On the eve of Christmas Eve last year (December 23), the SAR government issued a "Christmas bomb" to participating merchants of the food truck pilot program that has invested more than 40 million yuan. The program decided to continue due to "business development is not ideal" It will end in the middle of next year.
Although only about four food trucks continue to operate at the moment, some merchants said that their business in the West Kowloon Cultural District has greatly increased their business, so they are dissatisfied with the government's sudden "stop" plan.
Former Financial Secretary Tsang Chun-wah proposed the concept of food trucks in the 2015/16 Budget, claiming to change Hong Kong brand marketing from "product-oriented" to "tourism experience-oriented" so that passengers can experience Hong Kong from food trucks. The characteristics of "the fusion of Chinese and Western".
However, this deliberate cultural shaping has so far failed to bring a lot of business opportunities to Hong Kong's tourism industry, and on the contrary is facing a "dead opportunity."
In his 2015-2016 Budget, Tsang Junhua stated that “There are many places in Hong Kong suitable for setting up open-air restaurants, allowing tourists to enjoy the food while enjoying the scenery of Hong Kong.” Therefore, he studied the introduction of popular food trucks from other places into Hong Kong. The "inspiration" for the introduction of food trucks came from the movie "Chef" (Chef) that Zeng Junhua once watched, which was released in 2014.
The movie tells the story of a chef who was criticized by food critics for resigning because the restaurant owner kept asking him to cook unchanging "classic dishes." Then he chose to operate a food truck and traveled all over the United States to provide citizens with cheap and authentic Cuban dishes. .
However, it seems that the Hong Kong government only embezzled the beautiful vision of the food truck in the movie, but did not learn from its culture, philosophy, and practices. As a result, it was reduced to a "only empty valley, no soul" plan.
Food trucks originated in the United States and can be traced back to the 1600s.
(Associated Press)
The culture of mobile hawkers has long been obliterated by the government
The primary reason for the failure of the food truck pilot project is that the food truck has never evolved from the local culture of Hong Kong, so it is difficult for tourists to feel the local culture of Hong Kong from the food truck.
Food trucks originally originated in the United States. In the 1800s, a rancher built a chuck wagon for cattle-driving people, so that the cattle-driving people could have enough food and clothing during a long journey. The food truck was later remade to assist the U.S. military in marching.
The other origin is the trolley in the 1600s. At that time, a group of Dutch immigrants came to New York City and used the trolley to sell food for their livelihoods and provide cheap lunches to the working class.
With historical foundations, the Americans began to sell ice cream and other frozen foods in food trucks in the 1960s. Then in 1974, a food truck vendor changed the food sold from ice cream to burritos and started the food truck. New era.
It can be said that the reason why food trucks are popular in the United States is that this culture has evolved through a long history. It is not the concept of "airborne" like Hong Kong, and it is packaged into local culture and then sold to tourists.
It is undeniable that Hong Kong also has a similar culture in terms of selling mobile food-itinerant hawkers.
The British Hong Kong government began to implement a hawker licensing system in 1873, allowing licensees to sell within designated locations. This opened the heyday of mobile hawkers. Many mobile hawkers would provide grassroots citizens with very cheap food, such as fish eggs. , Rice rolls, etc.
However, in 1993, the Urban Council put forward a policy of compulsory cancellation of mobile hawker licenses on the grounds that "street hawking caused serious environmental nuisance and environmental hygiene problems." Ways to gradually ban itinerant hawker licenses, including restrictions on the transfer and inheritance of existing licenses.
In the next seven years, that is, until 2001, a total of 2,844 holders returned their licenses. At that time, there were 1,129 itinerant hawkers in Hong Kong.
However, the authorities are still dissatisfied with the problems caused by mobile hawkers. Therefore, since 2002, the "Voluntary Licence Return Scheme" has been launched to increase incentives by means of ex-gratia payments or conversion to fixed-seat hawkers.
By 2008, the number of itinerant hawker licenses has been further reduced to 546.
Later, the society began to attach importance to the traditional characteristics of hawkers. After the SAR government reviewed the relevant policies, it agreed to re-issue mobile hawker licenses. Unfortunately, traditions have never matched the trend of the times. As of the end of December 2020, there are only 348 mobile hawker licenses in Hong Kong.
In other words, the hawker culture has long since declined.
If the government believes that there is a demand for mobile food in the society, why not consider mobile hawkers so that passengers can experience a real "Hong Kong-style food truck"?
(Photo by Luo Junhao)
Low liquidity and high cost
In addition to the history of food trucks, the outside world has been criticizing the poor arrangement of the food truck pilot program, which has extremely low liquidity and can only be sold at designated locations. This shows how rigid government policies are.
If the government's inspiration comes from "The Journey of Taste", it shouldn't ignore the fact that food trucks are a highly mobile and low-cost way to start a business.
In the movie, the chef only uses an extremely worn-out truck and then transforms it into a well-functioning food truck, which can also travel around the United States and place it all over the city.
However, while the Hong Kong government has restrained the liquidity of food trucks, it has also increased the cost of this group of young entrepreneurs.
Some stall owners who participated in the food truck project pointed out that foreign countries have extremely loose adjustments to food trucks. The United States can allow stall owners to use classic cars that are more than 100 years old. Taiwan can also use old-style Fords (Fords), and then press the stall owner. The food trucks in Hong Kong need to be modified; there are many regulations for food trucks in Hong Kong, and the vehicles of Euro 4 and 5 should be used in accordance with the regulations of the Transport Department.
Because of the high cost, the price of food needs to be increased in exchange for subsidizing the cost.
The Hong Kong food truck officially opened in February 2017. In terms of the food price of the first round participant, Tiancheng Ice Room, a pineapple bun was originally sold at the restaurant for 4 Hong Kong dollars, but it was sold at 20 Hong Kong dollars in the food truck, which is enough. A full price increase of 4 times.
At that time, Tsang Junhua also reflected the opinions of the public that the price of food was too expensive and hoped to be more commonplace; the then Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Su Jinliang explained the flow of people just two days after opening, saying that the price and food are attractive to the public or tourists. .
However, facts speak louder than words. When the short craze for food trucks is over, this expensive "civilian food" is no longer attractive to the public.
If the government conducts more research during the implementation of the plan, so that stall owners have more freedom in positioning or modifying vehicles, the situation may not be as "dire" as it is now.
Because of the high cost, the price of food needs to be increased in exchange for subsidizing the cost.
(Photo by Lin Xunjing)
Blindly appropriating concepts helpless culture
However, in the final analysis, the failure of the food truck was due to the government's excessively deliberately shaping the culture and lack of foresight.
The government often deliberately transforms certain tourism measures to be exclusively for foreign tourists, and even implements "local tours" with this kind of thinking. Only when many tourism measures "step" fail.
The food truck pilot project is just one example. Tourism projects deliberately shaped by the government include the “Ladies’ Street” (Tung Choi Street) in Mong Kok and the “Men Chuang Square” (PMQ) in Central. It was hit hard because their long-term target customers were not locals, and the government provided very little support, allowing the merchants to "fend for themselves."
After the COVID-19 pandemic, the government hopes to re-promote the tourism industry, so it has stepped up the "local travel" plan. However, they still maintain the old practice and set local travel destinations to "cliche" local cultural hotspots such as Sham Shui Po and Yau Ma Tei. "Attracting" local people to participate at a high price, the result is exactly the same as a food truck, with the number of participants declining.
The sudden epidemic has indeed brought a huge impact to Hong Kong’s tourism industry. It is not what the government can predict, but it is also a "warning" for the government-culture cannot be deliberately shaped, it is naturally generated by the history of the citizens and the place. It is indispensable for the government to fuel the flames and provide the soil for growth, rather than rigidly assuming many restrictions.
On the other hand, when the government launches new tourism projects, it should provide more freedom and allow the projects to have more room for experimentation, so as to gradually find the Hong Kong model that is most suitable for locals and foreign tourists.
Food trucks are indeed not a “native” culture in Hong Kong, but it does not mean that Hong Kong cannot be integrated into a new food culture.
The success of a policy is often only a matter of thought. Of course, the government can regard it as an "abandoned son", but it can also change its policy thinking and "save it back."
Rather than saying that the food truck is "unsaved," why not switch to policy thinking and save it?
(Photo by Zhong Weide)
