ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
La Cocina’s San Francisco Street Food Festival brings all of the best food (and music) in the Bay Area to one street, once a year, to celebrate the talent, the taste and the entrepreneurial spirit of people who make a living doing what they love to do. If you want to learn more about La Cocina’s incubator program and our amazing program businesses, visit our website!
LOCATION/DIRECTIONS
Where is the Festival, you ask?
The Festival will take place in the Mission District on Folsom St. from 20th to 26th, 21st and 25th from Treat St. to Shotwell St., as well as the Cesar Chavez Elementary School parking lot, Parque de los Ninos Unidos and Jose Coronada Playground.
And how do I get there?
Skydiving, paddleboat, lawnchair with a million balloons…but these methods are probably safer:
BART: 24th St Bart Station
MUNI: 12, 14, 14L, 27, 48, 67
BIKE: thank you SF Bike Coalition for providing monitored bike parking
From the BAY BRIDGE: Take I-80W toward San Francisco ($4 toll bridge) and merge onto US-101S. Take the Cesar Chavez St exit. Keep right at the fork and follow the signs for Cesar Chavez St W/Potrero Ave. Keep left at the fork and follow the signs for Cesar Chavez St W and merge onto Cesar Chavez St. Turn right at Folsom St.
From the GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE: Head south on US-101S toward San Francisco ($6 toll bridge) and turn right at Van Ness Ave. Turn left at 24th St and take the 2nd right onto Folsom St.
From I-280: Take I-280N toward Civic Center/Bay Bridge and take the exit toward Cesar Chavez St/Potrero Ave. Merge onto Bayshore Blvd and a slight left onto the Cesar Chavez St ramp. Continue straight and onto onto Cesar Chavez St. Turn right at Folsom St.
From US-101: Take US-101N and take the exit toward Cesar Chavez St/Potrero Ave. Take a slight left at Jerrold Ave and a slight left onto the Cesar Chavez St ramp. Continue straight and onto onto Cesar Chavez St. Turn right at Folsom St.
Video
FAQs
- What is La Cocina?
- Why do we host this festival?
- Why Is Your Festival in The Mission?
- What Do You Do With All That $$$?
- Why Are There So Many Restaurants? And Why Are They From Outside the Neighborhood?
- What about parking?
- How much is it to get in the festival?
- I’m a food vendor and interested in participating in the festival whom do I get in touch with?
What is La Cocina?
La Cocina is a non-profit incubator kitchen that provides affordable commercial kitchen space and industry-specific technical assistance to low-income and immigrant entrepreneurs who are launching, growing and formalizing food businesses.
Why do we host this festival?
La Cocina was born out of the entrepreneurial spirit of women vendors in San Francisco’s Mission District who launched businesses out of their homes, on the streets and wherever they could find the spaces to do it. Beginning in 2005, La Cocina advocated for progressive city policies that would allow these incredibly talented chefs to formally bring their products to the marketplace. This festival is a celebration of the taste, the heart and the commitment of our vendors, the small business owners in San Francisco who have supported a community of eaters that believe in this kind of food and the food trucks, carts, trailers and informal entrepreneurs that continue to make this city the best food city in the world.
Why Is Your Festival in The Mission?
The Mission is our home. Our entrepreneurs come from here, our hearts beat for here and we really and truly believe that street food should be eaten on the street. If we could, we’d get rid of all the white tents, and just do it block party style, but that’s not so cool with the health department, so you will have to imagine it with us.
Also, and worth noting, is that we believe that this is the best neighborhood in the world. The merchants, the neighbors and the community as a whole are part and parcel of who we are. And we wouldn’t be here without them. At its soul, this festival is not only a celebration of food and entrepreneurship, but also of this neighborhood. Support our neighborhood businesses!
What Do You Do With All That $$$?
We began this festival as a celebration of vendors and entrepreneurship, and that has always been our focus. As a result, this event, while something of a fundraiser for La Cocina, generates far more revenue for the vendors than it ever will for us as an organization. We keep the entry costs at break-even and work to provide as much support to vendors to ensure the opportunity for them to create the capital they need to grow. In the meantime, your donations, support and passport purchases all benefit La Cocina to some extent. For more information on donations, click here.
Why Are There So Many Restaurants? And Why Are They From Outside the Neighborhood?
Firstly, well, 80,000 people is a lot of people to feed! But, more importantly, because street food is a global phenomenon that produces some of the most amazing food you can put your mouth to. In order to speak to the quality and diversity of global street food, we hand-select some of the best and the brightest vendors in the city of San Francisco, all from owner-operated establishments, to come to the streets for one day and play by our rules. No fancy restaurant kitchens, no high price tags… not even any electricity.
We are going to have 80+ vendors, half of whom are part of La Cocina’s incubator program. La Cocina works with low-income and immigrant entrepreneurs and is committed to creating this festival as an opportunity to show all of the city exactly how talented these entrepreneurs are and how delicious their food is. We fully believe that the tacos from Chaac Mool, Azalina’s curry or down-home Mexican food from El Buen Comer are as good (and often better) than the foods made by this food-obsessed town’s top chefs.
What about parking?
Due to the festival and the street closures, there will be no street parking available. Please keep in mind that any driveways on the affected streets will also not be accessible. We encourage you to take public transportation or ride your bike in order to avoid any unnecessary headaches.
How much is it to get in the festival?
There is a $5 suggested donation for entry into the festival for those able to give. All festival proceeds benefit La Cocina’s business incubator program. Food vendors will only be accepting cash or pre-purchased passport tickets.
I’m a food vendor and interested in participating in the festival whom do I get in touch with?
La Cocina will hold our annual Vote your Vendor contest for food vendors interested in having a booth. We invite the public to nominate their favorite food truck, trailer, cart, informal entrepreneur or home cook to participate in this year's Festival. This could be you! The top 4 vote getters will receive a free space at the festival, free kitchen time and small business assistance. Winners will be announced on July 27th. Please sign up here to receive Vote your Vendor contest updates and alerts.
POLICY
Street food is both everywhere and nowhere in San Francisco. You can wander between taco trucks, food carts, pop-up vendors and weekly farmers markets but still not get a real sense of the streets and the community. And while each of these groups have existed in the city for a very long time, recent social networking websites have given once underground vendors a way to promote themselves and connect with their customers in new and unique ways.
The result is that while street food is experiencing a huge rise in popularity, it’s still very much an informal economy that is struggling to maintain its vibrancy and diversity while coping with city laws and ordinances that have (often) been established to favor the existing tax base of brick and mortar businesses.
The simple fact is that while many people start mobile food carts because it is an inexpensive option for culinary entrepreneurs, the goal of transitioning to fully legal members of the San Francisco business community is full of burdensome financial costs and confusing regulations.
Revised regulations and policies that allow street food vendors greater flexibility in how,where, and when they can sell their goods to reach a broader consumer base can help to activate underutilized space, provide job opportunities to entrepreneurs at all levels of the economic spectrum, and has the ability to provide the city with increased tax revenue and jobs at a time when it would clearly be valued.
On March 8, 2010, the City Operations and Neighborhood Services Committee had their first public hearing sponsored by District 8 Supervisor Bevan Dufty on the best way to manage street food in San Francisco from a policy angle. Many of the attendees, including street food vendors, shared their concern about the high cost of entry, how permits are given, their limited mobility and flexibility in locations and times, the inability for vendors to congregate, and the need for the Health Department to review the code requirements so that they are better suited for mobile food vending while still maintaining the necessary health requirements for the public.
This meeting represented a continuation of a fairly extensive internal city conversation that has been going on for the last eight to ten months on an inter-department level within the city. Supervisor Dufty promised to return by May with some legislation for all to review and did not specify what that new legislation would be.
The Recreation and Park Department has recently begun awarding parks contracts to food vendors in Golden Gate Park, Justin Herman Plaza, Civic Center and Dolores Park. Although this is a good first step, there needs to be some recognition from the city of the growing interest in having diverse street food options throughout the entire city and that the city has a responsibility to allow this market to grow.
The San Francisco Planning Department and Police Department are in the process of reviewing their procedures for approving street food vendors and permits.
The Mayor’s Office has been working with the Police Department and Health Department to look at how the existing police code might change, and where the regulatory responsibilities might shift if moved to another department whose mission was to encourage street food entrepreneurship, rather than simply regulate it. To stay updated on mobile food vending policy in San Francisco, follow the San Francisco Cart Project’s blog.