J Magazine Spring 2018

Ewais sighs.
“To me, the problem is a pretty clear
one,” he says.
“I don’t know how some people in this
city just can’t see that.”
But there is no problem from where
Jack Shad is standing.
During this windy but sunny weekday
lunch hour, Shad is standing amid a lively
crowd of people.
They’re congregating in the Court
Urban Food Park behind the SunTrust
building Downtown.
They’re lined up to order fare from
the five food trucks — serving everything
from burritos to fusion Asian to burgers to
cupcakes — arranged in a neat row in the
food park.
And the scene leaves Shad — who
served as the director of the city’s public
parking division Office of Public Parking
in former Mayor Alvin Brown’s administration
— wearing a smile.
“You know, when you’re the parking
director of a city, you get used to doing
things that don’t make people happy,”
Shad says.
“But look around at all of these people.
Look at how many of them are smiling.
Look at how many are laughing. What’s
not to love about doing this?”
Shad and business partner Mike Field
are the co-founders of the Court Urban
Food Park, which they opened in February
2017 after reaching an agreement
with SunTrust to rent space on a portion
of bank property located on Hogan Street.
Since then, the food park — which
operates from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday
through Friday — has drawn sizeable
lunch crowds who are able to order from
the ever-changing row of food trucks and
then eat their fare while sitting amid an
eclectic mix of picnic tables, benches and
other provided seating.
“We’re here to provide another food
option,” Shad says.
“It may not be the right option for every
person. Or for every day. But it’s pretty
obvious that lots of people Downtown do
like it. And they like it a lot.”
In fact, Shad says, the clear popularity
of food trucks and the Court Urban Food
Park should make Downtown’s traditional
restaurants feel inspired — and not threatened.
“I absolutely think we can co-exist,”
Shad says.
“I know we can.”
The challenge, as Shad sees it, is for the
traditional restaurants to be willing to embrace
that the old ways of doing things in
Downtown Jacksonville are changing and
fading away before everyone’s eyes — and
the rising tide isn’t going to roll them back.
“I don’t think this reality only applies
to the restaurants when it comes to our
Downtown and I truly respect what they
provide,” Shad says.
“But when a lot of us look at Downtown,
we have this tendency to want to keep doing
what we’ve always been doing — even
when it’s no longer working — because it’s
all we know.”
Adds Shad: “If we’re truly going to
have a successful Downtown, we’re going
to have to do things differently. We’re going
to have to embrace new ideas, even if
not all of them will work. To me, the food
trucks perfectly represent the attitude
of ‘Let’s put ourselves out there, let’s try
something new and make it work.’”
But that still leaves the question:
Can traditional restaurants and food
trucks truly work in harmony in Downtown
Jacksonville?
A SMALL PIE SLICE
One thing is for certain: Downtown
Jacksonville isn’t starved for food options,
whether they are served from food trucks or
traditional restaurant kitchens.
According to Downtown Vision Inc., the
nonprofit that advocates for living, working,
visiting and investing in Downtown,
there are approximately 90 traditional brick
and mortar restaurants within the city’s
center.
It’s not as easy to have an exact number
of food trucks operating in Downtown.
But most weeks the Court Urban Food
Park has as many as 20 different food trucks
rotating in and out of the space each Monday
through Friday.
Now add the regular presence of food
trucks at Hemming Park during weekday
lunch hours and special events.
Then add the other food trucks scattered
at various sites in the Downtown area (like
On the Fly, a sandwich food truck that has
a fixed site in a parking lot on West Adams
and Jefferson streets, near the Duval County
Courthouse ).
OK, but so what?
Shouldn’t everything still work out fine
for restaurants and food trucks alike given
that some 59,100 people work in Downtown
Jacksonville (according to the stats in Downtown
Vision’s 2016-17 State of Downtown
report)?
Shouldn’t there still be enough customers,
money and attention for everyone?
Alas, not really.
That’s because when it hits 5 p.m.
in Downtown Jacksonville, there aren’t
enough people leaving their offices and
staying Downtown to have dinner.
They are leaving their offices and getting
OUT of Downtown Jacksonville, period.
And not enough people are driving into
Downtown Jacksonville after 5 p.m. for dinner,
either.
So that leaves the weekday lunch hours,
roughly 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., as the narrow
sweet spot that Downtown restaurants and
food trucks must hit — in terms of lots of
customers and revenue — to thrive in the
city center.
“If you don’t make a huge segment of
your revenue and business during the lunch
time hours, it’s going to be a challenge for
you to really prosper (as a restaurant or food
truck),” says Jake Gordon, CEO of Downtown
Vision.
“The pie isn’t as big as we want it to be
right now,” Gordon says.
“So that means that everyone for the moment
is getting smaller slices of a smaller
pie.”
It’s a reality that’s hitting home for Downtown
restaurateurs like Ewais.
“I would say that we’ve lost 5 to 10 per-
SPRING 2018 | J MAGAZINE 83