Kristin Muldoon, a local real estate developer and property manager, wants to transform the barren swath of acreage behind South Philly’s Ikea into a virtual sanctuary for food trucks and carts.* Between now and June 1, she is seeking mobile food operators interested in setting up in its lot at 2400 Weccacoe Ave., and pedaling their delicious wares. If she can garner enough interest and participants, she will then take the next step, and make the space available for food truckers to park their munch mobiles over night. Ultimately, if all goes well, she will then build a sprawling commissary space and garage, as well as a picnic area where eaters can enjoy goods purchased from trucks parked on the premises. “We’ve heard from friends in the food truck business that they’re having problems finding kitchen commissary space, overnight parking and a hassle-free locations to operate,” Muldoon told Grub Street. “We have this lot, and thought maybe we could make it available to vendors for day rate and see how it goes.”
She added that after some preliminary research, she and her colleagues found that in other cities with flourishing food truck scenes, similar lots and service facilities are readily available.
“We thought it would be beneficial to create a food truck depot and service area,” Muldoon said.
The space she has in mind would have enough kitchen space for accommodate upwards of 20 chefs at a time. The garage would be large enough to house 30 to 40 trucks. But before she has anything built, she said she wants to make sure there’s enough business to pay for it. So, for the first step, she’s simply trying to locate already operational vendors to set up in the lot.
Interested food truck operators are encouraged to call Kristin Muldoon at (215) 351-9366 for additional information.
*This post has been corrected to show that Rimas Properties are not involved with the project.
