As the food truck phenomenon continues to gain momentum in the Tampa Bay region, friends and followers are presented with a unique problem: How do you keep track of them all? Enter Los Angeles-based entrepreneur Ross Resnick, 27, and his app Roaming Hunger.
Resnick, a University of Southern California grad with a degree in international business management, started the concept as a street food blog in August 2009 when the movement was just starting to pick up steam in major cities.
What began with a database of nearly 300 trucks in San Francisco, L.A., Washington D.C., New York, Portland, Seattle and Pittsburgh has blossomed into a mobile app featuring 2,228 trucks in more than 25 cities including its newest addition, Tampa Bay, which launched on April 6 and currently features 33 registered mobile eateries.
"We're here to help push this industry to make a new medium accessible to the general public," Resnick says.
Looking for the closest truck in your neighborhood?
Roaming Hunger provides a map, updated hourly, of businesses in your area featuring info, photos, menus and Twitter feeds. Users even have the option to separate trucks by savory, sweet and vegetarian.
The site's main goal is to promote and build a community around street food culture, according to Resnick. Any truck with an identity can sign up for free and users can create a free login or connect via a Facebook account.
Roaming Hunger's had its eye on Tampa Bay's "exploding" street food scene for a while, Resnick says, but the timing was finally right to go live.
"Tampa's one of the best new cities for food trucks," he says. "It's been really accepting. We wanted to come out and help push the movement even further."
Writer:
Matt Spencer
Source: Ross Resnick, Roaming Hunger
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