Okay, new business idea: You know those trendy lunch trucks popping up all over Los Angeles? The ones who have turned the traditional “roach coach” into cool themed mobile restaurants that actually serve good—sometimes even gourmet—food?
Well the entrepreneurs responsible for their emergence as a staple of Los Angeles luncheons should be looking to Beijing for their next investment—the now 11-day traffic jam that’s occurring on National Highway 110 has become 62 miles long and is expected to last through September!!!
What’s worse, the vast majority of Chinese trucks are not equipped with nearly the same amenities as the typical American rig—rather, the cabins are more like little boxes meant to comfortably house a single driver distraction-free while driving. The concept may be great, but unfortunately, it assumes the driver is actually moving and needs to pay attention to the road. Currently in Beijing, drivers are moving at a pace that would make racing with a snail an interesting competition, moving less than 1/3 of a mile per day.
Drivers are getting together and playing cards to pass the time, and hordes of vendors are lining up along the 62-mile stretch of stopped traffic to sell food like ramen noodles and packaged snacks at drastically inflated rates to the poor drivers stuck on the road.
Enter the food truck idea: Purposely stock a Grilled Cheese Truck, a Fishlips Sushi Truck or a Coolhaus slinging ice cream sandwiches with about 11 days worth of food and purposely send them up Highway 110. You’d be guaranteed capacity business for a solid week or two before finally squeezing out of the bottleneck jam and having a chance to reload.
On second thought, 11 days might not be the greatest idea for Fishlips—let’s replace that with a Burger Bus. And we’ll probably need a port-a-potty truck to go along with them. And while we’re at it, let’s add a disco or night club truck with a full bar in the trailer—these drivers are going to need it. (Can you imagine the commercial truck insurance policy you’d need for a vehicle like that? Your general liability would be off the charts!)
Whatever the case, these mobile entrepreneurs need to get to Beijing and bring a fleet of bicycles to reload supplies along with them—with projections of this jam extending into September and lane expansion projects expected to finish well into next year, the traffic situation in Beijing isn’t looking to clear up any time soon.
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