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Street vendors change tactics to keep sales sizzling
One afternoon in July, Saied Abdelghani leaned on his Halal cart, waiting for customers during a slow hour. Around him, on the corner of 6th Avenue and 51st Street, high rises towered over streets filled with businessmen, tourists and the impatient honking of taxis. “It’s very, very different,” Abdelghani said, referring to sales at his cart. “People buy anyway, but it’s not like before.”
Selling cheap eats on the street may seem like a recession-proof business. But this summer, even sidewalk food carts have been forced to change their tactics in order to attract New Yorkers who are saving money by packing lunch and cooking dinner at home. By reducing prices and keeping longer hours, sidewalk vendors are staying afloat in the tough economy.
Abdelghani, for his part, has cut prices of various menu items by $1 or $2 to keep customers coming back. “Good food and the low price” is the key to building customer loyalty, Abdelghani explained. “If you go [to] any store you are going to spend $10, $12,” he said. “Here it’s $4, very cheap.”
The price-cutting strategy appears to be working. Nan Zhang works in Times Square and buys lunch at different street vendors in the area every day. “It’s fast, I enjoy it, it’s cheap, the food is good,” Zhang said.
Joanne Lee agrees. “I spend 80 percent of my money on food, and it’s important for it to be very affordable,” said Lee, a college student who frequents street carts in the East Village.
Other street vendors have extended their hours in order to increase profits. The Mud Truck, a coffee cart located across from a Starbucks on Astor Place, extended its hours from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. in order to compensate for slower sales during the day, according to employee Dan Rosato.
For some vendors, such measures are not just about making up for declining sales. Moustafa Abdelhamid, a busy vendor on the corner of 53rd St and 6th Avenue, said he is sympathetic to his customers’ financial problems.
So Abdelhamid recently lowered the prices of the cart’s filling meat-and-rice platters from $6 to $5 during lunchtime. He believes the price reduction will not only boost sales, but also build good will. “People around us are getting laid off. We do our best for them,” Abdelhamid said. “If you do the job right, recession or no recession, you will succeed.”
