LITTLE ROCK, AR – The Arkansas Journal of Social Change and Public Service, a volunteer effort by students at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s Bowen School of Law, held its first public symposium Oct. 26. The topic was food, policy and community in Arkansas, with solid discussions on how to broaden access to local food.

arktimes food truck panel

SYMPOSIUM PANEL: Discusses trends in food and commerce in Arkansas.

The 40-person audience was a mix of food service distributors, chefs hoping to get into the food truck business, representatives from Heifer International and other hunger relief organizations and folks from the Department of Human Services, the Boozman College of Public Health, the Clinton School and the law school.

A familiar recitation of the friction between food trucks and standing restaurants dominated the discussion “Food trucks in the Little Rock landscape.” Eric Tinner, owner of Sufficient Grounds Cafe and The Sports Page, represented downtown restaurants. He cited the significantly higher overhead for brick and mortar businesses, and how, on Food Truck Fridays, some of his colleagues have lost 20 percent of their business. “We need smaller businesses

[filling the empty storefronts downtown] to draw people in, and food trucks are not it. They’re a temporary solution. They don’t invest in the infrastructure,” he said. Specifically, he named El Jalepeno, a food truck turned downtown brick and mortar, that recently closed, and All American Wings, which left its downtown location because, according to Tinner, “he could not compete with the lower prices [of food trucks].” Tinner maintains that the city of Little Rock and the Downtown Little Rock Partnership have only aggravated the situation.

But Downtown Partnership director Sharon Priest said the Partnership’s mission “is not to bring food trucks into downtown … . We’re trying to bring downtown back to life. That’s our goal, and we’ve been pretty successful thus far.” The Partnership sponsors Food Truck Fridays at the Capitol and Main intersection in autumn and spring and has held two food truck festivals so far. The first festival had 17 food trucks and a crowd of 5,000. This year’s festival had 29 food trucks, a cold, constant drizzle, and 2,700 in attendance.

“I’m a member of the Partnership, and it’s difficult for us to pay dues every month to something that undermines our business,” Tinner said.

Panelist Justin Patterson, with food truck Southern Gourmasian, said, “No scientific evidence exists that indicates food trucks hurt businesses.”

Find the entire article by Cheree Franco at arktimes.com <here>