Hartford Business Journal

10 Hartford Business Journal • June 19, 2017 www.HartfordBusiness.com more momentum for an eclectic part of town with new businesses that include a craft brew- ery, Chick-fil-A restaurant, and a $19 million retail/apartment development at 616 New Park Ave. that's under construction at CTfastrak's Elmwood station. Furniture and home-design stores, The Home Depot and BJ's Wholesale Club are among other New Park businesses in what the town dubs the Home Design District. "We feel … we came up with a good com- promise," West Hartford Mayor Shari Cantor said of balancing food trucks with the town's established restaurants and other factors. The ordinance, among other things, pro- hibits food trucks operating within 500 feet of a restaurant, allowing them on about 15 streets near New Park, as an accessory use within the parking area of an existing busi- ness in the industrial zone and within a licensed food truck park. Not everyone likes the ordinance. The manager of a 16-year-old restaurant in the industrial zone estimates one proposed food truck park will be 600 to 700 feet away. "All along, my feelings were if they want to put them in one area, they should have them throughout the town," said Chris Foley, man- ager of The Corner Pug, a roughly 150-seat restaurant with 33 employees at New Park and New Britain avenues. "I'm not opposed to food trucks, I think it's the way of the future, it's a great thing, but level the playing field throughout West Hartford," Foley said. A few other smaller restaurants also dot New Park. Cousins Tate Norden and Adam Belward, co-owners of the Iron & Grain Co. food truck that occasionally sets up at New Park Brew- ing and who are proposing the roughly 1-acre Gastro Park off New Park Avenue near the CTfastrak-Elmwood station, believe they can help build the food truck business, bring attention to restaurants in the area and broader town, and feed the eclectic vibe growing along New Park. "We're certainly going to pull local West Hartford residents to our establishment, but we also believe that this is going to attract a lot more people who weren't coming to West Hartford," Norden said. "So I think most people get that this is going to be a good thing and there will be a lot of spillover in terms of other businesses bringing us people and us sending a lot of people to other businesses as well," he added. Norden hopes Gastro Park — featuring five rotating trucks around a commissary for truck supplies and food preparation, outdoor seat- ing and yard games — helps grow the town's foodie reputation. The commissary will be in a building once occupied by Kelsey's Auto Sales, with a new structure added for what is essen- tially a fixed Iron & Grain restaurant. The cousins have an agreement to buy the Kelsey's site, which they hope to close on this month and, with investors, open Gastro Park by next spring. Belward, a graduate of the Culinary Insti- tute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., said food trucks aren't what they used to be. "I think that food trucks have changed a lot from the old thought process of like a greasy-spoon truck," Belward said. "There's a lot more culinary thought to food trucks, in the cuisine that's being put out, and I think that's appealing to people because it's some- thing different than necessarily going to sit down at a restaurant," he added. Items on the menu of Iron & Grain, which operates out of a refurbished 1959 Chevrolet truck, include turkey sliders, Mexican street corn and more. "You're seeing the foodie culture explode and you're seeing a lot of chefs who otherwise wouldn't be able to open their restaurant and take their own chances with their own cui- sine, they now have that sort of freedom of flexibility since the entry point is much lower than what it would be to open up an actual brick-and-mortar [restaurant]," Norden said. Connecticut is not oversaturated with food trucks and is behind on the times in that area, he said. Hartford County, in particular, lacks public venues where food trucks and consumers can go, he said. Other than Hart- ford's Bushnell Park at lunch, where about a half-dozen trucks typically line up along Elm Street bordering the park and state offices, the best opportunity to find food trucks is at a brewery or farmer's market, he said. Regulations done right Sarah Maloney, executive director of the 700-plus member Connecticut Restaurant Association, including about a half-dozen food truck members, says towns like West Hartford are doing it right regulating where food trucks operate. "Food trucks can be a great addition to cities and towns; however, I think there's a place for them, and I think many towns and cities are recognizing that and that they need to set restrictions on where food trucks can be located," Maloney said. Requiring food trucks to be certain dis- tances from established restaurants, for example, is good policy, she said. Max Restaurant Group, with three sit- down eateries in West Hartford Center and two in downtown Hartford, hasn't had an issue with Hartford food trucks and doesn't see them as competition, said Scott Smith, vice president and partner at Max. "I like the whole idea, the whole concept," said Smith, who occasionally visits the Bush- nell Park food trucks, as do his staff. "I think it's a cool alternative. I think the people that are doing it, it takes a lot of work and I admire them. I don't see it as any direct competition to us." Food truck customers aren't really dining the way they would at one of the Max restau- rants, he said. The city of Hartford has licensed 127 mobile food vendors this fiscal year, accord- ing to Otis Pitts, operations manager for the environmental health division at the city Department of Health and Human Services. Not all those operate daily, some just for events, and the number has increased annu- ally. He expects more growth. "It's definitely a booming trend and we're doing our best to make sure we're ahead of the curve and they're safe as well," Pitts said. from page 1 Food trucks see future in cities, suburbs Iron & Grain Co., set up here on a recent Friday night at New Park Brewing in West Hartford, has a food truck with a portable counter to bring the experience closer to customers. Cousins Tate Norden (left) and Adam Belward (right) run the truck. UConn's Food for Thought food truck includes seasonal menus and specialties like lobster rolls. H B J P H O T O S | J O H N S T E A R N S P H O T O | C O N T R I B U T E D

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