Food Truck Backlash Reaches Brick and Mortar Williamsburg

Brick and mortar eateries in heavily congested areas like midtown Manhattan have long bemoaned the prevalence of food carts and trucks on their turfs. They call the cops, make threats, and complain to anyone who will listen. And they have reason to be upset: due to a lower overhead, food trucks can undercut their prices and lure away business.

Now the fight has migrated to Williamsburg.

In the Brooklyn Paper today business owners off the Bedford L stop, including the owners of Blackbird Cafe, Tai Thai, and New York Muffin, complain about the business practices and garbage of food trucks like the popular Endless Summers. Here's a funny part though. Ben Van Leeuwen, who now owns a brick and mortar ice cream shop in Greenpoint "conceded that it would be weird if an ice cream truck parked in front of his shop..." Interesting, since he used to park right outside the now shuttered dessert shop Penny Licks. Still he notes that the brick and mortar shops should spend less time worrying about the competition and more time worrying about making their food better. Take that Blackbird.
· Keep un-trucking! Bedford merchants resent food carts [BP]