or a map. What would be REALLY cool is if they add location data to the tweet, you could aggregate them all onto a map so that the user checks the webpage and just sees in real time if one is near.

Also might make it easier for the trucks to announce a schedule if they could just tweet time/day/location.

I may give this a shot just as an experiment. I'll post back here if i can get it working.

[Robin Garr]

I'll post back here if i can get it working.

Great! Kindly do!

I could make a website for this. Basically follow the food truck twitter accounts and when they post a location and time, stick it on a calendar. Then customers just log into one website and see where all the food trucks are at that time. No one has to manage the site and the food trucks don't have to log into anything to manage a schedule, they just tweet where they are.

Would anyone be interested in this?

Will you somehow scrape the content of the tweet for time info, or just go by the timestamp of the tweet? I ask because trucks will often post a day or two in advance announcing where they'll be at some later date.

I could make a website for this. Basically follow the food truck twitter accounts and when they post a location and time, stick it on a calendar. Then customers just log into one website and see where all the food trucks are at that time. No one has to manage the site and the food trucks don't have to log into anything to manage a schedule, they just tweet where they are.

Would anyone be interested in this?

Good Luck in getting ALL the food trucks to post a tweet.

Best thing to do is get their business card. Add to contacts. Send a message to your favorite 2-3 and ask where they are. Usually they will respond with location. Drive to location. NOM NOM NOM.