Food trucks business in Curitiba ? Brazil: dream or nightmare?

Abstract

It is not uncommon people who loves cooking dream about owning a restaurant or at least working as a chef de cuisine. The food truck business emerged as an alternative for many people. But cooking talent is not enough to be successful in this business. Many other aspects can impact performance, and the regulation can be one of the barriers to these venturers. The purpose of this paper is to identify the current food trucks scenario in Curitiba in southern Brazil. In-depth analysis of the city regulations regarding food trucks operation as well interviews with both city and venturers representatives aims to uncover the current panorama of this business. Taken together, the analysis results illustrate how regulations in different instances still diverge, impairing homogeneous understanding by all involved stakeholders.