Editor’s Note: Today we introduce VendrTV’s “Bit Bites” column where we’ll discuss technology and how it plays into the growth of the street food scene. Have a story idea for this or another section of VendrTV? Email me at amy@vendr.tv!

A few months ago, I got an email from Michael Brewer. He and his brother Patrick had just created Taco Loco, an iPhone app designed to track mobile food vendors. I was excited to try it out.

When you launch the app, it quickly locates you on a Google Map interface and then drops pins to represent the food trucks nearby. Click on a pin to learn the name of the truck along with its location. If annotated, the app will also display the truck’s phone number and user rating.

Sounds great, right? Well, yes, in theory. There are some serious pros and cons to this app:

Pros

User Location Updates
This feature helps track vendors who don’t use social media to share their location. Users can easily share a truck and its location by adding the info directly into the system.

On-The-Fly Additions
Discover a new truck? Add it right away with a few taps on your iPhone.

Easy Search
Just type in a truck’s name to locate it in Taco Loco.

Cons

Search
Don’t know how to spell the name? Looking for a particular cuisine? Street? Sorry, Charlie. Search only works if you know the truck’s name.

Filtering / Lists / Categories
Looking for meals-on-wheels which fit a certain criteria, like a vegan truck or one that’s open late? This type of filtering isn’t available yet and you can’t sort results either. Also, the only view is map view, so users can’t pull up a list of carts.

Cost
The app costs $1.99. Since the data set is still relatively small, I would offer Taco Loco for free so users are more inclined to download the app and add trucks to the system. Once the app becomes more rich in data, then I would consider implementing an advertising program or charging for use of the app.

Data
While food carts in cities like Houston and Los Angeles are well-represented, the data system as a whole is sparse. For New York – home to over 3,100 carts – only a handful are listed in Taco Loco. And I’m not sure new carts will be added anytime soon. Why? Read below.

Lack of Incentive
Perhaps my biggest issue with the Taco Loco is the lack of incentive. There is no reward for adding trucks, to share their locations, or to consult the app in times of street food need. The user has no voice and no means to share favorites or qualitative reviews. There is no way to verify the trustworthiness of location information, updates, and reviews.

Taco Loco shows promise, but there are many revisions to be made before it’s user-friendly. Maybe the most important – and first thing I’d implement – is a way to engage users so they want to contribute and update truck locations. And there must be a way to authenticate updates so we can trust the information.

Of course, these are just my thoughts. Try the app, download it from the App Store (iTunes link) or visit their website, TacoLoco.info. Let me know what you think!

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