Food Truck Alley Starts This Thursday After Week's Delay

Severe thunderstorms and a tornado watch prompted the cancellation of last week's start for the downtown Alpharetta event, but the forecast is much better this week.

After a week's delay caused by thunderstorms and even a tornado watch, the Alpharetta Food Truck Alley starts in its inaugural season this Thursday in downtown Alpharetta. This Thursday the chance for rain is only 30 percent – and that's after 2 a.m. early Friday. The high will be 81. But there will be wind gusts of up to 20 mph, so hang on to your cash and napkins. Old Roswell Street will be filled with six to eight food trucks and live music each week from 5-9 p.m. This week, there will be two nationally ranked food trucks from Atlanta, Happy Belly Curbside Kitchen, www. and Yumbii, according to Fork in the Road's Dawn Hall. Fork in the Road was contracted by the city to organize the event. The full lineup of trucks for Thursday, April …

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Letter to the Editor

Alpharetta Resident Asks City Council to Consider Food Truck Ideas

Nancy Berlo questions why businesses from outside the city should be brought in to compete with restaurants paying city property taxes, and offers her own solutions.

As a 24-year resident of Alpharetta, I am very pleased with most of the new ideas surfacing in our city.  I love that new restaurants are deciding to locate in our community, even though I am disappointed that some previous ones have not been able to “make it”.  I am happy to see that there is talk of focusing city events outside the basic downtown historic district, and would like to see it extended up the State Hwy. 9 corridor to Windward Parkway and perhaps across Haynes Bridge Rd. to near the NorthPoint Mall area.  Hopefully City Council will give some credence to these suggestions. As concerning the idea of food trucks, I have some big problems.  Why would the city allow trucks to come in and make money at the expense of the …

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Travis Allen

3:37 pm on Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Couldn't have said it better.   more ›

Alpharetta Tables Food Truck Proposal

City Council members were concerned about the affect on existing businesses and ordinance changes necessary before action could be taken.

Is bringing out of town food trucks to downtown Alpharetta the right thing to do? Does this help draw customers to the area, or does it pull customers away from other restaurants? Is giving an event business an alcohol permit for all of those Thursdays violating current ordinances designed to keep bars out of the city? Those were just a few of the questions that council members and local business owners had for Special Events Manager Kim Dodson and the two companies trying to partner with Alpharetta for "Alpharetta Food Truck Thursdays." Council members voted to table the proposal until the next meeting in two weeks to give staff time to get answers. Council members almost universally liked the idea of a food truck event in downtown, but …

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Bob Pepalis

4:30 pm on Friday, February 8, 2013

Thank you for adding your comment and correction, Bettie. I've confirmed the essence of what you are saying, and that Terry Hall's company doesn't run Smyrna's event – he just has the Happy Belly food truck, one of a bunch in the metro area. The city tells me he is involved with the Atlanta Street Food Coalition. Adding the word "at" in a key place in the story corrects that error, too.   more ›

Food Truck Thursdays May be Coming to Alpharetta

The city's Special Events manager is proposing 18 events this year, and 28 in 2014.

Alpharetta residents who liked the food truck event in downtown Alpharetta last year should show their support at the City Council meeting tonight, as a proposal would add 11 Thursday night visits by the food trucks. Eighteen of the events would be scheduledfor the year. The city's Special Events manager, Kim Dodson, said Alpharetta would partner with Fork In the Road to save $2,450 for each event. The cost for a single food truck event to the city would be $3,352, for a total of $44,100 for 18 events. The city plans to model its events after Smyrna's successful "Smyrna Food Truck Tuesdays. Each event would include food trucks offering varing cuisine each week with music and beverages. Incorporated into the events would be different themes…

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