It’s gettin’ harder to keep truckin’
Taco sellers are caught between food, diesel costs
— Houston Chronicle2
As Josue Ortiz parked his taco truck in front of a trio of two-story homes under construction alongside Lake Houston, workers quickly swarmed.
Most of the sweat-drenched builders bought chips, soft drinks, and fresh juices of orange, tamarind and jamaica.
Fewer ordered tacos, tortas and plate lunches from El Taco del Gordo, the diesel-guzzling taco truck Ortiz spends his days wheeling around north of Houston.
[snip]
Slammed by a slowdown in construction, high fuel prices and escalating food costs — which hurts owners and their customers alike — many taco trucks are losing money and sales.
Fewer construction sites means less business for the drivers, and Houston’s housing starts dropped 33 percent in the first quarter of the year to 7,049 compared with the same period last year, according to the latest survey by Metrostudy, a national consulting company that tracks housing.
[snip]
Footnotes
2 = article may expire in a few weeks.
