Heidi's Stewart Woodman Weighs In on 'Food Truck Wars'

Where there are great food trucks, there is great food truck backlash. And backlash to the backlash. Yesterday, reports came out that some downtown restaurant owners had formed a group called the Downtown Food Committee to discuss the negative impact of food trucks on the downtown brick n'mortars. Today, Stewart Woodman—chef and co-owner of Heidi's and Birdhouse—jumped in the fray with a piece for TC Daily Planet, in which he likened the Downtown Food Committee to communists, suggesting they use a hammer and sickle as their logo. From Woodman's article:

What's odd is that I don't see anywhere on the agenda a proactive conversation about what they can do better to compete with food trucks, how to make your food more interesting, or give out free back rubs, nothing.

This is 'merica son, freedom ain't free, that means that if another guy or gal has a killer idea, it might kills yours. You gotta jump in with both feet and fix your product to get it where it needs to be, ain't no two ways about it.

Woodman goes on to say that he thinks the city has been "careful and considerate" in implementing the food truck rules. He also notes that the food trucks have added a lot to the local food scene and ends with a Woodman riff on a classic idiom: "A higher tide rises all boats."

It would appear that Doug Sams of D. Brian's Deli & Catering has spearheaded the meeting; it's unclear how many other downtown restaurants are on board. The meeting is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. today at the Skyway Meeting Room in Radisson Plaza 7.

· Food Truck Wars Come to Downtown Minneapolis [TC Daily Planet]
· Previous Coverage of Downtown Food Committee [Eater MPLS]

[Photo: City Pages]