Washington food trucks head to the suburbs to find customers

Washington: The coronavirus epidemic has emptied downtown Washington of its popular food trucks ever since their main customers - lunchtime office workers - fled in March the safety of their homes. | Jerk@Nite food truck owners Kareem Todd (L) and Denville Myrie pose by their food truck parked in front of their newly acquired brick and mortar restaurant in Washington DC.

On Washington's trendy H Street Kadeem Todd and Denville Myrie have parked their food truck - the "JerkatNite" - in front of the restaurant that they were setting up just as the coronavirus pandemic struck. The partners, both 28 years old, entered the food business in 2012 by selling organic dishes from Jamaica, their country of origin, at the Howard University campus. "COVID-19 changed everything," said Todd. Starting on March 18 "we had two weeks of complete standstill. Really tough times."

To survive, the truck operators followed them into the suburbs, taking orders online and advertising through social media. | A patron pick ups a sandwich at Dirty South Deli food truck in a residential area of Washington DC.

With drastic staff cuts and major belt tightening, the toughest operators have managed to survive - up to now. One of these operators is Jason Tipton, co-owner of the "Dirty South Deli." | Dirty South Deli food truck owner Jason Tipton chats with a regular customer in a residential area of Washington DC.

Tipton recently parked his blue food truck in a residential neighborhood in north eastern Washington and handed out pre-ordered sandwiches wearing a face mask. He also catered to some new customers.

"It's a good surprise, it's nice," Tipton, 42, told AFP. "Today was very busy," he smiled.

For this micro-enterprise with four employees - two of whom are in lockdown - adapting to the new circumstances is key to survival.

Dirty South Deli food truck owner Jason Tipton is seen as a "pandemic" special offer is on display in a residential area of Washington DC.

"We have an online tool now to take orders, we advertise our tours on Twitter and in the Facebook neighborhood groups, and we use word to mouth," Tipton said.

Tipton has also found customers in places on the outskirts of Washington near the University of Maryland, where teachers and students live.