Linda Falkenstein
The results have been tabulated in the city’s annual food cart review, which took place this year Oct. 1-22. It is the first review since a number of changes were made to the review process. One of the biggest changes — the downplaying of points for seniority — has resulted in many more new carts making the top 10.
The top 10 carts in the city's official scoring for 2017 are:
1. Common Pasta
2. Metropolitain Handcrafted Street Food
9. Banzo 1
10. Braisin’ Hussies
Common Pasta, which was new to the review last year, serves housemade pastas. It did not make the top 10 in last year’s review – largely because it lacked seniority points. A ranking based on the review panel’s evaluation alone would have placed Common Pasta as number one in its debut year as well.
Of the carts in this year’s top 10, seven are carts that have been vending on the Mall/Concourse for three years or less. Three were participating in the review for the first time: Metropolitain Handcrafted Street Food, Caracas Arepas and Chrysalis Pops.
The review process determines which carts get coveted vending sites on the Capitol Square and Library Mall. Carts can vend elsewhere in the city without going through the review.
This year’s total of 63 carts is up from last year's 60 carts and 2015’s 52. The number of new carts seeking spots, nine, is down considerably from last year’s 19, the highest ever.
Formerly reviewers were asked to rate the carts on food (a maximum of 40 points), apparatus (max of 40 points) and originality (max 20). This year, scoring was broken down into eight categories: design and visual impact (max 10 points), Graphics and signage (max 10), cleanliness and maintenance (max 20), flavor (max 15), menu (max 15), presentation (max 10), originality (max 10) and total experience (max 10).
Brian Baur, co-owner of Common Pasta, says he’s a fan of the new system — and not just because his cart came out on top. “The new breakdown, with so many questions, guides someone better, to give a more accurate score.”
Once these initial scores are tallied, the carts that made the cut for a Library Mall or Capitol Square spot can get their assignments. Seniority points, now capped at five instead of seven, come into play at this point. Street vending coordinator Meghan Blake-Horst thinks that reviewers “appreciated the full month [to evaluate] and being able to digitally enter their scores,” also new developments this year. Even so, despite the changes to make the process more equitable this year, “Some of the carts had issues with the length of time and with the outcome of the scores,” says Blake-Horst.
Blake-Horst soon will be sending out the list of vendors that are eligible to make site requests: “This newly ordered list will include seniority and order of who chooses their site first,” says Blake-Horst.
