NEWS
Cart vendors return to Library Mall
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Also by Megan Costello:
- High-rise on horizon for downtown (November 30, 2004)
- 27-story complex stirs urban growth debate (April 7, 2005)
- Judge dismisses drink special suit (April 8, 2005)
- Campus joins fight against cancer (April 21, 2005)
Related Stories:
- Annual food cart review in full swing (September 26, 2003)
- Food vendors face health violations (November 13, 2002)
- Vending-cart fates still undecided (October 30, 2003)
- Street vendors set; fruit stand, Buraka (November 1, 2007)
- Vendors fight for Library Mall spots (September 27, 2007)
by Megan Costello
Monday, March 1, 2004
Cart Vendors Return to Library Mall
By Megan Costello
City Reporter
As UW students put on sandals and played Frisbee because of the recent spring-like weather, food cart vendors have started setting up their stands for the spring season.
To many students, the arrival of the food carts marks the end of a Wisconsin winter.
?I feel like the vendors coming back out to Library Mall signals the start of spring,? UW junior Samantha Thompson said. ?I kind of expect to start seeing people laying out on Bascom Hill soon.?
Hyde Slatter, whose wife Nantana owns the Sukho Thai cart, agreed, saying when students notice the change in season, they fuel the carts? business.
?[Business] all depends on the weather and the students,? Slatter said. ?We depend almost exclusively on students, about 95 percent.?
With rising tuition costs and the slow recovery of the economy, however, the food carts have seen a significant drop in business.
Namarsa Jirqporn, owner of Thai House, has seen a 10-15 percent decrease in his July and August sales since last year and has had to compensate by raising prices by 50 cents.
Nevertheless, the significantly lower prices at carts still draw many students.
?I like how at the carts you can get food for cheaper than at a sit-down restaurant,? UW sophomore Marisa Frank said. ?You can also enjoy eating outside, especially when it?s nice out.?
Despite cheaper prices at food carts, vendors have been hit especially hard in the past two years. Jirqporn, like Slatter, has a heavy dependency on students. His business relies on about 30 percent regular customers, 70 percent of whom he says are students.
Both Jirqporn and Slatter agreed business slows during early spring but will pick up again during the warmer seasons, especially spring and fall.
According to Slatter, the Sukho Thai cart is the only cart to brave the entire winter season in Library Mall. He said the profits at Sukho Thai are cut in half during this time, a trend he has noticed since the cart opened six years ago.
Jirqporn said for the past six years he always opens in February and closes in the third week of December.
?We?re open now, we?ll still be open,? Jirqporn said.
Jirqporn?s cart is one of the few that are currently open, but he said he expects more vendors to return within the next few weeks, even if the weather takes a turn for the worse.
?It?ll happen pretty soon, sometime around mid-March,? he said.
Many students also consider the carts a fixed part of campus décor.
?If the food carts have to increase their prices or they are forced to close, I think the ethnic perspective we have on State Street and Library Mall is going to be lost,? UW freshman Meghan Andrews said. ?I?ve seen the carts here since my siblings have gone to school and I love seeing them - it?s the coming of spring.?
