Earlier this month, I planned to attend SJ Eats (A Moveable Feast), a food truck event in downtown San Jose. It was the first of its kind in this neck of the woods.
My two best buds were able to go with me.
The event started at 11:30 a.m. This is the crowd we saw when we got there at 11:45 a.m.
I was so happy to see such a huge turnout.
I walked around a bit and quickly realized that the lines were too long and moving too slowly, and that we’d have to come up with a Plan B.
All this fuss and super crowded conditions for 10 food trucks.
Yet, as stated earlier, I was very happy. I don’t think that there was much marketing and advertising for this event, but this event went viral, so to speak. Very cool. What was even cooler was the event organizer’s quick response on the SJ Eats website two days after the event:
A Note from SJ Eats
Monday, April 4, 2011: Thank you for making SJ Eats the largest grassroots event ever held in Downtown SJ. Almost 10K people attempted to attend on Sat, April 2nd. We were set up to handle maybe half that. Many passed by only to leave in frustration due to extremely long wait times & chaotic lines. I want to sincerely apologize for the substandard experiences many of you endured. We have learned from Saturday and plan to implement several changes.
Long Wait Times — The massive attendance at SJ Eats is proof that San Jose has an incredible pent up demand for quality street food. The only way to meet this demand is to increase supply. For this reason, SJ Eats is immediately entering talks with City staff to start a weekly street food meet up in Downtown.
Line Management — We are investing in line management hardware to bring order to the chaotic system displayed at the lunch session.
These changes along with the addition of live music will help push SJ Eats to meet its true potential as a social connector for San Jose. If you have any suggestions, please comment HERE. We hope to see you in May at the next SJ Eats!
Ryan Sebastian, Organizer
Very nicely written. I loved the “social connector” part; I’m a big fan of community and supporting the community whenever I can. That’s why I was quite happy to see so many people show up even though that meant that I wouldn’t be able to try out any of the food trucks that day.
But next month’s SJ Eats event has already been set up, and it’ll be at a larger venue (“300% more space”) and with more food trucks. Plus, there’ve already been updates that this event will take place on a weekly basis soon. Very cool!
Oh, I just remembered this instant what I’ve come to realize only relatively recently about me – I pretty much hate crowds. Oh well. We’ll get there really early next time, and if it doesn’t work out again, we’ll just go with the flow. Perhaps go with another Plan B and head out somewhere nearby to eat.
Always Grateful,
~Andy
I’m sooo excited about SJ Eats becoming a regular thing!