If you asked neighbors five years ago what they'd like to see in an empty lot on 11th Street underneath the Central Freeway, there's a good chance they'd request anything but a funky park lined day and night with street food vendors. Back then, even the most optimistic city planners couldn't wrap their minds around that idea, said Carlos Muela, founder of the SoMa StrEat Food Park. That's one of the reasons it took two years to secure the permits to make the neighborhood's street food emporium a reality.
Nearly three years later, however, the hurdle-jumping seems to have paid off, as business continues to boom and Muela readies a second StrEat Food Park location in Mission Bay, set to open later this year.
Muela vividly remembers the day the crew broke ground on the SoMa site. As soon as jackhammering began, a neighbor ran down, demanding to speak with the developer, he recalls. Rather than receiving an earful regarding the noise, as he expected, the man gave him a hug and a "thank you" for creating a place his adolescent daughter would be able to enjoy.
Neighborhood businesses are also benefitting from increased foot traffic in the area. The owner of a nearby massage parlor went from seeing zero to hundreds of pedestrians a day and finally saw a reason to advertise the business on the street, Muela noted.
A crowd enjoying the lunch lineup. (Photo: SoMa StrEat Food Park / Facebook)
Muela originally chose the location because it was a food desert, but today, it's definitely filling in, he said. Soon after SoMa StrEat Food Park opened, The Willows and Belly Burgers came in nearby. Currently on 11th Street, the old Paradise Lounge is being redeveloped for a restaurant and rooftop lounge and the team behind Butter is preparing a new arcade brewery called Buzzworks.
"I don't want to say it's because of me, but anything helps," Muela said.
Some who stop by still see "a cute little street food park", but others — like a group of city planners from Sapporo, Japan, who dropped in earlier this month — travel long distances to see this lesson in urban development in action, he said.
Not interested in spending the time, effort and money to expand nationally, internationally or even locally, Muela has focused on growing the business right here in SoMa. He now has 10 full-time employees, including one to schedule the park's daily lineup of food trucks, one to manage private events for local companies, another to plan night and weekend public events, and one in charge of dispatching food trucks to clients, like local office parks and San Francisco General Hospital, where the kitchen closes at 8pm but staff are on duty 24/7.
Warriors viewing party earlier this year. (Photo: SoMa StrEat Food Park / Facebook)
This low-risk expansion route is paying off, but a food truck park would be an asset to any neighborhood, Muela said, and the Mission Bay Development Group, which is overseeing the neighborhood's growth, gave him an offer that was "too good to pass up." The 15,000-square-foot lot on Fourth Street that Muela is leasing for the new Mission Bay location is owned by the city, so there are lots of signatures and process involved, but he expects the new park will be up and running by the end of this year. He and the Mission Bay Development Group hope it will help lure other businesses to the area, which currently has few offerings for existing and future workers and residents.
Muela promises that the Mission Bay StrEat Food Park will be just as funky as the SoMa location, but given that it will largely focus on attracting families living in the area for dinner, which the SoMa location has struggled to do, the seating may be a little less funky.
In the meantime, SoMa diners can rest assured that with a long lease ahead, the original location isn't going anywhere, he said. Continue to look for creative public events, like this Saturday's Robin Williams Film Festival, and new trucks — including one serving poutine — to debut in the coming months.
