Rethink the approach on food trucks, instead of giving up on them
- It appears the food truck experiment is at the end of the road, with only one of 12 licence-holders operating regularly. But the tourists will return one day and a more flexible way of operating may lead to better results
Urban commercial property development has found little room for the street-food scene in Hong Kong. Now the attempt to revitalise it by putting it on wheels is coming to the end of the road.
Anti-government protests in 2019 and the pandemic have brought the experiment with food trucks to the brink of collapse, after business picked up during a brief respite from the coronavirus last October. The forced closure of Disneyland and Ocean Park, prime leisure locations and lucrative for food trucks, is a case in point.
It is easy to blame events beyond the control of the authorities or truck owners. But thanks to regulatory and other factors far removed from the free-wheeling food-stall scene of a past era, the scheme was problematic from the beginning.
The trucks generated only HK$1.21 million in revenue last year, according to the Tourist Commission, not much more than the set-up costs for one, compared with HK$10.27 million in 2019, when the scheme was already showing signs of ailing before the protests gathered momentum.
03:05
Hong Kong food trucks demand policy changes to save their businesses
Of 12 current food-truck licence-holders, only one is operating regularly, in the West Kowloon Cultural District, and another appears there at weekends. The remainder are either locked in car parks or no longer operating.
Nearly four years ago this newspaper warned that if the scheme was to thrive the government had to be more flexible about how it operated. That now looks prescient. After a promising start, operators complained about poor fixed locations and other rules that hurt businesses which need to be flexible and adaptable. “The government wants us to serve districts such as Wong Tai Sin and Kowloon East,” one said, “but there are few customers there.”
Granted, the authorities put a lot of thought into food trucks before letting them onto the streets. And it is arguable that the scheme has not had an entirely fair trial amid unprecedented unrest and public health concerns. But tourists, and local visitors, who have dropped off to a trickle, will be back one day. Their appetite for local food and other experiences will be undiminished.
Perhaps it is time to rethink the approach instead of giving up on food trucks. Pressure to locate them away from existing restaurants is understandable. But ultimately it should be balanced with the need for operators to be able to give customers what they want, where they want it.
