Then & Now: Scan Photos To Digital To Compare Trailers & Food Trucks

A New Generation Embraces Upscale Food Trucks

Trailers are making a comeback.

Not on the road as a vacation getaway or hotel on wheels, though. These days, you’re more likely to find a souped-up Airstream parked in a lot or on a side street. They’re a popular destination among foodies in search of affordable snacks and sweets.

Taco trucks have long been a staple among Mexican food fans. Their drivers/chefs camp out in blue-collar neighborhoods and serve good eats on a budget. You can scan old photos to digital to share these old-school staples with a whole new generation of fans.

Today, you can find tricked-out trailers and trucks selling just about every dish under the sun. Cupcakes, snow cones, waffles, crepes and even pork rib roast, rabbit and lamb. In Austin, there’s a parking lot in the ultra hip “SoCo” (South Congress) neighborhood that’s become ground zero for food trucks. In New York, trucks frequently change locations to make the most of the masses (and perhaps escape ticketing officers!).

Many people trace the food truck’s rising popularity to Kogi, a wildly popular Korean taco truck that updates its ever-changing location on Twitter. It’s been written up in national newspapers and magazines and is so appealing it can command lengthy, hours-long waits. Although still a small company, Kogi has been expanding its fleet of trucks to better cover the vast Los Angeles area.

 Kogi, of course, isn’t the first food truck to appeal to mainstream America – we all remember the ice cream trucks of our youth, right? But Kogi is the first food truck to utilize social media so effectively to alert customers of its location, to introduce new menu items and get instant feedback on its dishes, and to generate intense buzz about its brand. That marketing innovation makes it a pioneer in this evolving field.

Kogi’s mega success has not gone unnoticed by others, either. In our nation’s culinary history, documented in part by a growing record of scanned photos to digital format, it has earned its place. Now other entrepreneurs are following suit, and food lovers have even more choices than before.