ARTWALK: I had a meeting with the Artwalk lot owner yesterday. They have repaved the lot and they’re ready to do another food truck lot. However, they want A LOT of money: $250. I am negotiating a better deal. The lot owner, and not the Artwalk organizer is paying for a legitimate band, and said that they would spend up to $15k to get them. The Artwalk organizers are going to be promoting the lot heavily. I’ll keep you updated.
LITTLE TOKYO: This lot will die if we all don’t do some promoting. Contact anyone and everyone you know to let people know that its there. The flyers were slow going, but I’ll have them by the Saturday. Please tweet about this even if you’re not there… IT WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE. When you’re scheduled at the Little Tokyo Lot, there is a lock box under the intercom next to the gate entrance. The code for the key box is 1689.
MAIN ST. This lot just got the necessary permits. I don’t know why this was so easy for them and the SM FOOD TRUCK LOT permit is taking so long. The issue with this lot is cost. The Heritage Museum who owns the lot is looking to make $1000 a week. I’m trying to supplement this with a percentage of the bar business from the adjacent, Victorian House, since we’ll be bringing them a majority of their business.
Venice Lot: The owners have been in France this past week, I will be meeting with them ASAP.
Monrovia Lot: I really think this could be a profitable lot, but we need trucks to get their business license. Has anyone gone out there?
Gower Lot: I spoke to a building manager of a building on Gower and Santa Monica Blvd yesterday. The building has 300 people and very few food options (subway). Additionally, there are other buildings in close proximity. They have a large parking lot with access to a bathroom. The manager was excited to hear about how our lots work and I’m meeting with her tomorrow at 10am. They asked if we could start trucks as early as next week, and I said that we probably could. I would do two trucks a day, five days a week and considering the amount of people in the building, and demographics, (they’re all entertainment types) I think this would be a good spot for us. Stay tuned.
FINDING LOTS: There are a lot of buildings that would love food options every day of the week. We really need to start branching out and finding these opportunities. The Gower lot was suggested by a friend of mine that works in the building and within one day, I got a meeting and we could have a new lot ready to go in less than a week (fingers crossed).
LACMA Lot: After a lot of back and forth, LACMA finally declined our request to use their lot. If you have any other ideas, please pass it my way.
Booking lots: Go to the schedule on the website: http://socalmfva.com/truck-lots find an open spot, and send a request to lots@socalmfva.com. The LA Mart has spots for one food truck and one dessert/drink truck. The Century Lot has space for 7 trucks, but trucks can only book once a month, and the Little Tokyo lot has room for two trucks a day. Lots@socalmfva.com will be the only email to book lots from now on. There are a lot of bookings coming in and it’s the only way to keep it all straight.
NEXT MEETING: The next meeting is this SUNDAY at 10am. It will be held at our normal location 1401 Santa Monica Blvd, SANTA MONICA. 14th and Santa Monica. We will be electing a new board. If you have interest in being on the board please let everyone know.
LABONGE AND THE CITY: The LaBonge Motion goes before the Transportation Committee on August 11th. Starting next week we need to start up the calls for action. Flyers, and tweets, informing people of the situation so they can call, or email. I think it will be a good to lead into the Transportation committee meeting with our followers reminding them how much they love the trucks.
Stephen Box: I met with Stephen Box and a few other people yesterday. Stephen is running against LaBonge for the Council District 4 seat. I liked him, and he seemed very supportive of the trucks. I would like to have him come say a few words at our next meeting and hear your opinions about the Association supporting his election bid.
LA TIME FOOD AND WINE FEST: They are asking for too much money ($400 + 20%). I am going to talk to them today and let them know that the Association can’t be a part of this event.
Food Fests. I would like to hear your feed back about the food fests that went on this weekend.
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