A food cart is a mobile kitchen set up on the street to prepare and sell street food to passers-by. Food carts are often found in cities worldwide selling food of every kind.
Food carts come in two basic styles. One allows the vendor to sit or stand inside and serve food through a window. In the other, the vendor stands next to the cart, while all the room in the cart is used for storage and to house the cooking machinery, usually a grilling surface. The cart style is determined principally by the type of food.
Food carts are different from food trucks because they do not travel under their own power. Some food carts are towed by another vehicle, while some are pushed by a human or animal.
The first food carts probably came into being at the time of the early Greek and Roman civilizations with traders converting old hand-carts and smaller animal-drawn carts into mobile trading units. Carts have the distinct advantage of mobility, should a location not be productive in sales, as well as for transporting goods to/from storage to the marketplace.
However, the use of carts exploded with the coming of railways. Firstly, highly mobile customers required food and drink to keep them warm within the early open carriages. Secondly, locomotives needed to stop regularly to take on coal and water, and hence allow their passengers use the toilets, eat and drink. Thirdly, few early trains had any form of buffet or dining car. Finally, when passengers did arrive at their destination, or at a point when they needed to switch trains or modes of transport, some refreshment was required, particularly for poorer passengers who could not afford to stay in the railway-owned hotels. This expansion lead to a mutually successful relationship with some of the first concession stands and laws developing from mobile traders operating from restricted railway property. This form of concession based operation can be seen still in many countries, but at its most original in the under developed stations and infrastructure of Africa and Southeast Asia.
The railways also brought another benefit: a plentiful supply of new suitably sized carts. Often traders requiring new carts would simply buy old railway station luggage carts and adapt them to serving food, knowing that these were sized/scaled to fit in between the necessary doors and lifts.
Today the size and scale of carts have generally increased, and most are towed behind 4x4 vehicles. But hand-towed food carts are still a common sight where access is restricted and hungry people can be found.
In the 21st century, innovations have included modular designed carts made with stainless steel, fiber reinforced plastic and aluminum. Some have been developed to drive themselves. [1]
Some food carts are associated with restaurants. Most of the food served from the cart is the same as the food in the restaurant. [2]
A cart or dray is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by draught animals such as horses, donkeys, mules and oxen, or even smaller animals such as goats or large dogs.
Catering is the business of providing food services at a remote site or a site such as a hotel, hospital, pub, aircraft, cruise ship, park, festival, filming location or film studio.
An ice cream van (British) or ice cream truck is a commercial vehicle that serves as a cold-food specialty food truck or amobile retail outlet for pre-packaged ice cream, usually during the spring and summer. Ice cream vans are often seen parked at public events, or near parks, beaches, or other areas where people congregate. Ice cream vans often travel near where children play — outside schools, in residential areas, or in other locations. They usually stop briefly before moving on to the next street. Along the sides, a large sliding window acts as a serving hatch, and this often displays pictures of the available products and their prices. Most ice cream vans tend to sell both pre-manufactured ice pops in wrappers, and soft serve ice cream from a machine, served in a cone, and often with a chocolate flake, a sugary syrup, or toppings such as sprinkles. While franchises or chains are rare within the ice cream truck community, some do exist.
A trailer is an unpowered vehicle towed by a powered vehicle. It is commonly used for the transport of goods and materials.
A food truck is a large motorized vehicle or trailer equipped to store, transport, cook, prepare, serve, and/or sell food.
In computing, a docking station or port replicator (hub) or dock provides a simplified way to plug-in a mobile device, such as connect common peripherals to a laptop, or charge a smartphone. Because a wide range of dockable devices—from mobile phones to wireless mouse—have different connectors, power signaling, and uses, docks are unstandardized and are therefore often designed for a specific type of device.
A hawker is a vendor of merchandise that can be easily transported; the term is roughly synonymous with costermonger or peddler. In most places where the term is used, a hawker sells inexpensive goods, handicrafts, or food items. Whether stationary or mobile, hawkers often advertise by loud street cries or chants, and conduct banter with customers, to attract attention and enhance sales.
Street food refers to food or drinks sold by a hawker or vendor on a street or at other public places, such as markets, fairs, and parks. It is often sold from a portable food booth, food cart, or food truck and is meant for immediate consumption. Some street foods are regional, but many have spread beyond their regions of origin. Most street foods are classified as both finger food and fast food and are typically cheaper than restaurant meals. The types of street food vary between regions and cultures in different countries around the world. According to a 2007 study from the Food and Agriculture Organization, 2.5 billion people eat street food every day. While some cultures consider it to be rude to walk on the street while eating, a majority of middle- to high-income consumers rely on the quick access and cheap service of street food for daily nutrition and job opportunities, especially in developing countries.
A snack bar usually refers to an inexpensive food counter that is part of a permanent structure where snack foods and light meals are sold.
Mobile catering is the business of selling prepared food from some sort of vehicle. It is a feature of urban culture in many countries. Mobile catering can be performed using food trucks, trailers, carts and food stands with many types of foods that can be prepared. Mobile catering is also used to provide food to people during times of emergency.
Ground support equipment (GSE) is the support equipment found at an airport, usually on the apron, the servicing area by the terminal. This equipment is used to service the aircraft between flights. As the name suggests, ground support equipment is there to support the operations of aircraft whilst on the ground. The role of this equipment generally involves ground power operations, aircraft mobility, and cargo/passenger loading operations.
Restaurants fall into several industry classifications, based upon menu style, preparation methods and pricing, as well as the means by which the food is served to the customer. This article mainly describes the situation in the US, while categorisation differs widely around the world.
Towing is coupling two or more objects together so that they may be pulled by a designated power source or sources. The towing source may be a motorized land vehicle, vessel, animal, or human, and the load being anything that can be pulled. These may be joined by a chain, rope, bar, hitch, three-point, fifth wheel, coupling, drawbar, integrated platform, or other means of keeping the objects together while in motion.
A horse trailer or horse van is used to transport horses. There are many different designs, ranging in size from small units capable of holding two or three horses, able to be pulled by a pickup truck or SUV; to gooseneck designs that carry six to eight horses, usually pulled by 1-ton dually-style pickups. There are also large semi-trailers that can haul a significant number of animals. In the UK, a horsebox may also refer to a motorised vehicle adapted to carry horses, or a railway vehicle specifically designed to carry horses.
A food booth – also called a food kiosk, food stand, or temporary food service facility – is generally a temporary structure used to prepare and sell food to the general public, usually where large groups of people are situated outdoors in a park, at a parade, near a stadium, or otherwise. Sometimes the term also refers to the business operations and vendors that operate from such booths.
A hot dog cart is a specialized mobile food stand for preparing and selling street food, specifically hot dogs, to passersby. In some jurisdictions, a cart operator must meet stringent health regulations designed to protect the public. Hot dog carts are quick and easy food services, supplying millions of people with food every day. In 2015 the U.S. Hot Dog Council estimated that 15% of the approximately 10 billion hot dogs consumed by Americans in 2014 were purchased from a mobile hot dog vendor cart. Hot dog carts are very common in New York City, and most of the hot dogs purveyed by hot dog carts in New York City are sourced from Sabrett.
Regional street food is street food that has commonalities within a region or culture.
A taco stand or taquería is a food stall, food cart or restaurant that specializes in tacos and other Mexican dishes. The food is typically prepared quickly and tends to be inexpensive. Many various ingredients may be used, and various taco styles may be served. Taco stands are an integral part of Mexican street food. Tacos became a part of traditional Mexican cuisine in the early 20th century, beginning in Mexico City, as what had been a miner's snack began to be sold on street corners in the city. Shops selling tacos have since proliferated throughout Mexico and other areas with a heavy Mexican culinary and cultural influence, including much of the Western United States and most other larger American cities. More typical taquerías specialize in tacos, as expected, but in some localities it can be used to refer to restaurants specializing in burritos, where tacos themselves are less of a point of emphasis.
Indonesian street food is a collection of ready-to-eat meals, snacks, fruits and drinks sold by hawkers or vendors at warung food stalls or food carts. Street food in Indonesia is a diverse mix of local Indonesian, Chinese, and Dutch influences. Indonesian street food are usually cheap, offer a great variety of food of different tastes, and can be found on every corner of the city.
Road signs in Cambodia are standardized road signs are similar to those used in Europe but much of it resembles road signage systems used in South American countries with certain differences. The designs of road signage match their neighbours of Thailand and Malaysia, both of which adopt a modified version of the South American road signage system. Until the early 1980s, Cambodia closely followed American, European, Australian, and Japanese practices in road sign design, with diamond-shaped warning signs and circular restrictive signs to regulate traffic. Unlike Thailand and Malaysia, Cambodia does not use the FHWA Series fonts typeface, favouring Helvetica instead.