Food trucks have a hard time operating in rural areas - Entrepreneur Generations

Gino Cortes mixes chicken broth in his food truck.
(Daily Item photo by Emma Ginader)

Food trucks have been a popular everyday sight in urban areas for years, but they're seldom seen in rural areas except for at festivals.

Part of that is because food trucks do well where there's a lot of foot traffic, but getting the proper licensing and permits is another problem. "For example, a food truck would need a license from the state Department of Agriculture to operate in a town without its own health department, but the truck might need another license issued by a local health officer if they decided to operate in a community with its own health department as well," Emma Ginader reports for The Daily Item in Sunbury, Penn.

But some food truck operators are venturing into rural areas, especially to cater to the growing rural Hispanic population. That's the case with El Encanto, a food truck that specializes in Latinx regional cuisines in nearby Penn Township. Maria Lorenzo, who owns and operates the truck with her husband Gino Cortes, told Ginader "A lot of people have to travel hours away to find Hispanic cuisine. It will be nice to have something closer to home for them."

Lorenzo said two reasons for the lack of rural food trucks might be that it's hard for rural food trucks to find a permanent location and that some communities are not very welcoming.

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/2JqG1cy Food trucks have a hard time operating in rural areas - Entrepreneur Generations

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