Croc Dogs! Jicama Slaw! Surrey Joins the Food Cart Revolution

Handmade perogies. Jerk chicken. Lime jicama slaw. Vegetable curry. Spicy halal Fijian fusion. Kangaroo and crocodile dogs.

Offering a wide, tasty and occasionally eccentric array of cuisine, Surrey's pilot food truck program is already proving a hit with locals.

Now there's a chance to try them all. This summer, 10 of the city's unique carts will be showcased as the Food Cart Festival opens up its second front at Holland Park every Saturday through August, starting on the ninth. (The festival's established Vancouver version is already up and running in Olympic Village on Sundays.)

For event organizer Danny Fazio, with Arrival Productions, the popularity of food carts boils down to three key elements: "Great food, summer in the city and community."

Events like Food Cart Fest "bring people together in a common space, kind of like a 21st-century food court," he added.

Chris Davis started the Surrey-based Tasty Torpedo Sandwich Co. with business partner Jerry Frost. It's one of the first 10 carts selected to launch Surrey's pilot program, and it hopes to be part of the upcoming festival.

Davis and Frost started out big with a commissary and two food trucks, which have already been operating at events around the city. Tasty Torpedo's nautical-themed brand involves pin-up style models distributing samples and posing for photos with people queueing up for their sandwiches ("You get bored waiting in line for food," Davis quipped).

"Surrey is ripe," he said. "The fun, excitement and the coolness that a food truck naturally brings is certainly a good thing for the area."

The City of Surrey began its experiment with food carts after inquiries from one business hopeful, Old Country Pierogi.

Originally from Poland, Surrey couple Robert Hubicki and Yvonne Paczek came to Canada more than 30 years ago. The explosion of food carts in Portland and Vancouver piqued their interest, and three years ago they traveled to Oregon to study its celebrated street food program, which boasts several hundred vendors.

"It was my wife's dream; she wanted to try it," Hubicki said. "We decided to stick to what we know. At the time, there were no pierogi food trucks anywhere in the Lower Mainland. We thought that was something that could be popular; it turns out we were right! We have quite a following." (Old Country Pierogi plans to be at the Surrey Food Cart Fest.)

The couple looked to Vancouver as the obvious market to launch their business. But as Surrey residents, they wanted to avoid a long and costly daily commute. Surrey's rapid population boom and new downtown developments gave them hope that the business could work closer to home.

"We decided to grow with the city, and to grow our business here in the city of Surrey," Hubicki said. But when he went to city hall to inquire about a business licence, he recalls having to first explain what a food truck was.

Eventually, the effort paid off. The City commissioned a wide-ranging business case to start a pilot street food program, ultimately deciding on a slightly different model than its municipal neighbour.

Instead of giving its 10 approved vendors permanent locations around the sidewalks or parking spots downtown, Surrey rotates them every three months between five high-traffic public venues chosen to minimize their impact or competition with existing restaurants.

"Having one location kind of defeats the mobile idea," Hubicki said. "You might as well have a brick-and-mortar restaurant if you're going to be in one place forever."

'It's going to be a big deal'

For one of the financial partners of the Food Cart Festival, Surrey is a great place to expand the reach of the street food movement.

"We're always looking for new things to do in Surrey," said William Azaroff, director of Community Business and Development with Vancity Savings Credit Union.

Azaroff said he was thrilled to help introduce "all the benefits of food carts -- micro-entrepreneurship, sustainability, local ingredients -- to a whole new community, and to see how that community receives it."

Surrey city councillor Judy Villeneuve said the program has unfolded differently from Vancouver's partly because Surrey is "so large geographically, you don't get the same concentration of food vendors" as in Vancouver.

"There's interest throughout the city to have food carts," Villeneuve said. "People are looking forward to accessing international foods in different locations."

The Surrey Board of Trade said the initiative will "add to the vibrancy of the city, and add more food options." But even though the new program could contribute to the city's efforts to "make us a destination," said CEO Anita Huberman, some entrepreneurs are nonetheless cautious.

"It does present a challenge to established businesses that have a full brick-and-mortar restaurant," she said. "It is competition that will take business away from them. However, the two can work hand-in-hand."

Villeneuve, on the other hand, is convinced that food carts can help traditional brick-and-mortar establishments in the long-run. Just shy of half of Surrey residents speak English as a second language, as well as many of its restaurants run by newcomers; and she believes widening the cultural array of food cart fare could expose people to new cuisines.

"When a food cart is in a location near you, you might think, 'Why not?'" she explains. "It opens the market up to people trying a different culture's food."

Now that Vancouver's program is well-established and Surrey's is out of the gate, food truck operators are already eyeing other cities around the Lower Mainland for opportunities.

"We're also interested in working with Abbotsford, Langley and Fort Langley to assist them with their own pilot programs," said Tasty Torpedo's Davis. "But our first investment is in Surrey because we believe in that program. It's going to be a big deal."

Starting August 9, the inaugural Surrey Food Cart Fest runs every Saturday from noon to 5 p.m. at Holland Park on 13428 Old Yale Rd.

Meanwhile, Vancouver Food Cart Fest continues every Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. until Aug. 31, at 215 West 1st Ave.

Entry for Vancouver is $2, with free admission for Vancity and car2go members, or those who bring a non-perishable food bank donation. Surrey is free.