Linda Falkenstein
It should come as a surprise to no one who sees the crowd that the Good Food cart generates, year-round, rain or shine, in front of the Walgreens on East Main Street, that the cart took top honors in the city of Madison food cart rankings for 2016.
Good Food 1, the original of the two Good Food carts (Good Food 2 is now vending on the Library Mall) came in with a final score of 101.85. Good Food 1 ranked third in last year’s city evaluations and placed first in 2014.
Good Food 2, with a similar but not identical menu of wraps and salads, was ranked 17.
The top 10 carts in the city's official scoring for 2016 are:
1. Good Food 1 (Capitol Square)
2. Curt's Gourmet Popcorn
3. Fresh Cool Drinks
4. Hibachi Hut
5. Bulgogi Korean Tacos
6. Cafe Costa Rica
7. Surco Peruvian Food
8. El Burrito Loco
9. Bulgogi Korean Burritos
10. Banzo 1 (Library Mall)
Each September, a panel of 20-some Madisonians heads out to the streets for the two-week cart review, evaluating each vendor according to a well-drawn-up set of criteria concerning the food, the apparatus and originality. Street vending coordinator Warren Hansen recruits the group from city and county workers and other food and cart fans, especially those who work downtown. One week is devoted to current Library Mall carts; one week to current Capitol Square carts. Two Saturday mornings are given over to new carts or those newly applying for a mall/concourse license, as well as a few carts that vend only during the Saturday Dane County Farmers’ Market.
The points from the reviewers are averaged (with the highest and lowest scores excluded); then the city awards seniority points (one for each year of vending, with a maximum of seven years) and deducts points for any health or vending code violations incurred during the year to come up with the total. Good Food 1’s top overall ranking reflects six years of seniority points and no deductions; it also received the second-highest final score from the reviewers’ points alone.
If looking solely at the scores of the panel during the review period (disregarding seniority points and any deductions), the top 10 become:
1. Common Pasta
2. Good Food 1
3. Curd Girl
4. Braisin’ Hussies
5. Buzzy’s Lake House
6. Pots-n-Tots
7. dZi Little Tibet
8. Good Food 2
9. Jakarta Cafe
10. Surco Peruvian
Common Pasta, Braisin’ Hussies, Buzzy’s Lake House, Pots-n-Tots and dZi Little Tibet are all new to the mall/concourse, though all have been vending elsewhere in the city (at office parks, Let’s Eat Out Neighborhood dinners, or the southeast campus area) this year. Pots-n-Tots has been vending since 2014.
The final scores go to determining which 40 of the 60 reviewed carts will be able to get prized spots on Library Mall or Capital Concourse. Higher-ranking carts get first pick of sites for the following year, as well. The new vending season begins April 15, 2017.
This year’s total of 60 carts is up from last year's 52. The number of new carts wanting spots, 19, is the highest ever. The 20-cart waiting list for mall/concourse spots is “by far” the longest ever, confirms street vending coordinator Warren Hansen. Hansen does work with waiting-list carts to help them secure spots elsewhere in the city.
In an email to the reviewers, Hansen noted that “Fifty-two of the applicants got scores of 90.55 or higher” and “No vendor got a score lower than 80.90,” which he sees as an indication of the high quality of Madison’s cart food.
There were also very few deductions across the board.
The rankings will not be official until approved during the next meeting of the city’s Vending Oversight Committee.
