After the entire fracas, publicity, and debate over the Bethlehem hot dog man (the original Edwin, not the Easy Weenies fellow) you'd figure that the logistics and marketing that go with street vendors would have been a snap for Lehigh Unversity's dining services. Although I am very supportive of Lehigh's endeavors as an alumnus I feel that I must give a fair review of the dining experience at the Füd Truk.
The basic premise of street food vendors is that they provide cheap, fast, and portable food. In my experience of eating street food in Taipei, Manhattan, Beijing, California, and other metropolitan cities, you have the expectation that street food will involve quick service that allows you to eat while standing while only spending a few bucks. However, the Füd Truk violates all three of these essential principles of street food. A coworker of mine asked that I help her try out the Füd Truk and I agreed (after all, she bought me lunch).
Although long lines are a part of popular street food, waiting for food preparation is a fatal mistake. Placing an order at the Füd Truk was very quick and friendly. Nice people with a good service attitude. Unfortunately, I was given a ticket and had to wait more than ten minutes for my food. This seems contrary to the entire "pick up and go" mentality of street vendors. I am not saying I was impatient but am trying to communicate that this does not meet the expectations most people have with food trucks.
The overall complexity of the food also did not lend itself to eating while standing. Their trademark burger, although flavorful and covered with excellent toppings, quickly became a soggy, dripping mess that took a couple paper towels to clean off of my jacket. The error here was that the food had been given to me in a closed styrofoam container, which quickly trapped the heat and moisture from the food and made the ciabatta bun surprisingly flimsy, leaking meat and vegetables everywhere.
I also suspect that the complexity of the food also led to fairly high prices ($9 for a burger and fries), which understandably gave me pause when looking at the menu. $9 is the cost of a decent sit down lunch at the average cafe or restaurant. I would say that the quality of the food certainly matches the cost, but does nothing to attract me to a street vendor since I could go to an actual restaurant, sit down, not worry about dripping food on my clothing, and have a pleasant meal while spending the same amount of money.
But as I said my desire is for Lehigh's new business venture to succeed since the Füd Truk has the potential to provide quick dining for busy students and faculty. However, I think the entire menu needs modification to meet the general expectations of a mobile food vendor. I hope that the planners behind this new business will visit some of the notable food trucks in a nearby metropolitan area and take some good notes. My ideal for street food is essentially "under $5, able to eat with one hand, food prep time from ordering to delivery remaining under three minutes." For example, the Taiwanese scallion pancake... quick, easy, cheap, and you can eat it with one hand.
PS: Your website links are broken, Füd Truk. read more