San Diego Food Truck Festival

The cover charge for these gatherings are getting more and more expensive. What the frak?

hey, dan s., has to get paid too.

If you go to travelzoo.com they have $5 tickets.

even 5 bucks to go buy food?
A cover charge at a restaurant would never fly.

Can you list the trucks that will be attending?

is the web site working for anyone? I cant connect to it for some reason.

rossi "™" h. says:

even 5 bucks to go buy food?
A cover charge at a restaurant would never fly.
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I know right? Seems like the trucks would cover the venue cost so they could sell a ton of food at one spot. I'll be a sucker and go to this one, but  for ten dolla there better be some sucky-sucky ....

$10 to get in??? This is ridiculous. You shouldn't have to pay money to get in, just so you can pay more money for the food. It almost makes me want to boycott food trucks all together if they're gonna keep pulling crap like this.

$10 = A Burger & Fries @ Empirehouse, Urban Solace, Hodad's, Hamilton's, etc.
$10 = Three fish tacos @ South Beach
$10 = 5 PBRs @ Bar Pink
$10 = 2 Tecates and a Lap Dance @ Any TJ strip club

I agree that it sucks to pay to get in, but you know what? There will still be a ZILLION people there... so why wouldn't the organizers charge an entry fee?  They can get away with it because people will pay it.  The Boomers event was packed.

nope - not paying for these "events" .... greedy greedy greedy!

The site is up, but its heavy on the flash, ugh.

Trucks listed are:

great balls on tires
border grill truck
shrimp pimp
the burnt truck
chomp chomp nation (more than singapore)
chunk n chip cookies
donchow tacos
devilicious
mangia mangia mobile
miho gastrotruck
kabob n roll
sd street eats
swinging kitchen
lime
fry smith

and a truck whose name I could not figure out from the photo of a pink and blue truck.

kabob n grill
chunk n chip
great balls
border grill
frysmith
shrimp pimp
swinging kitchen
ahn joo
Miho
Street Eats
Mangia Mangia
Two for the Road
Flip truck
Chomp chomp
Burnt Truck
India on Wheels
devilicious
Kalbi Q
lime
dos chinos
baconmania
crepes bonaparte
Sea Birds
Sweet Treats

As the promoter, I had to comment in response to some of these... with calls for "boycotts" and such strong convictions, you'd think children were getting raped. Look, this event costs about $15,000 to put on WITHOUT any advertising (power for the trucks, venue rental, bathrooms, private security, police, staffing, website, insurance, fencing, rentals, medic, janitorial, fire marshall, waste management, permits, etc). Someone has to pay for it, not to mention as a business, I need to get paid. I'm certain none of you do your jobs for free. And with the $173 each non San Diego truck needs to pay to get a temporary health permit, they won't flip the bill to pay that (and no, just having the San Diego trucks won't be compelling enough). We're not looking for 10,000 (free attendees) and the long lines that come with that, so charging money non only covers our expenses, but creates a filter on those not willing to pay and makes the event a more manageable 2000-3000 attendees which is all we're hoping for.

I heard Le Rossi is starting to impose a cover charge also.
As a business owner, I need to get paid.
Fuck you guys.

You guys are the sh*t.  We all pay to go events all the time.  But it's your perogative not to since its always our right to b*tch about it too.

Some will come and other's won't.  This will measure whether the event will repeat itself.  As someone mentioned, there is already a discount somewhere.  5 bucks is not bad if you can get a taste of trucks you wouldnt normally see.  Remember a gallon of gas is about the 5 bucks now, would you be trying to go to L.A. to follow the food truck.

It's worth it if the food is good but if not, then they will get a ton of negative feedback on Yelp or other blogs! ha ha ha. its a risky venture for everyone.

besides $10 bucks is that enough for a bj on ECB?

I like when a promoter uses the word "rape"...

Daniel "makes poor choices" H. says:

Some will come and other's won't.

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHHAHAH
_______________________

I plan on coming...

H A R D

/y'all set me up for that.
-----------------------
Daniel, Ian, and I will come together.

Holding hands.

Look for the "Teh Rog Chicken 65" Truck...best Chicken 65 ever! VIP Tables with Bottle Service for only $100 with choice of Grey Goose or Bombay and mixers.  DJ Scooter and Lavelle will be spinning Top 40 and Old School. The owner/chef is really hot.  After Party at Club Rio...San Diego's only 18 and over club!

Kyle "!!!EXPLOSIVO!!!" B. says:

Also: you know you've made it as a promoter when you are trying to get people to go to a food truck event.

Look ma! That business degree from ASU really payed off!
______________________________________
This.

Le Rossi will now be imposing a gas surcharge on all items,
due to the rising cost of gasoline.
I am tired of serving riff raff and only want patronage from customers
I deem worthy.
Thank you for understanding.

Paul, you still owe Le Rossi $10 for storage fee of items left in freezer for too long.

It's cool, Paul. I had to write it off as a loss and gave the stuff to Noe and Ian last time they meet me at the turf.
See you tomorrow night.

There was a news report regarding the last one they had at boomers.
People were saying how expensive it was plus the admission.
cbs8.com/story/14690483/…

Ooohhhh! On the website it says "VIP Tickets available for $20, with exclusive access between 11AM to Noon."  I can pay the $20 and then spend $5-10 at few trucks!

Or I could just have a really, sooper, dooper, uber, nice, mouthgasmic dinner at Mister A's, Flemings, and George's.

I am surprised Dan S. isn't charging an additional $5 to cover his "advertising" fees.
Yelp and facebook posts cost money people.
Business 101.
At least he isn't raping little kids.

Oh my.. so excited.. I'm going.. =)

I vant this, yes vant.

The whole food truck thing started out as rogue food that moved around dodging the cops. The ones that started tweeting their locations weren't doing it to jump on the social media marketing bandwagon, they were trying to alert their fans to where they'd be dishing up awesome creative grub before they had to move on.  I'm kind of disappointed to see this become another commodified gentrified boutique  thing, which frankly San Diego is already full of.  Having said that, if you're going to have an event and charge admission, admit you're being boutique and offer people some comforts like, hello, chairs and tables.  Or do it as an admission gets you x tickets model like beer festivals, where you at least get a few tastes with your admission.  I would hope the trucks themselves will be keeping budgets in mind and serving sample-sized portions so people can at least taste things from more than two or three trucks. I'm thinking of events like Taste of Chicago - really successful because you can try things from a ton of different places before you get too stuffed to move.  I hope we can find a model that works to get business to these cool vendors in a way that doesn't mean it costs more to eat at a truck than at a restaurant because frankly that's just backwards.

i like how roach coaches got cool once they were in L.A. and called 'food trucks'. fun fact- they're still roach coaches

This could be full of people wandering over from The Rock after church.

wow you guys are harsh!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow, paying to get in so that you can buy food? okay... I am out

Yet somehow, this event is free:

yelp.com/events/san-dieg…

2 for 1 discount tickets here... tippr.com/i/r55s4H2q/l

I'd love to see an event like this where the trucks were serving sample sizes, a la "Taste of San Diego". I'd pay $10 to get in if then I was going to spend $1-2 for a smaller portion. The trucks would probably make more money, too. If you cut a $6 burger into quarters and charge $2 for it, that's $8, plus maybe you've made a new customer. Also, if they have a more limited menu, they could churn things out a lot faster, especially if you sell tickets so that rather than counting out change, you just fork over two tickets for a $2 item. I just can't see spending $10 to go buy a full-priced meal, particularly since my stomach isn't going to be big enough to eat more than one regular portion anyway.

The Asian Cultural Festival costs more than twice than this food truck gathering but we manage to keep the event free. #LikeABoss

Ok drunk bragging aside, the $10 saves you gas from trying these trucks in their home city.  I'm sure there are enough SD people who can't make the trip up north to sample another city's mobile cuisine.

Hey I'm my own devil's advocate! Maybe I need another beer.

I agree that this promoter is a complete idiot, but seriously people, get a freaking job.  we got our tickets for only $5.  are you whiners the same idiots that give restaurants less stars for being too expensive?  if you read reviews you know what you are getting into and if it's too expensive then get an extra shift at starbucks and save up, or shut up.  are you not going to go to a ballgame because a miller lite is $8?  instead let's spread some love and support more passionate food in San Diego, we need it!

I suppost the passionate food bu buying it! I don't need to pay extra for a ticket just to have access to the food. = stupid.

"support"

Cover charge to help put on the event. So what. i am still gonna go.  It is either that or they jack up their prices for the day. So take your pick.

I'm hoping people will review this event tomorrow (and do so fairly). I can't attend but wished I could. And I hope we'll have more of these events, with more trucks and the events will be enjoyable.

If you don't want to pay to get in, don't go. That doesn't mean the event is terrible and should be cancelled because you don't like that they are charging a fee.  Just .. don't... go.

Dan....as consumers you probably won't win any of us over ranting about your expenses...welcome to owning a business. This event like any large "trade show" style event is up to each individual business to pay the overhead, as we are already going to be buying the food, which many of us would not have done othersie withut this event.. This is an opportunity for consumers to get "won over" buy the food and great service offered. The event is a great idea, but any type of event such as this won should be paid for by the truck owners who will no doubt sell 500% more food than they would do on a typical Sunday. I was all set to go until I read your post...not good promotions. I hope the poeple that paid you don't read this, becuase they will see why many of us are choosing NOT to get financially "punished" for you not doing your job.

PS...@ Kyle...peasents?...woooowwwww...maybe you better re-take that Business 101 class....LOL. Let's be honest...their food trucks not 5 star establishments....I would be willing to bet those "peasents" spend their hard earned money on your trucks so I would be a little more "customer friendly"...maybe you and Dan need to take a look at the San Diego Convention Center events... or if you ant to charge a cover do it like the Taste of ..events where one fee covers admission and food tasting. Good luck....like many above said...I'll check this out when I dont have to pay to spend money

FYI Miho Gastrotruck is not at this event, they're over on el cajon blvd @ the Lafayette hotel ( in the back) till 4:00 today. Just got back and damn! they make a good burger.

How many (and which) LA/OC area trucks made it?

I was a bit disappointed with the event.  There were only 19 trucks there, no beer garden, and the lines were looooooooooooooooooong.  I didn't see any LA/OC trucks, except maybe the crepe one from Food Network.  I wish the trucks would have had more small plates so I could have sampled more food.  I paid $11 for a lobster roll, which was the best thing that anyone from my group got.  The Korean BBQ truck was a crazy long wait, for both ordering and waiting for food.  I might be wrong, but I could have sworn a beer garden was advertised.

So, I just realized that Travelzoo totally misadvertised this event:
Explore your culinary curiosity at one of the largest food truck festivals in San Diego for only $5, regularly $10.

On Sunday, June 19, from noon to 6 p.m., more than 35 food trucks will be on site at Liberty Station, located three miles outside of the Gaslamp District in downtown San Diego.

The trucks will carry all types of food, from Indian to Italian, ice cream sandwiches to Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches. Food typically costs $3-$8, and make sure to save some room for the craft beer garden as well.

Just got back from this event.  I counted 15 trucks, not 35 and yes there was no beer garden.  The Sabe Korean taco truck to one hour and ten minutes to get our order.   The tacos were great, but imagine standing ther for that long.  I went there with the idea of trying a bunch of different foods.  After that wait, we were done.

It was a great setting and great idea but with half the truck promised the lines were a joke.  It's just a bummer when an event company promotes something and then doesn't deliver.  What's up with that Event Brite?  If they did have 35 trucks, the lines would have been manageable.

Ditto the last two reviews above. We went (8 adults and 7 kids) when it started at 1:00 and were very disappointed. We had organized this as a Father's Day event for the 4 dads, but HELLO - no beer garden? And we all waited separately in line for 45 minutes, only to converge with not enough total food for our kids. The space itself (lawn at Liberty Garden) was nice, and we came with lawn chairs and blankets, prepared to spend the day (and our money!) eating and drinking, but with too few trucks, no accessible beer and horribly long waits, we left early and spent our Father's Day (and our money!) elsewhere. FAIL.

^ HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

So charging people without providing any added benefit or value makes bad business? Shocking.

I thought it was a bit of a rip off...  Only 17 trucks showed up, and it took me almost an hour in line to get a grilled cheese sandwich!  Next time I'll drive by and check it out before I pay my $$