Will food trucks return to urban offices?
When office work went virtual last year, it forced the food truck industry to make a U-turn. Matt Geller, president of the National Food Truck Association and founder of an online food truck booking and ordering platform called Best Food Trucks, told Marketplace host Kai Ryssdal he saw many food trucks pivoting from lunch service in urban areas to dinner events in the suburbs where many people were clustered during the pandemic. With some workers now returning to in-person offices after more than a year away, Ryssdal spoke with Geller about whats next for the industry. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation. Kai Ryssdal: It has been almost exactly a year since we last had you on the program. Pivot from office spaces to neighborhoods  Matt Geller: Broadly speaking its just been one big pivot from office buildings to neighborhoods. The office space that had been the bread and butter for the food truck industry hasnt come back yet, but neighborhoods have really, in the areas where theyve been activated, have really helped save the food truck industry. Ryssdal: Well, yeah, so lets, lets continue with the metaphor of the pivot. Geller: Yeah, I mean, the hope is that we have now created a secondary shift for food trucks. So we go back to the 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. as it starts to come back, and we keep the evening shifts, more like a traditional restaurant. And so if that happens, they can see quite a bit more revenue, and were hoping that it does. Goodbye, cafeterias  Geller: I should have said when. Were already seeing people reaching out to us. And the interesting thing is people dont want to bring back  when I say people, I say business parks, buildings  a lot of them arent planning on bringing back their cafeterias. So theyre looking out and theyre reaching out to food trucks to say, Hey, can you service us in a regular rotation? So I know its a win, I just dont know the length of time its going to take to get back to a quote-unquote normal. Geller: Thats definitely true. Quite a few trucks have gone out of business, but I will say also, theres a lot of trucks that have started up during the pandemic, and there are trucks that have basically put themselves on hold, and I can see them coming back now. Geller: Huge staffing challenges. One of the things thats a little bit different about food truck operators, food trucks are constantly communicating with each other via, you know, a Slack app or, you know, Google Groups message board. Hey, can someone spare an employee for this shift? So theres a lot of sharing of employees, but the general consensus is there are not enough employees. And as a result, I mean, food trucks have really raised their pay. And even with that, theyre seeing its very, very hard, just like the rest of the food service industry. Geller: Yeah. With tips and everything. Yeah, I mean, 15 to 20 in a lot of locations. Competition and cooperation  Ryssdal: Im not sure I had food trucks down as operating in a sort of a an interior communications ecosystem, right, the idea that theyre on a Slack thing to solve staffing challenges. Its kind of interesting. Geller: Yeah, I mean, you know, food trucks work great by themselves, but they work the best together. Theyre constantly interacting with each other  Hey, Ive got this event. I need a desert truck. Like. Theyre also cooperating.