Best Food Truck In LA
Which of the 2 are more environmentally friendly, or is there certainly no definitive answer? At this time, there are lots of individuals that will quickly believe that food trucks are the worse of the 2 evils, given the national focus on how environmentally sustainable practices tie to modes of transportation.
However, sustainability is something which is needed every time a light is switched on, plastic is thrown to the garbage, dishes are washed, etc. Green (or harmful) practices don't start and stop with the key in the ignition, but they instead take place during and in the end operating hours of a small business - in a food trailer or in a normal brick-and-mortar restaurant.
Let's consider the factors that come into play of these businesses'operations.
The location. Everbody knows, catering trucks are mobile. They move from place to place, and thus leave a smaller footprint on where they've been. There's little infrastructure, aside from the commercial kitchen, that needs to be maintained. And then you will find restaurants. Best Food Truck In LA have multiple large areas that must be illuminated, temperature-regulated and cleaned regularly. These physical entities exist all the time, not just during operating hours.
Energy Use. As stated above, a normal restaurant's physical location creates the need for electricity and natural gas to keep comfortable temperatures, and to offer light for dining customers. In the kitchens, cooking is generally done with natural gas, and griddles and stoves are kept hot through the operating hours. According to the 2003 Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey, most restaurants use 38.4kWh of electricity per square foot per year, which can be approximately 77,000 kWh per year for a 2,000 ft2 restaurant.
Food trucks also require a heat source for cooking, so that they typically use propane. Throughout a year, an average food trailer use about 900 gallons of propane per year, in addition to fuel requirements for driving around. Although this fuel is normally gasoline or diesel, catering trucks could also use vegetable oil or biodiesel. Furthermore, an onboard generator meets electricity needs. While generators are usually more polluting than grid-supplied electricity, food trailers demand less electricity and rely more on natural light.
Vehicle miles. Although restaurants can't rack up miles visiting customers, their customers are most likely traveling to get at these traditional eateries. In effect, a quick trip by a food truck can often offset numerous small trips by customers that would have otherwise driven to a restaurant.
Waste. For the waste component in the meals industry, it is a tie between food trucks and restaurants. Though some catering trucks are considered eco-friendly by utilizing corn-based plastic, bagasse, or recycled paper takeout containers, they're still creating wastes. On the other hand, restaurants are able to use reusable plates, utensils and cups; however, take-out and fast food restaurants often rely heavily on take-out containers that are constructed with plastic and Styrofoam.
Could be the winner clear yet? Using this qualitative analysis, it's obvious that mobile food stand usually produce less harmful environmental impacts. Of course, it's possible that some restaurants will be more sustainable than other food trailers.
