Beginning in April, food in Brookline is officially going mobile.
Brookline recently joined the growing food truck wave, announcing it would implement a pilot program in coming months to introduce food trucks to the town’s streets and public parks.
“We’ve had mobile food trucks and vendors in Brookline for a very long time but they haven’t necessarily been legal,” said Kara Brewton, Brookline’s economic development director, “and [with] that, combined with Boston’s program getting started, we saw more and more people requesting to operate food trucks in town.”
The program received nine applicants who will be evaluated on multiple criteria including freshness, affordability, uniqueness and nutritional value, she said.
“Restaurateurs can develop new food concepts at relatively low costs and bring them to locations where there may be an unsatisfied demand for freshly prepared food,” according to the pilot program’s website. “Brookline is a desirable place to support mobile food, in part because of its population of college students, young professionals and families.”
The popularity of food trucks has caused a revolution in dining experiences, said Jack Ludden, the operations manager at Paris Creperie, a sit-down café in Coolidge Corner that applied to the pilot program in February.
“Nationwide there is a food truck movement happening and it’s growing significantly, especially in the Boston area,” he said. “Boston is doing a second round and even expanding their program.”
Thomas Smith, co-owner of the BBQsmith, another applicant, said food trucks are a great asset to cities and appeal to many customers.
“It’s interesting, it’s affordable, it’s fast and people have really latched on to it,” Smith said. “It’s become kind of a trendy thing.”
Ludden said the rising number of food trucks might be due to the advent of social media and its usefulness in establishing relationships with customers.
“As [social media] grows more popular it goes hand in hand with the growing popularity of the food trucks,” he said. “Because [food trucks] don’t have a set location, they rely on communicating with their customers through those means.”
Ludden said adding food trucks to an existing restaurant’s offerings could help expand their companies and serve as a mobile advertisement.
“Not only will it be a profitable business on to itself . . . [but also] our truck is going to be quite a spectacle,” he said. “It’s going to be like a moving billboard for our café.”
Although some local businesses and restaurants told Brookline officials food trucks may unfairly detract from their business, Brewton said, the pilot program will make sure “to do no harm” to the existing communities and businesses.
“When making food truck parking assignments, the Town of Brookline will take into careful consideration the location and type of established restaurants, because the Town values its existing, robust restaurant community and wishes to minimize any impact of the Mobile Food Pilot Program on existing businesses,” according to the program’s website.
Ludden said the presence of food trucks will help enrich local communities.
“The way we see it is it will create more variety in locations around Brookline and it will bring a vibrancy to the community,” Ludden said. “The more things there are, the more places to eat, the more people will want to go there. So ultimately I think it enriches the community and neighboring businesses.”
Smith said the program will provide a new dining opportunity while still sticking to traditional high-quality standards for professionally prepared food.
“It’s giving people the opportunity to realize there are other food trucks out there. It’s not just the old traditional ice cream truck and hot dog cart,” he said. “You can go and get really creative, home-cooked food.”
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