Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com June 19, 2017 • Hartford Business Journal 11 Nutmeg State Financial Credit Union partnered with March of Dimes for their annual Credit Union Week. Between staff and members, the credit union donat- ed $2,000 to the cause's local Greater Hartford chapter. Pictured (from left) are: John Holt, Nutmeg president and CEO; Deb Fafard, executive director; Marc Spencer, development director, March of Dimes; and Kiri Thomson, Nutmeg employee and Hart- ford March for Babies ambassador. • • • The Knight Foundation recently announced a $50,000 matching grant to the Latino Endowment Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving. The grant will allow the Latino Endowment Fund to enhance its work to serve the Latino com- munity and inspire others to expand their personal philanthropy by becoming donors through this fund. • • • Cigna has become the official health insurance partner of Little League Base- ball and Softball. The partnership will provide Cigna the opportunity to engage with Little League's nearly 6,500 local programs to provide educational content and health awareness about the importance of prevention, regular checkups and knowing key health numbers. • • • KeyBank recently hosted its 27th annu- al Neighbors Make the Difference Day, where 300 Connecticut employees (includ- ing those shown above) spent the day vol- unteering with community organizations. Together, Connecticut employees volun- teered more than 1,120 hours in a single day. NONPROFIT NOTEBOOK NONPROFIT PROFILE Universal Health Care Foundation 290 Pratt St., Meriden | www.universalhealthct.org MISSION To be a catalyst that engages people and communities in shaping a democratic health system that provides universal access to quality health care and promotes health in Connecticut. TOP EXECUTIVE SERVICES Frances Padilla, President Supports research-based health policy, advocacy and public education. FY 2015 SUMMARY 2014 2015 Total Employees 16 16 Total Assets $24,330,646 $22,290,591 Total Liabilities $195,420 $164,175 REVENUES Contributions & Grants $0 $0 Program Service Revenue $0 $0 Investment Income $1,719,912 $2,467,013 Other $0 $16 TOTAL $1,719,912 $2,467,029 EXPENSES Grants $421,026 $143,915 Member Benefits $0 $0 Salaries/Employee Benefits $1,284,541 $962,679 Fundraising Fees $0 $0 Other $564,090 $282,964 TOTAL $2,269,657 $1,389,558 MARGIN $(549,745) $1,077,471 TOP PAID EXECUTIVES (FY 2015) Base Salary Total Compensation & Benefits Frances Padilla, President $173,769 $187,409 Lynn Ide, Director of Programs & Policies $104,904 $113,358 S O U R C E : G U I D E S T A R I R S 9 9 0 T A X F O R M P H O T O | C O N T R I B U T E D P H O T O | C O N T R I B U T E D But unlike trucks parked in the same spot each day, others are moving targets, he said. The city tries its best to reinspect units each sum- mer when the $500 annual license is renewed. There's also a one-time fee when a truck is first licensed of $100 to $200 based on food preparation classification and additional fees for reserved parking spaces through a sepa- rate department. Parking is allowed on many streets in the city, but not all. The University of Connecticut, which is preparing to open its new campus in down- town Hartford this fall, doesn't plan to park downtown either of its two food trucks that are popular on the Storrs campus. UConn is mindful of collaborating with Hartford, bringing foot traffic to downtown restaurants rather than its own food business- es, said C. Dennis Pierce, executive director of UConn's Department of Dining Services, noting that the cam- pus' original design also had a cafe that was nixed. UConn's Food for Thought truck includes seasonal menus and special- ties like lobster rolls and fried-clam rolls. The other truck sells UConn Dairy Bar ice cream. Both, typically parked in front of the main library on Fairfield Way, are performing well since launching about 1 ½ years ago, Pierce said. They also set up at campus events and the Food for Thought truck includes a mobile kitchen that UConn's catering department can use for off-campus events. Ironically, UConn bought a food truck about 20 years ago envisioning a new revenue source, sell- ing basic fare like burgers and hot dogs. Food trucks weren't a trend yet and the truck didn't work out. "We had it for about two years and we sold it because it didn't drive any busi- ness and it wasn't a trend," Pierce said. UConn invested in two food trucks after studying some peer universities. The trucks' ROI is long term, but they bring added value in advertising UConn and the Dairy Bar, he said, noting their markings. Hartford experience Clover Marsh, who pays $1,350 a year to reserve a spot for her Quick Bites food truck serving West Indian and American cuisine bordering Bushnell Park on Elm Street, hasn't heard of restaurants objecting to her operation or that of others sharing the street with her in her three years there. "We're all unique, we're all different, dif- ferent foods, different backgrounds, different culture, so especially for me, my food is really good," Marsh said, seeing no direct competi- tion for the type of cuisine she serves. Marsh, who occasionally operates out of a booth inside Dunkin' Donuts Park that rotates among vendors and provides addi- tional exposure, emphasized that food trucks have to meet stringent health regulations, like other restaurants, and aren't cheap. She worked five years to buy and then fully equip her truck after operating a sea- sonal ice cream truck for more than 10 years. "The generator alone is like $5,000," she said. Marsh said it's motivating to be her own boss and she dreams of having a fleet of five Quick Bites food trucks someday, serving a variety of cuisines and to open a commissary in Hartford for other food trucks. M & M Fresh Fruit Salad food truck, which sets up at the corner of Trumbull and Pearl streets downtown, sold only fruit salads when it started in 1991, but soon after added hot food, said Dao Saengaly, whose stepfather, Minh Dang, is the primary owner and whose mother, Mai Le, cooks. The truck, however, kept its original name by which it was known and for which M & M represents her parents' first initials, said Saengaly. The menu includes soups, Vietnam- ese dishes and more. Saengaly rotates working the truck's order window with her brother, David Le, who one recent afternoon was juggling phone and win- dow orders and relaying them to his mother, working over a hot wok while Dang tended to other tasks. M & M pays for its spot and hasn't expe- rienced tension with area restaurants, Saengaly said, not- ing a few occasions where M & M provid- ed fruit for a restau- rant that had run out. Saengaly attri- butes the surge in food trucks to being easier and less costly to open than a restau- rant, but the work is far from easy. "When it's cold, it's really cold; when it's hot, it's really hot," she said of the work inside a truck. But you do what you have to do, she added. Wait-and-see approach The Corner Pug's Foley tries to be opti- mistic when asked if the Gastro Park will draw more attention to his West Hartford restaurant. "Possibly, time will tell, kind of like the busway, right?" he said of the CTfastrak station located across New Park Avenue from The Corner Pug. While he decries the disparity in costs between a restaurant and food truck, par- ticularly property taxes on equipment, he acknowledges food trucks' rising popularity, similar to fast-service eateries. "The day of the sit-down, casual dining restaurant is going the way of the bicycle — people just don't have the time to come out for lunch for an hour anymore and that's the reality, you know, times change," he said. Another problem is too many restaurants in town for the population, he said. West Hartford Mayor Cantor acknowl- edges that the town may have to revisit the ordinance, depending on how it plays out. "We may have to look at it again if we feel that things are not working as we intended, but right now I think the framework is pretty effective," she said. Enfield is taking a similar wait-and-see approach, said Michael Ciriello, director of development services for the town, where trucks are limited to about 10 areas and town property, with no more than two trucks per site. Fees are levied for a health department license, mobile food vendor license, and daily vending permits. Fees are cheaper for locally based trucks. As of late May, no trucks had yet applied for a permit. The ordinance provides guidance, but may need to be tweaked as parties work through its implementation, like many new laws, he said. "We'll see how it works," Ciriello said. n Clover Marsh, owner of the Quick Bites food truck, offers West Indian and American cuisine. M & M Fresh Fruit Salad's Mai Le (left) cooks, Minh Dang (center) preps food, and David Le (right) takes orders. H B J P H O T O | J O H N S T E A R N S H B J P H O T O | J O H N S T E A R N S

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