Jax's food truck boom creates a related business: Food truck servicing centers

[thelakelander]

Tactical Urbanism is a great thing. It's nice to see how this has played out since the initial Jax Truckies event back in 2012...

The first couple of structures are up, but what Bob Fleckenstein envisions is 58 carports big enough to hold food trucks. He's calling it Food Truck City.

The food truck explosion, when it finally came to Jacksonville, has been obvious. A few years ago, there were only a handful, but now about 100 are licensed in Jacksonville.

Chunky Tomato, Chubby Burrito, Mother Truckin Pizza and Pie Daddy ... they're in office parks, vacant lots and just about everywhere else where someone might step up to the window looking for a bite to eat.

Fleckenstein said he simply started noticing how many of them they were and, to be honest, he was looking for something to do.

He's 74 and sold his share of Summit Contracting Group, a company he founded in 1989.

"I didn't do well with retirement," he said. "I don't like sitting at home, and I really enjoy being around all these young entrepreneurs. They really fascinate me, and they work so hard."

So he's leased a 2-acre vacant lot on Richard Street, just a block off Bowden Road on the Southside. He picked that lot because it's close to Restaurant Depot, the wholesale store where many food truckies shop.

He's not envisioning Food Truck City as a place where trucks would serve food, though if some of them want to from time to time, that'd be OK with him.

His plan is a place to park trucks when they're not selling food, a secure place with roofed and fenced enclosures for each truck, with storage and room for freezers and refrigerators. He's putting in ice machines and a propane refilling station.

Full article: http://jacksonville.com/business/real-estate/2016-02-02/story/jacksonvilles-food-truck-boom-creates-related-business-food