Walnut Wednesdays have officially concluded for this season, but not before vendors got into a heated food fight after a truck from the fast food chain Swenson’s rolled in to compete in a market that was predominately supported by mom-and-pop style trucks.
Boasting prices that were nearly 50 percent lower than those of Walnut Wednesday’s local vendors, Swenson’s essentially “went Wal-Mart on their asses,” monopolizing a mini lunchtime economy that had previously been functional and balanced.
One local vendor Kelly Waddell of the Nosh Box, was so furious at Swenson’s audacity that she posted this sign outside her truck, WKYC reports:
Can you blame her?
While we doubt there was any true malice behind Swenson’s decision to park in the Nine Twelve District on Wednesdays between 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., we are a bit befuddled as to why this former local business isn’t showing somma that R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
No word on whether Swenson’s will make an appearance at the Walnut Wednesdays luncheons next season.
This article appears in Sep 25 – Oct 1, 2013.
Ya, it is kind of ludicrous that you have to spend $15 to have a decent meal off of most of these trucks, with significantly lower overhead than a restaurant. Calling it “Cut throat pricing” is pretty hilarious.
I don’t blame Swenson’s at all. More power to them. The Nosh Box should worry about their quality of food and the prices they charge for subpar offerings.
What a bunch of whiners………
They must have no idea, what cut throat means…..
Oooh please, spare me the complaining. A little competiton and nosh box gets Angry. Isnt this what food trucks did to restuarants and now they are concerned another food truck is taking their business because their prices are cheaper? Just because people dont want to pay $8 for your burger doesnt mean Swensons is doing something wrong. Step your game up and compete. Let the market decide where they go, and not have you tell them they are not welcome.
Please come back Swensons! – Signed “Poor Middle Class Man”
I agree. Won’t be eating at the Nosh Box anymore. Offer some lower price options, figure out a way to compete, or have enough value that your customers are willing to pay more. I don’t go to McDonald’s when I want a steak, but both places manage to stay in business.
Um, hello. Swenson’s wasn’t slashing prices. These were Swenson’s standard, everyday prices. Excellent burgers, good prices. #galleyboy
so ya wanna keep all prices high to maximize income. too bad. if swenson’s can sell a better value, step up and compete or find urself another place to gouge ur customers.
Yes, the evil conglomerate Swenson’s with their 7 restaurants! If your food is good enough to warrant the price, people will pass up the cheaper stuff. It happens every where. Either that or have cheaper food. Free market economy!
i think ur gonna have to step up and admit u made a mistake nosh box or ur business is gonna suffer big time. i’ve made plenty of mistakes in my life and found that if ya just admit it, folks will forgive u and realize ur just human like them.
I love em both and will pick which ever one strikes my fancy that day/time. But I don’t think Nosh Box was complaining about the pricing so much as the abundance of Swensen food trucks. From what I heard (totally admit this is second hand info) Swensens was rolling in with more than one truck taking up valuable (and LIMITED) space for other food trucks. I don’t think Nosh Box is afraid of competition, even lower priced competition (not a spokesman just a consumer offering an opinion) but I do think they would like a level playing field, especially in the spirit of the food truck niche industry and Walnut Wednesday
How exactly are they “formerly local?” Have we jettisoned Akron from Northeast Ohio now? And not sure what you expect for pricing, should they have increase their normal prices to be more “fair”?
Would LOVE to know who thinks Swenson’s has more than one truck! I personally called to thank them for their great customer service and outstanding job on their truck and was assured that Swenson’s only has 1 truck. If you check on Cleveland scene in July they wrote up an article about Swenson’s debuting their VERY FIRST TRUCK. All this hear say nonsense. I think that Nosh needs to apologize for being ignorant and step up their game! It’s a free market economy. And the last time I checked having 7 locations didn’t exactly make you big business. Still locally owned and operated.
Well we do understand the economy and hope that you understand that small business food trucks like us are trying to perfect our craft, not trying to take over anything. We cant agree with standing by and not speaking up for ourselves. There is a place for franchises and we dont believe its within the small business food truck scene. Our food is of the highest quality, our fans know that , thats why we are still here. Were not afraid to voice our opinion because a few 10 or so people disagree. Its okay to have your opinion. We are a family of 5 people that work hard everyday to get by and make it better for our kids, we arent interested in large business at all !! We dont have a big bank account, a business headquarters or even a garage to park in. Were all for people choosing what they want to eat and fully support it but we will never cut quality in order to reduce the price to a franchise level , it wont happen. We know we stand on a island but thats what america is and was built on and walmart is why america is and will continue to suffer. I could go on and on but my point has been made and my ground has been stood. We love our fans, we love to provide top quality food an we will continue to do just that.
I feel like we shouldn’t lump all the other food trucks in with the opinion of one truck. It seems like a silly thing to complain about. Competition will only make the food better. If you want cheap and decent food then Swensons is the way to go. Although from someone who has eaten at plenty of trucks, you may be missing out on some amazing food from some very talented chefs. There are going to be plenty of big name trucks coming in the future. Mcdonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell. They are all coming and why shouldn’t they. That is how business works. You know how you combat that?Get better. Make the customers experience so memorable that they go straight to your truck every time they see it. Build a loyal customer base. I agree that most small operations can not compete with Swensons prices. So don’t. Charge a fair price based on how good your food actually is. Of course most trucks have higher prices but we all know you get what you pay for. I would gladly pay the extra 2 bucks for a better burger then the frozen ones they sell. Just not an extra 4 because you want to be greedy. I would hate to see people turned off of food trucks because one truck decided to pitch a big fit over the pricing of a truck that everyone expects to be the cheapest. If you want cheap. Go to Swensons. If you want really really good. Try some of clevelands best trucks. umami Moto, Slangewiches. Fired up taco truck, B&M BBQ, Zydeceo. Just to name a few. Go try one of these trucks and tell me you would rather have Swensons. Just don’t let one man and his opinion ruin the whole experience for you because it can be unforgettable.
thing is your belief that u can stand by ur opinion and do just fine cuz just ten stupid people are upset is prolly wrong. maybe 1 in 50 persons that are aggravated about sumpin will actually bother to type a comment. u are entitled to ur opinion but ur not entitled to price fixing cuz ur only a baby truck and can’t compete with the big boys. oh we have to have special high prices down here cuz we are just little. nope! go swenson’s!
next time u want ur car fixed take it to the most expensive lil family run garage and not a cheaper big shop. see that happening?
p.s. if u fully support this, quoted from ur post:
“We dont have a big bank account, a business headquarters or even a garage to park in. Were all for people choosing what they want to eat and fully support it but”
why was there a sign hanging on ur truck saying ‘we do not support swenson’s drive in truck’ ?
sounds like a pretty lame deal to me! ur all for folks choosing but not if it’s not from ur truck?
A Swenson’s burger is high quality… I don’t really get too excited about Walnut Wednesday because I can walk into many restaurants (that actually have the expense of a building, etc.) and get a same or better quality lunch cheaper, which makes no sense Nosh Box.
Well looks like the people have spoken nosh box.
By the way. Swenson’s doesn’t freeze their beef…
but clearly they froze this beef.
Swenson’s isn’t exactly McDonald’s–i.e., they are a small business as well.
Nosh Box I hope you realize now each time you open your mouth on this topic all you do is show your ass. No other Cleveland food truck has come to your rescue. Not one of your loyal fans has spoken up for you. You have forgotten your fight with the local restaurants a couple of years back. They said you smaller food trucks with cheaper prices would ruin their businesses. The food trucks screamed foul and free enterprise and all. You seem to have done a180 totally on those views when it suits you now. Here is an idea actually cook food don’t reheat some cheap commercial mac and cheese you buy in a tin pan and throw it on a sandwich or a couple of store bought perogies and call it original. People will gladly pay for quality home made food. You call Swensons the Walmart of food trucks. I think that makes your food truck the Aldis of food trucks. I hope you keep this going a long time and continue to ruin your business. You started this on FB and deleted all comments that didn’t back your idea. The problem here is you can’t delete these. So far the count is 23 comments against you and only yours for you. Yes you may have your opinion off course but you will never be able to afford a garage for your food truck until you change it.
I love In-n-Out Burgers and Swensons because they use freshly ground good quality meat. I’ve even learned to grind my own beef because I love the flavor so much. I will always support Swensons Food Truck anywhere I see them. The Nosh Box had way to much gristle in the Phillie not to mention it was three times the cost of a Swensons Burger.
Nosh box should just compete. Walnut wednesdays with a lil competition and fire would be good.
I tend to eat at walnut wednesday every week. I have my favorite truck and some not so favorite trucks. I’ve tried Swenson’s and I think that they are pretty decent. They are not like some of the other burgers I have had off other trucks. There double seems smaller than some of the other burgers, but again, its decent. I tend to not always want a burger! I love some of the other options available. There is some great vegetarian, fish and chicken options… Some great Asian, Italian and regional American. I recommend you try as many as you can and patronize your favorites. I like Umami, Orange Truk, Green Machine, Streat Mobile, Zydeco and Wholly Frijoles!
Oh, its funny how we are not really hearing from any other food truck….. Just the guy from Zydeco saying he is up for the competition. Guess they are OK with everything.
The nosh nox has excellent food u guy’s who say I wont go back are full of it just taking advantage of a corporate giant trying t o push out the little man!
I’m all for paying for quality food, but there’s a difference between paying for quality food and being a sucker that gets gouged because they want to eat at a trendy or “in” place. I can go to Swenson’s and get a half pound plain cheeseburger for like, 6 bucks or something (lettuce and certain other toppings are extra). Considering I can go to a grocery store and get ground beef for like $3.29-$3.49 per pound, I don’t feel like I’m being taken advantage of when I get one of their very tasty burgers. Now, would I want to pay ten bucks for a half pound burger, or $8 for a third pound burger? No thank you. Ultimately, let the patrons decide if they want cheap or if they want quality. Sometimes, however, patrons want a nice marriage of those two concepts, a burger that is 1000% better than a fast food burger, but isn’t going to cost you $50 a week for lunches. Only time will tell, may the better food trucks prevail.
I thought it was cool to see the Swenson’s Truck at Walnut Wednesday. I admit, I love Galley Boy’s but did NOT buy from them because they have a physical restaurant I can go to whenever I want. I picked up food from Fired Up Tacos, Orange Truk, the Cupcakery and Mason’s Creamery instead. I wanted to get food from places I can’t always get food from. Swenson’s IS a local chain, but it started as a small family business as well. I don’t see anything wrong with a variety of options for all tastes and price points at events like this.
Nosh Box deletes any comments on its FB that are even remotely negative. It must take quite a bit of energy. This “company” is in a really sad state of hubris. Definitely never trying it.
Swensons burgers are great tasting and resonably priced. We visited relatives in Akron after the marathon 2 weeks ago and stopped by Swensons for that great chow. It’s more or less a requirement when we visit family in Avon Lake, even though a little out of the way for us traveling from NC. I may be a little partial to Swensons, since my grandpa used to provide them with meat from his butcher shop….but that was 4 decades ago – nice to know that the quality of meat remains to high standard.
Swenson’s must not be a very big chain, since I lived in NE Ohio from 2008-2011, within 40 miles of Akron and saw plenty of that area, and I’ve never even heard of Swenson’s before.
Swenson’s is FAR from a Walmart. It is a local chain with a total of only SEVEN locations, only one of which is in Cuyahoga County. As far as I’m concerned they put out excellent product at a fair price. As far as a “fast food” style burgers, they are the best. So why is it such a problem for them to participate in Walnut Wednesdays?
They are just trying to get their name out same as everyone else. I’m sure there are plenty of people in this area who have never had the pleasure of enjoying a Galley Boy and who are you to deprive them? Michael Simon’s restaurants have surpassed seven locations and if he ran a food truck would he be labeled as a “Walmart?” I’m sure these food truck owners would be lining up for autographs.
Hypocrisy, jealousy, and greed if you ask me.
2 words, Go swensens