Now even our neighbor to the south has embraced the food truck with a vengeance. Boston's new food truck initiative will "give opportunities to small businesses, enliven public spaces, and promote access to fun, interesting, fresh food across the city,” mayor Tom Menino said in an April statement. The Globe reported that Boston will add 12 to 20 new vendors by next spring, to add the area's current compliment of food trucks.
Food trucks would seem an obvious fit for Somerville, fitting into both its hipster and immigrant traditions. But Somerville has only two licensed mobile food vendors: Bark N Bite and Moe’s BBQ Trolley (famous to amateur baseball fans and Tufts students), city spokeswoman Jackie Rossetti said in an e-mail. Somerville seemingly has no truck with food trucks.
Davis Square's Kickass Cupcakes is powering up a truck. Owner Sara Ross has applied for spots in Boston.
Where are my Korean tacos?
Boston, "I think, has been everyone's focus… we're just so excited," said Ross, who's secretary of the newly formed Boston Area Food Truck Association. In addition, though she'd like to have a truck at Tufts, her existing retail presence in Davis Square makes a Somerville truck a lower priority.
Todd Saunders, who co-owns Food Truck Nation with Ron Sarni, also had Somerville on the back burner. He's "certainly" interested "because of its love of food, and I've heard great things from people about the mayor and his love of doing business in Somerville," Saunders said. But "we've been focusing on Boston."
Aaron Cohen, who's starting a food truck as part of EatBoston, wanted to span Boston metro. In particular, "We're excited to be in Somerville because we live there and it would be exciting to serve our community," he said. He'd checked in with the city health inspector and planned to pick up an application.
For his grilled cheese truck's next move Saunders liked the idea of Cambridge but said Cambridge had put a moratorium on new trucks. That could open opportunities for Somerville.
"I haven't heard any negative things about the City of Somerville" not supporting food trucks, Ross said.
