The Vending Oversight Committee review panelists announced next year's food cart site assignments this week, leading to animosity from some vendors who did not receive spots they wanted.
Athenian Garden, which received the highest score, will remain in Library Mall along with Sukho Thai, The Fruit Stand, Val's Cookout Express, Buraka and others. However, Guatanamera and Taste of Jamaica did not receive a spot and were placed on a waiting list.
As part of the evaluative process, each panelist received a badge, clipboard and score sheet and had six days to review the carts, according to Ald. Austin King, District 8, one of the 16 review panelists.
\We have to eat at every one of the food carts and rate the cart based on the food, the apparatus and its originality,"" King said.
There is some controversy about the VOC's evaluative procedure. Eric Roang, vendor of The Fruit Stand, said he feels there cannot be an accurate comparison among the carts when they are reviewed over a six day period.
""[The procedure] is very subjective,"" he said. ""In the old days, everybody was judged on the same day. People are in different moods on different days.""
Weather is another problematic factor with this six-day judging period, Roang said.
""Several of the [judges] came last Friday when we were almost all packed up because a rainstorm came,"" he said.
The panelists must also consider the array of foods on the menu and its theme to see if it is consistent with that of the culture or region it represents.
Once the scores are tabulated, the highest scoring vendors receive first choice as to whether they prefer to be located in the highly coveted Library Mall or the Capitol Square, according to King.
Mong-Tien Tran, vendor of Fresh Cool Drinks, said she was not happy about being bumped from her spot in Library Mall this year to the Capitol Square next year. She was moved to capital square once before and she said her business suffered.
""I didn't do very good because [in the Capitol Square] they sell food and I just sell drinks,"" Tran said.
Another vendor from the food cart I'm Here was upset about the committee's evaluation last year when she had to move her cart to the capital square, King said. Every afternoon, she illegally moved her cart to a vacated spot in Library Mall to get more sales.
Conversely, Amazin' Asian vendor Kimoanh Nguyen was happy with the committee's decision because his cart will remain in Library Mall next year.
