Two new food truck parks have launched in the community this year alone. Pink Flamingo Food Court off McNeil Drive opened in March with a handful of new and seasoned food truck operators, and another food truck park off Anderson Mill Road is slated to open by this summer.
In 2024, Austin officials estimated that there were over 1,500 mobile food vendors operating within the city.
Quatro Wyatt, Pink Flamingo’s owner and a third-generation Austinite, said the Northwest Austin area has “exploded in the last 20 years.”
“We have multiple tenants that have moved from high-volume locations downtown to us because they believe in the community around this area,” Wyatt said. “I think we can all agree that it is underserved in cool outdoor spaces.”
The big picture
Central Austin events such as Austin City Limits and South by Southwest helped spearhead the food truck scene, which has since spread to communities around the metro, said Madison Gessner, executive director of the Texas Restaurant Association’s Greater Austin Chapter.
“We’re really seeing a lot of interest in what I call the suburbs of Austin,” Gessner said. “... There’s a lot of opportunity for growth, and you really see a lot of innovation with food trucks.”
Austin Public Health, which processes permits and inspections for food establishments, has also seen an increase in mobile vending over the last two years, Environmental Health Supervisor Michelle Mellor said.
While Northwest Austin already has a few established food truck parks such as Anderson Mill International Food Court and Hamilton Food Park, Wyatt has worked to transform the former Pink Flamingo Plant Co. property into one of the area’s newest options.
“I wanted to get the best food trailers in the city,” Wyatt said. “The truth is that a community of food trailer operators really built [the food court].”
How it works
Before applying to begin the permitting and inspection process, mobile food vendors in Austin must enter into an agreement with a central preparation facility, or CPF, Mellor said.
Per the agreement, CPFs provide mobile food vendors with waste disposal facilities for grease, wastewater and trash; food storage facilities for dry goods or temperature-controlled items; and additional storage for equipment and supplies.
The department aims to complete the permitting and inspection process within a month, Mellor said.
Despite having a smaller footprint than brick-and-mortar restaurants, food trucks have become a critical part of Austin’s food ecosystem and culture, Gessner said.
“We’ve had so many amazing stories of people who started food trucks that have now branched into brick-and-mortar restaurants,” Gessner said.
One such restaurant is SLAB BBQ in North Austin, which began as a food truck in 2008 before opening a brick-and-mortar location in 2014.
Its truck is now mostly utilized to cater corporate events for vendors such as Dell and The University of Texas at Austin, managing partner Raf Robinson said.
“[There’s] the mobility of being able to go to your customer, ... [and] you’re eliminating a lot of the variables that are challenging to manage in a restaurant,” Robinson said.
Food trucks are also generally less expensive to start than a restaurant, Robinson said, but operators have to consider costs such as the CPF.
There’s also no assurance that all of the food prepared will be paid for and eaten, he said. A catering client may say there will be 500 people at an event, but only 10% could actually end up eating due to an oversaturation of other food trucks present.
“We collect a lot of data to figure out how much to make every day, because you don’t want to be sitting on a bunch of product at the end of the day,” Robinson said. “... I’ve seen people go out of business based on that problem because you can’t return the food.”
In their own words
City of Austin officials estimate that more than 80% of mobile food vendors in Austin are operated by people of color.
That diversity is reflected in Northwest Austin’s food truck parks, where visitors can find a variety of international cuisines—including Mr. Pimento, a Jamaican-inspired food trailer that opened in 2022.
“One of the reasons I started this is because I noticed that here in Austin in general, there wasn’t a litany of Caribbean, particularly Jamaican, cuisine,” owner Clay Spence said. “... One of the exciting things about Austin is it’s like a brand new canvas by all the people moving in.”
Mediterranean food trailer Breeze & Bites is the first for Ali Berkay, who runs it with childhood friend Huseyin Aktas after the two moved to the United States about two years ago.
Despite “higher than expected” competition that has come along with operating in a food truck court, Berkay said the spot is his “dream location.”
“The reactions are really great, and the community is helping us so much,” Berkay said. “We have regular customers who are coming by, so it’s motivating to us.”
Quote of note
"You need competition to give a good picture of whether this is a good spot or not. So the fact that we have all of this—that's one of the reasons why I'm excited to be here. ... The demographic is outstanding." Clay Spence, Mr. Pimento owner
Opting to open a food truck or trailer may yield less startup costs or overhead expenses, but Robinson said there’s a “misconception that it’s going to be simpler and easier.”
The restaurant landscape has changed significantly since the coronavirus pandemic as consumer behavior heavily shifted to takeout through third-party food delivery platforms such as DoorDash, he said.
These platforms typically charge businesses a 15%-30% commission to utilize its services. Despite the financial impact this can have on independent restaurants and food trucks, it becomes the cost of doing business, Robinson said.
“Do you want 0% of zero sales, or do you want 70% of however [many] sales there are?” Robinson said. “The answer is—even though it’s not my full margin—I can’t say no, because the business is not in a situation to say no to sales. And that’s the conundrum that most restaurants are in.”
Stay tuned
Anderson Mill Food Truck Court in Northwest Austin is expected to open by this summer, owner Ramin Zavareh said. Four trucks have already signed on, with some still in the permitting process.
When it comes to streamlining this process, a bill filed during the 89th Texas Legislature could create some consistency for Texas food establishment regulations, Gessner said.
Each city or county sets its own level of regulations on top of state regulations, she said. As such, establishments operating in multiple locations could face different sound ordinances, public health regulations, inspection schedules and fees in each location.
Senate Bill 1008 seeks to address these issues by setting various provisions for local permitting and fees, which Gessner said could “help level the playing field,” especially for mobile food vendors who travel around.
- January: Bill filed
- March: Bill reviewed by Senate Business and Commerce Committee
- April: Bill passed in Senate
- May: Bill passed in House
- June: Gov. Greg Abbott could sign bill into law
- September: Bill could take effect Sept. 1
