News

Food trucks in Cleveland approach saturation point

May 8, 2017

Some Cleveland food truck owners owners are seeing fewer sales and starting to ask how many trucks can succeed in the city, according to Cleveland.com.

Phil Pamphilis of Papa Nick's Calzone Zone, who just took the wheels off his work, is one of them. He ran his truck, an extension of the same-name Cleveland store, on the road for three years, with decreasing sales.

Izzy Schachner, the operator of StrEAT Mobile Bistro and president of the newly formed Northeast Ohio Food Truck Association, said the food truck scene is simply meeting the demand of its audience. It's more likely overbooked than over-built.

"Northeast Ohio hasn't reached a saturation point yet," he said. "The public is getting used to trucks and more local governments are allowing trucks to operate. Trucks do go out of business, but like any other industry, there is a drop off for a variety of reasons."

Schachner said he and his group work with private event planners to help them find the right trucks and avoid having too many at one site. A glut could mean a smaller piece of the profit for everyone.