Recovered original email from Peter Zeimet. Body preserved verbatim.
Price is a big consideration. But, overhead/labor on a mobile wagon is but a pittance of an actual restaurant. Overall, there is no reason price cannot be considerably cheaper on any like item. A restaurant does have the edge on volume of which can make up some of their disadvantage.
Reno has a tremendously varied market. We are 25% hispanic at MINIMUM. I really mean at minimum. The school district says 85% hispanic. Only a fraction of hispanics participate in census data. So, I would hazard a guess of 40%+ hispanic. I am somewhat like you and do not eat a great deal of unsual fusion food. But, a great deal of our population is from California inclusive of the hispanics. We also have a growing asian and east Indian groups plus some old die hard western USA rednecks.
That changes their appetite a great deal. I do plan on offering regular spaghetti and meatballs and stuff for people like us. Even years ago, trying to "normal" food in central/northern California was difficult. I remember once trying to get a glass of iced tea in like 1993 or so in Sacramento. The waitress named off a dozen flavored types available. They sounded AWFUL. I like peach and can deal with raspberry, but cinnamon herb was a bit too whacked for me. But, those people definitely are here and chicken fried steak is no longer the popular item.
The target I am trying to hit is to offer things not available by the competition plus some old standards. Right now, the other wagons are taco/burrito/burger GREASE wagons. They are also killing themselves with trying to cut prices as primarily they are operated by people who cannot cook that got into the business buying prepackaged everything. The trend in California wagons is rather off the scope innovation wise. In fact, it would make me run for the hills. Hispanics are crazy over asian foods with lots of hot spices. The younger office worker crowd is very similar. So, I guess that would be the target to hit. I can certainly modify the menu once open, too.
Cheryl said the oyster bar she works in serves an extremely HOT coleslaw made with molasses, red pepper and vinegar. YUK- but people cannot get enough of it - pz
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