Leah S wrote:Ryan Rogers wrote:This is bad for brick & mortar restaurants, but if the consumer demands it we’ll all have to evolve.
Respectfully disagree. Because
honest competition makes us all better at what we do.
Here's a hypothetical as to why it's bad for brick & mortar:
Person opens Taco restaurant, invests $XXX,XXX to turn around a building in a pioneering neighborhood, which in turns helps to contribute to that neighborhood.
People like their tacos, business is able to hire more employees, and start to pay off their debt.
Different person opens a Taco Food Truck, invests $XX,XXX to do it.
Food truck sees that a lot of people are going to new hot Taco restaurant to buy tacos. Food truck also makes good tacos. Food truck decides to park outside of that restaurant, and price their products cheaper because they don't have as much overhead.
Cost conscious consumers decide to get tacos from Taco truck instead. Taco Truck takes 20% of the business from Brick & Mortar. Brick & Mortar begins to struggle to pay back bank loans. Brick & Mortar lays off employees. Brick & Mortar closes, and becomes another vacant building in a previously burgeoning neighborhood.
Taco Truck rolls on to the next Taco Brick & Mortar.
This is part of the reason that restaurants typically have Radius Clauses in their leases, so the landlord doesn't rent out the space next door to another taco shop.
It's entirely up to the consumer as to what they want, but I've seen casual dining kill fine dining, only to be killed by fast casual.
The entire market is shifting towards convenience which is why postmates, grubhub, doordash, and ubereats are all in the delivery market.
If the consumer decides that the convenience and price of a food truck is a better value for them than a brick & mortar then they will unknowingly kill brick & mortar restaurants and the socioeconomic benefits that they bring to neighborhoods.
That being said, I really like food trucks and their ability to make more people entrepreneurs at a lower initial investment. Louisville needs a dedicated Food Truck park.