VendrTV is kind of like a best food blog, except with high-quality video cameras, fancy editing, and the ability to tour the country covering delicious food carts (read: some foodies’ dreams come true). They post a new video episode every Wednesday on their website and it’s pretty cool watching what other cities’ food carts are like. I first started hearing noise about VendrTv when they cruised through Portland back in June and taped episodes at MoxieRX, Brunch Box, Grill Cheese Grill, and Nuevo Mexico. Their name came up again recently when the whole NYC vs. PDX food cart drama hit the food blogsphere, and VendrTV’s creator Daniel Delaney obviously had a lot to say about it. Daniel kindly let A Fly on the Wall bug him about all things food carts, and what it takes to produce their weekly webisodes.
A Fly on the Wall: How’d you get started?
Daniel Delaney: The show launched on February 15 of this year. If you’re talking about how’d we choose the topic of street food, that comes from me. I studied street food in school from a design perspective. I’ve always loved street food and entrepreneurs. It made sense to me to support them in a way that was feasible. I have a background in technology and media and design, so it’s the cross roads of all of that.
AFotW: Try hard to name your favorite cart (or at least, a few of them):
DD: I think in Portland, my favorite cart is MoxieRx. It’s a charming cart we did an episode about. In New York, where I live, I would have to say (pause – a long one) it’s probably the Calexico Carne Asada burrito cart in SoHo. My favorite cart that I’ve ever been to is in Berlin, and it was the Döner Kebabs they served there. I think they’re fantastic. That’s probably my favorite street food of all time.
AFotW: I get how food blogs work but video is a whole other ball game. How do you financially make the show possible?
DD: The show makes money off of donations and from advertising. We’re now working with a company called the Next New Networks, which is a web video network and they’re going to be starting to wrap ads around our episodes, which will bring in enough money to keep the show afloat.
AFotW: How do you think the economic landscape has affected the food cart scene?
DD: I think right now there are two things that are happening that are changing the food cart scene. On one hand it’s technology, and on the other hand it is the economy. Technology; things like Twitter and Facebook have allowed vendors to be mobile and really communicate with their audience in a way that really no business has before – more so than brick and mortar businesses. I think the economic landscape played a large factor in the growth of street food over the last six months. It’s hard to justify going to an expensive restaurant. It’s often the case you can get some pretty great street food for cheap. The ambiance on the street doesn’t feel so high flatulent. It feels okay to do that. It feels forgiving.
AFotW: Where are you headed to next?
DD: We’re filming more episodes in New York. We’re heading up to New England; heading up through Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, Connecticut, and Boston. Then after the winter, we’ll be going down to Texas, and the middle of America.
AFotW: What type of cart would you say is the most popular?
DD: It’s hard to answer. I’d say each city handles vending very differently. If we were to talk about sheer numbers I think the hot dog cart is the most popular. But each city handles it differently – the carts look different. For example, if you go to Maine, they’re really more like shacks. And if you’re in California they’re more like catering trucks. In Philly they’re on sidewalks. I’d argue that the most popular item served from a street cart, is the hot dog.
AFotW: What’s the biggest challenge to street vending?
DD: It’s a very difficult question to answer. You have cities where it’s nearly impossible to get a license. Then you have cities like Portland, where your biggest issue is your power goes out for a half hour. I think the weather is really the biggest challenge. As far as food-prep, I don’t think there are really that many challenges. I think there’s a great opportunity for profit in street vending because of the low overhead in comparison to a restaurant.
AFotW: Any other news you’d care to mention about the show?
DD: As I mentioned, it’s moving to the Next New Networks. We might have a book in the works and maybe even something on prime time television. We’re really excited about it (the show in general). We have a great time putting it on. We’re always doing what we can to make it a better show for the people who watch it. We hope to hear from our audience. It’s always great to hear from people and their favorite street carts because it most certainly informs where we travel.
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