A new food truck rally wants to own Plaza Midwood’s Friday nights
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UPDATE (Thursday, 11:30 a.m): Papi Queso and Roaming Fork have backed out of the event since this article was published. Michael Rosen, the subject of this story, said his comments at the end of the story regarding competition with a nearby Food Truck Friday event were taken out of context.
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Food trucking is expanding in Plaza Midwood in a big way next year, and Michael Rosen says the event he’s coordinating is going to corner the market.
The event — called Food Truck Alley — will be at the old Kellogg plant off Louise Avenue in the Belmont neighborhood that’s currently the home of Advent Coworking and Codescape. The photo above is the actual location where the food trucks will set up.
Rosen said the plan is to build a following around a core group of food trucks with established brands, similar to how the original Food Truck Friday took off in South End. And he perhaps will create a food truck turf battle in the process.
The following trucks committed to the be there every Friday for the 2016 season, Rosen said:
- Papi Queso
- Tin Kitchen
- Southern Cake Queen
- Roaming Fork
- Ooowee BBQ
- Librettos Pizza
- Two Chicks and a Truck
- Hot Box
Olde Mecklenburg Brewery is also expected to have its beer truck on hand, and there are plans for live music. Eventually there are plans for a brewery to open on site.
The location has a ton going for it. There is a lot of free parking on the site — on the street, in the building’s large parking lot, in the gravel lot across the road, and in the neighboring building’s large parking lot.
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We’re talking hundreds of spaces. Plus this site is set back from the main road enough so you won’t feel like you’re battling a major thoroughfare.
Opening day is scheduled for March 4.
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How has Rosen locked down so many food trucks? He has connections. He runs Carolina Commercial Kitchen, a commissary that counts 22 food trucks as clients. For a food truck to be legal on Charlotte’s streets, it has to have a commercial kitchen or restaurant backing it.
For the past year, Rosen has managed the Matthews Food Truck Friday at Stumptown Park, but the town is taking over for 2016.
This food truck rally is not affiliated with the new Plaza Midwood Food Truck Friday location at the Light Factory planned by Gaines Brown and Dave Trauner. But at less than a mile apart, they’ll surely compete with one another — if both of them open up in the spring.
“I’ll put that out of business before it even starts,” Rosen said.