This isn’t the first time that food trucks have created popularity and interest in areas of cities that end up getting developed. The unfortunate thing that these developers don’t realize is that is that it was the food trucks that drew the crowds, and once they are gone, the consumers will be gone too.

GILBERT, AZ – It’s the newest, hippest way to get a bite to eat. However, in Gilbert, the food truck trend has suffered a setback.

City officials decided last Friday that because there are plans to develop on the lot where those vendors set up every Friday, the contract for the event will be not extended another year. Some of those vendors feel betrayed, saying they had a part in making downtown Gilbert a destination.

“Gilbert has been our flagship operation,” said Casey Stechnij, owner-promoter with Arizona Feastivals, which represents 135 Valley food truck vendors. “It’s been the longest. It is the most successful. It’s the largest food truck event in the Valley, and the oldest in the Valley.”

The food truck trend has been like a deep-fried treat in Gilbert. Stechnij also owns two food trucks and has been parking his mobile kitchen at the Gilbert food truck court in the Heritage District since its inception.

“Over the last three years we’ve moved five times,” Stechnij said.

“I had one vendor come up to me the other day and say, ‘What are we gonna do? If I don’t have these events to go to, I’m on food stamps,'” Stechnij said.

The City of Gilbert has plans to build on that lot, and there isn’t enough room for food trucks.

Find the entire article at tucsonnewsnow.com [here]