Caroline Kennedy

Street Surprise
April 16, 2008

As I mentioned in a previous blog posting, you see a lot on a daily basis in New York — whether it is a film shoot of some sort, a “community of homeless” sleeping on the sidewalk under the ever-present scaffolding all over the place, or heavily armed police and military personnel. Therefore, we tend to take things in stride; so in a city where the unusual is usual, and it takes a lot for us to stop and take notice or smile at something.

Recently, I have several such experiences. Is it spring making us come out of our shells?

One personal traffic-stopping experience occurred one morning on my way to work. For some reason, I varied my route to the office; I wanted a change of scenery and a break with routine on a fresh spring day. Half a block from my office I came across a food vendor that I had never seen before. Now, street food vendors are nothing unusual — hotdog carts, coffee and bagel sellers, soft pretzel and roasted nut vendors, and even kabob wagons are commonplace. And now that it is spring, the Mr. Softee soft ice cream guys have returned to their regular corners.

So what made this vendor different and make me take notice? Belgian waffles! Here was a guy with a waffle-making setup in the back of a truck. And he had quite a line of people waiting for their fresh-cooked breakfast waffles. Had I not already had my breakfast, I might have joined the line!

But talk about breaking out of the box! What impressed me was that here was a vendor who had adapted his merchandising concept to a new model — that of selling out of a mobile truck on the streets of New York, rather than from a stationary brick-and-mortar location or at a carnival. He was reaching out customers in a new way and was making a success of it.

I haven’t seen him since that morning, but I am told by others here, that he moves around the city to various locations. Next time I see him, maybe I'll stop and order some!

Posted by Caroline Kennedy on April 16, 2008 | Comments (0)