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Marianne LeGreco , Ranata Reeder, Natalie Jones, Nichole Patino

Rolling Food Trucks into Downtown Greensboro: A Pilot Study. Marianne LeGreco , Ranata Reeder, Natalie Jones, Nichole Patino. Food Trucks in GSO: A History. Before October 1, 2013 Food Trucks (with the exception of hot dog carts) could not operate in the Downtown City Center

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Marianne LeGreco , Ranata Reeder, Natalie Jones, Nichole Patino

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  1. Rolling Food Trucks into Downtown Greensboro: A Pilot Study Marianne LeGreco, Ranata Reeder, Natalie Jones, Nichole Patino

  2. Food Trucks in GSO: A History • Before October 1, 2013 • Food Trucks (with the exception of hot dog carts) could not operate in the Downtown City Center • Food Trucks could not operate in institutional spaces (like hospitals and college campuses) • Food trucks can only operate on private property • After October 1, 2013 • The City of Greensboro would host a 2-month pilot project to assess the feasibility of trucks in downtown • The pilot project would allow 4 trucks at a time to rotate through space on Commerce Place

  3. Food Trucks in GSO: A History • The Pilot Project • 4 trucks can operate at a time • Lunch shift from 10-3 M-F • Dinner shift from 5-10 on Fridays • Trucks were given a time to register for the pilot project • Truck schedules were assigned by the City’s Small Business manager using a lottery system that was also designed to ensure variety X

  4. The Partners: Community-Based • The City of Greensboro • Greensboro City Council • Greensboro Citizens • Cecelia Thompson • Katie Southard/The Green Bean • Donovan McKnight • McCoul’s • Downtown Greensboro, INC. • UNC-Greensboro • The Sales Factory

  5. The Partners: The Trucks The pilot started with 12 trucks – 9 of which were from Greensboro/Guilford County. Over two months, an additional 8 trucks joined the pilot (although not all 20 trucks actually made it to Commerce Place). • Baguettaboutit • 1618 Mobile Kitchen • The Great Escape • Hickory Tree BBQ • Taste of Creole • Carolina Corn Roasters • El Azteca Taco Truck • Big City Sandwiches • The Ice Queen • Parlez-Vous Crepes • My Dream Cakes • Bandito Burrito • Captain Poncho’s Tacos • Marty’s BBQ • ChirbaChirba

  6. Research Methods • Methods Overview • Mixed Methods Study • Onsite and Online Data Collection • FTF Structured Interview, Onsite Observations, Online Follow-up Survey • Study was largely exploratory • Insights from Natalie • Survey/Interview Guides • Lunch (101 responses) • Dinner (50 responses) • Online (261 responses) • Data Entry

  7. Observations from Ranata atFirst Friday October 5th, 2012 6:30pm - 8:30pm 360 People Carolina Corn Roasters Baguettaboutit Hickory Tree BBQ The Great Escape Sidewalk Grass

  8. Preliminary Findings • We Have a Handout!! • Community-Level Findings • Pilot was largely a success • Lunch attracted people for both work and leisure • Dinner was particularly helpful for families • Some pushback from restaurant owners • City Council voted to suspend the policy for 6 months • The food trucks self-organized to create the Central Carolina Food Truck Alliance • Inspired by the multiple stakeholder dialogues that we had during the pilot project

  9. Preliminary Findings • We’re Still Crunching Numbers, but… • Insights about Communication and Community-Based Participation (Cheney & Stohl; Guttman; LeGreco) • Insights about Mobile Food and Communication • Social Media • But more importantly, coordinated media • Unexpected research results

  10. Future of Food Trucks?

  11. Thank You… • Eddie Chia, our quantitative pinch hitter • Office of Leadership and Service Learning • Central Carolina Food Truck Alliance • Reggie Delahanty and Cecelia Thompson • Department of Communication Studies • Contact Marianne LeGreco at melegrec@uncg.eduwith any inquiries.

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