Linh Tuyet Truoy, operator of Asian Foods on Library Mall, will not move her business to the Capitol Square without a fight.
“I’ve been here 14 years in Library Mall, and now the city is moving me to the Capitol Square,” Truoy said. “But I don’t want to move. I want to stay.”
The city of Madison has stripped Asian Foods of its mall location as a result of low scores it received on a recent food cart review.
The annual review, which took place in late September, is in place to keep current food carts on their toes in serving high-quality food, and to evaluate the worthiness of vendors applying for permits to set up shop the following spring.
“There are food vendors who successfully manage to stay in (the) same spot year after year after year because they are high-quality and are doing something different,” said Warren Hansen, Madison Street-Vending Coordinator. “It does seem to be the American way that competition is good.”
This year’s evaluation found Asian Foods receiving one of the lowest scores of the carts on the mall. Asian Foods received a 78 on a scale of 0 to 100. It finished 31 out of 34 carts evaluated.
Athenian Garden received the highest average score from reviewers, at 98.
The review panel, made up of a mix of several dozen city officials and students, was instructed to assign scores to the carts based on three variables — the taste of food, the design of the cart’s apparatus and the originality of the food served.
A vendor gains points for seniority and the length of time it has existed at its current locale and loses points for health code citations.
Other vendors with long-running residences on Library Mall include Loose Juice, 19 years; Buraka, 11 years; and the fruit stand, 20 years.
Two new carts, Zen Shushi and Bubble Tea, were granted spots on Library Mall.
Truoy has set a petition on her cart’s counter for signatures of those who wish to protest their relocation to the square.
A number of mall food vendors are rallying to Truoy’s defense, including Don Helley, who helps run the fruit stand.
“Asian Foods has been here for 14 years,” Helley said. “Everyone here is pulling for them.”
Beth Foctsis, manager of Athenian Garden, which topped the vendor rankings, acknowledges that the process to evaluate the quality of food carts is not always kind.
“You gotta stay competitive,” Foctsis said. “Unfortunately, for some, it is their only source of income.”
In fact, the competition for vending licenses has grown increasingly competitive in recent years.
The number of applicants has soared in recent years, growing from 26 incumbent and applicant carts in 2000 to 34 in 2002, all competing for a limited number of the electrical outlets the overwhelming majority of carts require in order to operate, said Hansen. He also said relocating vendors due to low scores is an unpleasant but necessary component of ensuring quality.
“This is not a personal process . . . Some food vendors don’t seem to understand that,” Hansen said. “It’s not my personal decision. I’m just the bearer of the bad news in this case.”
Hansen said maintaining a diverse selection of foods is a key objective of the evaluation process.
“In Chicago and New York, you get hot-dog stands on every corner,” Hansen said. “Here, because they are compelled to come up with something not mass-produced, that’s unique of Madison.”
