Northwest Austin Edition | May 2025

Food truck parks roll in to Northwest Austin From the cover

Northwest Austin food truck parks

The big picture

A American, barbecue E Mediterranean

B Caribbean F Polynesian

C East Asian, South Asian G Bakery, coee, dessert

H Fusion D Latin American

Central Austin events such as Austin City Limits and South by Southwest helped spearhead the food truck scene, which has since spread to communities around the metro, said Madison Gessner, executive director of the Texas Restaurant Association’s Greater Austin Chapter. “We’re really seeing a lot of interest in what I call the suburbs of Austin,” Gessner said. “... There’s a lot of opportunity for growth, and you really see a lot of innovation with food trucks.” Austin Public Health, which processes permits and inspections for food establishments, has also seen an increase in mobile vending over the last two years, Environmental Health Supervisor Michelle Mellor said. While Northwest Austin already has a few established food truck parks such as Anderson Mill International Food Court and Hamilton Food Park, Wyatt has worked to transform the former Pink Flamingo Plant Co. property into one of the area’s newest options. “I wanted to get the best food trailers in the city,” Wyatt said. “The truth is that a community of food trailer operators really built [the food court].”

45 TOLL

620

Anderson Mill International Food Park • 9313 Anderson Mill Road, Austin

ANDERSON MILL RD.

MOPAC

Anderson Mill Food Truck Court • 9817 Anderson Mill Road, Austin • Opening summer 2025 • Mexican, Indian, coffee and vegetarian options so far

Pink Flamingo Food Court • 7221 McNeil Drive, Austin

183

Hamilton Food Park • 5002 Hamilton Road, Austin

Lone Star Court • 10901 Domain Drive, Austin

BURNET RD.

GREAT HILLS TRL.

360

How it works

Costs*

Mobile food vendor

Brick-and-mortar restaurant

Before applying to begin the permitting and inspection process, mobile food vendors in Aus- tin must enter into an agreement with a central preparation facility, or CPF, Mellor said. Per the agreement, CPFs provide mobile food vendors with waste disposal facilities for grease, wastewater and trash; food storage facilities for dry goods or temperature-controlled items; and additional storage for equipment and supplies. The department aims to complete the per- mitting and inspection process within a month, Mellor said. Despite having a smaller footprint than brick-and-mortar restaurants, food trucks have become a critical part of Austin’s food ecosystem and culture, Gessner said. “We’ve had so many amazing stories of people who started food trucks that have now branched into brick-and-mortar restaurants,” Gessner said. One such restaurant is SLAB BBQ in North Aus- tin, which began as a food truck in 2008 before opening a brick-and-mortar location in 2014. Its truck is now mostly utilized to cater cor- porate events for vendors such as Dell and The

Application fees

$158

Included in Food Enterprise Permit fee

Food Enterprise Permit fees

$212-$239

$359-$896

Varies by type of inspection and establishment requirements $178 (pre-opening inspection fee), $221-$312 (plan review fees)

Fire Department inspection fees

$200

Other fees

None for APH

Average startup costs

$50,000-$150,000

$200,000-$250,000

*AS OF MAY 2025

SOURCES: ATX FOOD TRUCK BUILDER, AUSTIN PUBLIC HEALTHCOMMUNITY IMPACT

catering client may say there will be 500 people at an event, but only 10% could actually end up eating due to an oversaturation of other food trucks present. “We collect a lot of data to gure out how much to make every day, because you don’t want to be sitting on a bunch of product at the end of the day,” Robinson said. “... I’ve seen people go out of business based on that problem because you can’t return the food.”

University of Texas at Austin, managing partner Raf Robinson said. “[There’s] the mobility of being able to go to your customer, … [and] you’re eliminating a lot of the variables that are challenging to manage in a restaurant,” Robinson said. Food trucks are also generally less expensive to start than a restaurant, Robinson said, but operators have to consider costs such as the CPF. There’s also no assurance that all of the food prepared will be paid for and eaten, he said. A

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