From Los Angeles to New York, street food is popping up everywhere. Projections suggest that by 2020 food trucks will be a billion dollar industry. Since 2009, the food truck business has grown by 80%. Food trucks are here to stay and here are 20 reasons why this trend is so popular.

twenty Changing perceptions

Gone are the days when mobile kitchens were called “cockroach wagons.” People understand that street food businesses are held to the same (sometimes higher) safety and sanitation standards as any restaurant.

19 Worth

Lunch carts offer an inexpensive meal for budget-conscious foodies. Traditionally, street food is less expensive than conventional dining options.

18 social networks

Drill cart operators are masters of digital communication and use it to drive sales. Their tweets, blogs, Pinterest posts, and Facebook pages are ever-evolving marketing platforms that the public has embraced.

17 Lower overhead

Mobile kitchens have a lower operating cost than traditional restaurants. With no rent to pay and no buildings to support, food trucks can run a lucrative and efficient operation more cheaply than their traditional competitors.

sixteen. Lower initial cost

Opening a fixed-location restaurant requires two to three times the amount of capital as starting a food truck. Realistically, an entrepreneur with $75,000 could have a food truck business up and running.

fifteen. Rent, Rent, Rent

The mobility of a chow wagon gives the owner the freedom to change their site daily, even every few hours if they choose. That pizzeria you go to can’t drive their building to fairs, festivals, and events.

14 Cooperation

Lunch cart operators are a close-knit community that works together so that everyone benefits from each other’s business. A food truck parked on the street can go unnoticed by a crowd hungry for lunch. Four food trucks in a corner create a scene.

13 Marketing

A big truck is a rolling billboard. Every minute they are on the road they are advertising. The sight of a wildly colored van covered in logos in a shopping district generates excitement and drives sales.

12 Fast food

Do you want your lunch hot and fast? A food truck offers time-hungry diners a quick bite without the wait time of a sit-down restaurant.

eleven Healthy Options

Many mobile kitchens serve fried treats and hot dogs, but many serve vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free meals to cater to healthy appetites. Some food trucks have gone so far as to only serve health options.

10 options

Consumers like options. Some food trucks parked on the street provide hungry people with a personalized menu where they can mix and match their food to suit their tastes. You can have dim sum as an appetizer, walk to another truck and buy burritos and if you’re still hungry check out a frozen yogurt cart.

9. Culture

Every conceivable ethnic, cuisine, and regional food is represented by food trucks. Consumers can eat Maine lobster on the West Coast or California cuisine on the East Coast. Diners can enjoy Korean, Italian, French, Thai, Ethiopian, Greek, American or Japanese cuisine. If you’re a fan of food trucks, the world is your oyster.

8. Fusion Flavors

japanese tacos? Yes. German gyros? Go ahead. Mexican pizza? More, please. Creative chefs are pushing the fusion envelope to create unique, interesting and flavorful offerings to delight adventurous foodies.

7. the fame game

Tom Colicchio, Spike Mendelsohn, Jamie Oliver and Jose Andres run food trucks. Some celebrity chefs use mobile kitchens to test concepts and recipes for their restaurants. Food trucks allow celebrity chefs to experiment with recipes without risk and reach a broader market. This trend will continue because people love celebrities.

6. FunFactor

Street food is an inexpensive entertainment option. The owners try to offer a pleasant dining experience to their customers on the street. Workers can escape from their cubicles and experience a carnival atmosphere during their lunch hour. The brightly colored platforms are fun, the food is fun, and the people taking your order are fun.

5. The American dream

Socially conscious foodies understand that mobile food vendors provide jobs and a community in the cities where they operate. People are more willing to give their hard-earned money to a local business owner than to a faceless corporation. Mobile food vendors also increase sales in the retail areas where they work. If your retail business is lagging behind, consider inviting a food truck into your business.

Four. Fresh air

When the weather is nice, nothing better than going outside. A quick walk through the park to a lunch cart is what the doctor ordered to lift the spirits of eaters in the concrete jungle. Who wants leftover Chinese food in the office where you spend 50 hours a week?

3. Novelty

From evolving menu options to new units on the scene, food trucks present a novel approach to eating out. The mobile kitchen offers an interesting gastronomic niche for consumers who have grown tired of being constantly bombarded with messages from restaurant chains and fast food companies.

two. fresh and local

Mobile kitchens are bringing farm-to-table to cities around the world. The chefs buy protein, dairy and produce from local sources and produce better food than some traditional restaurants. Consumers can tell the difference between those microgreens grown on the road compared to salad processed in a factory hundreds of miles away.

1. street food tastes good

Whether it’s a burger or escargot, street chefs are creating amazing meals. The variety, quality and deliciousness of the mobile kitchen is amazing and embraced by the world. From savory, upscale dinners to artery-clogging fried desserts, street food tastes good, and as a result, food trucks are here to stay.