Only in Salem… we finally get support for a vibrant Food Truck Scene after a restrictive city ordinance is loosened up.
But now some downtown restaurants have forced Fusion, a Vietnamese food truck, to leave its spot in the alley behind the Reed Opera House.
Where Fusion operated for a whole freaking 4 hours a week!
Deeply irritating. For those of us who want downtown Salem to be cooler. For the evolving food truck industry in this town. And naturally, most of all for Fusion.
Here's what happened, as reported in a recent Facebook post:
Due to restaurants "raising their voices" – this is the last day Fusion will be in downtown Salem. So frustrating that downtown Salem has become a place where a food truck gets pushed out of being here just 4 hours a week. It's a shame. Restaurants were feeling so threatened – they "convinced" the property owner to "ask" Fusion to "move along". Support food trucks, support diversity in our cuisine, support people starting up a business and chasing their dreams! Follow @salemfoodtrucks for news, specials and reviews.
I don't know which downtown restaurants were threatened by Fusion. However, last September I wrote a blog post, "Some downtown Salem restaurants may try to keep out food carts." Excerpt:
Today a Facebook post clued me in to a worrisome possibility: some restaurants in downtown Salem might attempt to keep food carts from establishing a long-term "pod" in the area. Or maybe even ban temporarily positioned carts.
…This seems really dumb to me, a few restaurants trying to stifle dining competition from food carts in Salem's urban core.
I was at a city council meeting where representatives of Venti's, Gamberetti's, and Napoleon's (will be re-opening its crepe cafe soon) testified that they feared losing business to downtown food carts.
Whoever the restaurants are, they need to rethink their irrational opposition to food carts in downtown Salem.
Last Tuesday I had to get my Mini Cooper serviced in Portland. Instead of waiting at the dealership, I asked for a ride to downtown. Chatting with the pleasant shuttle driver, I said that I was a vegetarian and needed some lunch.
"Oh, you should go to the 10th Street Food Truck pod. It's a whole block of food trucks. I recently had some great Indonesian food there."
I took her advice. And had an excellent veggie meal from the Rolling Gourmet Fusion food truck. The shuttle driver was right: food trucks lined the entire 10th and Alder block, all four sides.
Downtown Portland restaurants also are thriving. Here's an excerpt from my Strange Up Salem column, "Embrace downtown food carts."
Food carts are a big success in Portland, drawing national acclaim from Bon Appétit magazine and CNN. So what’s not to like about having a vibrant food cart scene everywhere in Salem, including downtown?
Nothing. But to some people here change is scary even when it is for the better. Diversity, creativity, more eating options… Eek!
At the July 14 city council meeting I was surprised to hear several councilors and restaurant owners talk about their Big Fear that people would flock to a downtown food cart pod and — oh no, the horror — enjoy eating there!
Theoretically, possibly, just maybe, the worry was that some of these people might choose a quick and easy food cart meal over a sit-down restaurant offering.
Well, this is called competition and free enterprise.
Even in the People’s Republic of Portland, where downtown food cart pods harmoniously coexist with restaurants. On SW 9th and Alder there are more than 60 food carts; on SW 4th and Hall, 25 food carts.
A post on the Fusion Facebook page nailed the problem with whatever Salem restaurants are threatened by downtown food trucks/carts. It quotes Bert Gall, an attorney who is the "patron saint of food trucks."
If you need protection from a food truck, maybe you weren't a great restaurant to begin with.
Right on.
Hopefully Fusion will be back in business soon downtown, along with other Salem food trucks. They don't pose a threat to downtown restaurants. But even if they did, so be it: that's what competition is all about.
I'll share some Facebook comments in reaction to the Fusion-kicked-out news as a continuation to this post. It's pretty damn clear that downtown food trucks have a lot of support from Salemians.
3