Celebrate the Holidays in Knightdale

It’s December and that means the holidays are around the corner.  This weekend, Knightdale has a lot of Holiday theme events going on.

On Friday, Knightdale Station Park Amphitheater will have the Christmas Tree lighting.  The festivities start at 6 pm.  Be sure to check out food trucks Baguetteaboutit, Cousins Maine Lobster, Hibachi Xpress, and CJ Funnel Cakes.

On Saturday, the Knightdale Christmas Parade will travel through the town.  Tacos Las Gringas will be in the parade promoting RDUMFA’s food truck rodeo on Sunday (more details below). King’s Authentic Phillycheeseateaks and CJ Funnel Cakes will serve parade watchers.

All above events are organized by the Town of Knightdale and details can be found on their website.


On Sunday, RDUMFA, the Triangle’s mobile food association, will hold its 2nd Annual Rudolph’s Holiday Rodeo   Sponsored by Choice FM 92.1 FM and Craft Financial LLC. The event will have over 10 mobile food vendors from various cuisines, desserts, and even treats for pets.  The event will also have live music performances, a visit from Santa, a gift wrapping section, and bouncy houses and pinatas for the children.  Proceeds from the event go to Meals on Wheels of Wake County.

Attendees can use the hashtag #RDUMFARudolphRodeo16

For information on Rudolph’s Holiday Rodeo, check out RDUMFA’s website.

2016 Triangle Small Food Business Conference

Interested or in the small food business industry?   Durham Tech is hosting the 2016 Triangle Small Food Business Conference at the Durham Arts Council (120 Morris St, Durham).

The two day event on Thursday and Friday, Sept. 29 and 30, 2016 is designed to prepare entrepreneurs such at food truck operators, caterers, restauranteurs, and those making value added products for successful small food businesses.

Topics include seminars and working sessions on topics such as raising capital, sales and marketing, legal and regulatory aspects, and food operations.

Interested in the event can find registration details here: https://www.durhamtech.edu/sbc/tsfbconference.htm

Local food groups gather food makers to discuss Wake County rule changes

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Before you buy one of these, where will you prepare your food?

Recently, the rules have changed regarding shared commercial kitchen laws in Wake County.  These rules impact different segments within the food and beverage industry including food trucks.  To help understand and discuss these changes, Triangle Food Makers has organized an event, In Search Of A Kitchen with Community Food Lab, Advocates for Health in Action, RDU Mobile Food Association (RDUMFA), and the City of Raleigh.  The event will bring together local food and beverage producers for a discussion and interaction with other food makers.

Highlights on the event’s agenda include presentations from the director of Environmental Health Services, Andre Pierce, and the director of Piedmont Agricultural and Processing Facility (PFAP) about the new laws and what food makers should consider when searching for commercial kitchen space.

Before the event, locally made products and plenty of time to connect with other food makers, caterers, food truck operators and other local food entrepreneurs will be available.

The event takes place on Thursday, January 14th from 5 to 8pm at HQ Raleigh in Downtown Raleigh.  RSVP or find more information here.

Free Raleigh Food Trucks

The Humble Pig-WF 032915

Dear Fellow Food Truck Fan,

Together we have followed the food truck scene here in the Triangle. Over the last two years, we have seen an awesome influx of attention to our scene. Last year, we won multiple Mobile-Cuisine awards such as Best Food Truck Blogger and Best Dessert Food Truck and multiple places in Best Rookie Food Truck. And this month alone, we have seen food trucks featured on television shows Some Great Bakeries, Carnival Cravings, BBQ Crawl, Cutthroat Kitchen, and The Great Food Truck Race. This food truck scene has helped raise the reputation that the Triangle is a food destination.

Chez Moi

In addition to the food truck scene growing, the capital city of North Carolina, Raleigh, is experiencing a large amount of growth. As such, the city planners have decided to set the city’s master plan and update the zoning to match their long-term vision. Unfortunately for us the food truck fans, food trucks are being left out in mixed use zones, specifically one called NX [see more details on the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO)].  These mixed use areas, where appropriate, are market opportunities where food trucks can serve in food deserts.

KocinA-3

As we all know food trucks are businesses, but they are not large corporations strapped with large bank accounts. These are your next-door neighbors living a dream through the entrepreneurship ideals nurtured by our society. They are families when the economy took a tumble decided to create opportunities, which created more for other looking for jobs. Because of this, they need our help to amplify their voice.  We also need to share the positive impacts they make in our lives.

Wake Forest Rodeo

If you feel passionate about them, as well as me, I encourage you to sign a petition that will be presented to the Raleigh’s City Council. Together, we can make an effort to let them know that we love small businesses like food trucks.

CockADoodleMoo

Link to Petition

Much Thanks,

Art Sheppard

The Wandering Sheppard