Business & Tech

Vending Carts Slowly Make Their Way to Market Square

Vendors say slow roll-out spurred by cart manufacturer and changes mandated by Alexandria Health Department

The City of Alexandria’s plan to populate its Market Square with food vending carts is finally panning out after hitting a few bumps.

The plan was to get eight carts serving food beginning in April. By late May, one cart helmed by Bread & Chocolate was up and running. But it finally has company. Creperie Caffe Fontaine moved out to the square over the Memorial Day weekend.

The city initially approved all five vendors submitting applications – Caffe Fontaine, Bread & Chocolate, Grape and Bean, Columbia Firehouse and Union Street Public House.

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Grape and Bean has since dropped out of the program because of staffing issues.

Some vendors expressed frustration at what they saw as a lack of coordination between City Hall and the Alexandria Health Department, which is a state agency.

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“We were supposed to get out there in April but there was a disconnect between City Hall and the state Health Department,” Bread & Chocolate Chief Operating Officer Andy Cook said.

Vendors had been given a list of carts that they could purchase from a city-approved manufacturer. However, when vendors bought the carts, they discovered that the Health Department would not permit them. Vendors are not required to use the city-approved carts and in fact only half of participants do.

Cook’s company spent $4,000 on one of the most basic carts from the city-approved manufacturer, and had to pay an additional $550 to make cart improvements required by the Health Department. For example, repositioning a faucet and adding a heat booster to increase the temperature for hand washing.

“We’ve always had a great relationship with the Health Department, but they seemed disconnected from the process,” Cook said. “Some of the preapproval stuff could have been worked out. I understand [the Health Department’s] energy is to make people safe and healthy.”

Kristin Garcia, environmental health supervisor for the Alexandria Health Department, said she had heard from some vendors who seemed perplexed by the Health Department’s request for changes.

“The city approved a particular vendor strictly for aesthetics (to blend into Market Square}, but the Health Department needed to approve specifications and menus” to make sure the cart could support “the safe operations of that menu,” said Garcia, who added that “there was still some confusion as to what the city was approving and what our approval process entailed.”

When adding in the permitting fees from the Health and Fire departments, Bread & Chocolate spent about $5,100 to get out onto Market Square. Like all vendors, it pays the city $100 a week to operate there.

The Alexandria Health Department has participated in a number of meetings on the issue hosted by Alexandria Planning and Zoning since December 2009, according to District Health Director Stephen Haering.

“At each of these meetings we offered to meet with prospective cart vendors one-on-one to discuss how they can have a successful and safe” experience, Haering said.

He advised all vendors to make sure the Health Department has seen plans for a cart and affiliated menu before purchasing the cart. There are many small details that a vendor must follow as well - such as using small packets of mustard and ketchup rather than bottles, according to Health Department rules.

“Overall the cart program is terrific. It is a pilot and the purpose of a pilot program is to learn and grow and to find out how to do what you want to do,” said Barbara Ross of the city’s Planning and Zoning Department.

She added that one reason the city had approved certain carts is because they were similar to a hot dog vendor who used to be stationed behind the Torpedo Factory and had been previously approved by the Health Department. However, he likely had a much simpler menu than vendors moving out to Market Square.

Fontaine owner Kyong Yi said her intention was to start in April but had to have her cart custom made to meet the restaurant’s needs and Health Department requirements.

Despite Difficulties, Participants Eager to Begin

Yi said she is eager to offer her foods to the tourist business that comes to Old town since Fontaine is off the main King Street area and does not reap much tourist foot traffic.

Union Street Public House Manager Steve Greehan said he finds the rent very reasonable “so it would not take a tremendous amount of sales to be profitable. Also, it is another reminder that our main restaurant is just around the corner.”

He had to revamp the cart menu to appease the Health Department. Sorry, no lobster rolls due to lack of required refrigeration. But the main delay for him was getting the cart about a month later than expected from the manufacturer.

Despite Cook’s struggles to get his cart up and running, he’s been happy with the program and “the sense that it builds my business.” He also said he expects to become profitable from the venture fairly quickly.

Cook said he’d “welcome some company” on Market Square from fellow restaurants. “I understand some of the hurdles. We consciously scaled back our plan in order to make it easier to get out there quickly.”

It’s never easy to be a pioneer.

“I wish all the vendors who are participating good luck,” said Yi. “It’s costly and a lot of time has been invested in this project from all of us.”

 

 

 


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