Landing space outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art to sell hot dogs, drinks and other snacks is considered a coup, because of the throngs of visitors to the institution and to Central Park. But Cake & Shake, which won to right to sell there in return for paying over $100,000/year to the Parks Department, is refusing to pay the rent because of license-less vendors who sell there by using the veteran loophole. more ›

Bootleggers, in this city?! Never. According to the Daily News, Queens company NYSP Outlet won a city contract to sell t-shirts in Central Park, but now they're being accused of selling bootlegged merch. To back up: the contract means the company has exclusive rights to sell in the park, and to do so they've agreed to pay $550K to the city over the next five years. more ›

Two disabled Vietnam veteran street vendors and one mounted police officer have emerged as the media darlings in the wake of Saturday's "amateurish" attempt to set off a car bomb in Times Square. Last night Mayor Bloomberg hosted a congratulatory dinner at Blue Fin in Times Square, personally thanking Officer Wayne Rhatigan, a 19-year NYPD veteran, and Duane Jackson, one of the street vendors who first noticed the Nissan Pathfinder parked on Broadway by 45th Street with its emergency flashers on, its motor running, and a small amount of smoke was coming out of it. A third vendor, Lance Orton, declined the dinner invitation, but he did chat with The Today Show this morning. more ›

The city won't allow cupcakes to be sold at school bake sales, but peddling them outside of the Metropolitan Museum of Art is okay. To compete with unauthorized vendors who've invaded the spot, they're going to start selling the tasty organic desserts, via Queens-based Culinary Engineers, Inc., reports the Post. The bakery will pay $108,000 in the first year of a five-year contract, and has also been awarded a permit to sell in Washington Square Park. But what about tourist obesity?! more ›

During New York's brief fling with spring last weekend, a Park Slope blogger had a rather revolting experience with a mobile Italian ice vendor in Prospect Park. After the vendor sold her friend a pineapple flavor ice instead of the requested vanilla, he strolled happily away, only belatedly realizing that it was the wrong order. So after a few licks he returned it to the vendor, who gladly accepted the slightly-eaten serving and returned it to the source: the communal pineapple ice bucket from whence it came! It's the Ciiiircle of Ice! Blogger F'd in Park Slope rants: more ›

Starting next month, Central Park vendors will bring apples and bananas to hot dog and ice cream territory. Not only will the new fruit carts’ offerings be healthier than normal vendor fare, it will be cheaper. According the Post, they’ll sell “three bananas for just a buck, half-pound boxes of strawberries for $2 and mangoes for $1.50.” A spokesman says the Parks Department is “trying to vary our food offerings and include healthy and diverse options." Still, New Yorkers weren’t all enthused. “Bring on more junk food!" said one bagel-hardened skeptic. more ›

As promised, a mob of disgruntled street food vendors demonstrated outside Health Department headquarters downtown yesterday. The group believes that the DOH has started to crack down on vendors who step away from their carts to relieve themselves; last week a roasted peanut vendor in Lower Manhattan had his permit confiscated after he stepped away from his stand for a quick comfort break. At yesterday's protest, Shirajul Islam explained to the Post, "When I left my cart, I wasn't feeling too well. Then my doctor called me and said I have to have an operation to fix the problem." more ›

Since a police officer got into a deadly shootout with a Times Square CD peddler, cops have been issuing more tickets to the over-eager salesman. In fact, they've given out 45 misdemeanor charges for "aggressive solicitation" in the past six weeks. As a result, CD sellers have nearly been wiped clean from the city's central hub, but is the eradication fair or legal? more ›

A disabled Vietnam veteran who defied the city Parks Department by setting up a hot dog stand on prime real estate outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art was carted off in handcuffs yesterday. Dan Rossi, 69, was charged with obstructing traffic and disorderly conduct after he refused to relocate his stand during an enforcement sweep. The area outside the Met has been a lucrative location for the Parks Department, which leased the space to one vendor for $642,000 a year. more ›

You knew that the heated competition between street food vendors is getting increasingly acrimonious, but did you know that it's tearing families apart? Over the weekend, a Midtown Lunch reader spotted this sign on 45th Street advertising newcomer Fahima Halal Food, which is declaring its food to be Halal-of-a-lot-better than nearby vendor Kwik Meal. more ›

Just as Tyra Banks discovers gourmet food vendor trucks, Blackbook has joined the growing backlash against their trendy proliferation. It's yet another article that looks at the turf wars between the arriviste artisanal food trucks and the old-school hot dog and kabob guys. But at least this one comes with a clever neologism: "vendrification," which is what happens when the new upscale trucks start "shaking up the culinary terrain of the streets." more ›

With more and more upscale food trucks crowding the scene, the turf wars keep escalating. The Department of Health doesn't assign locations, so vendors are left to work it out among themselves, are some say the gyro-cooking owners of the Halal trucks are violently threatening the competition. Clive Dennis, who operates a Jamaican cart on Park Row downtown, tells the Post, "It's like a mob thing—these halal guys think they're the only ones who should be selling food on the street." Dennis says that after he refused to cave, they called 311 to make bogus health-code-violation complaints about him. And when Olivia Cardosa tried to set up her Mexican truck El Rey del Sabor on West 43rd Street last month, a brawl erupted. (Midtown Lunch has the video.) Then last Monday Cardosa arrived to find three giant planters cemented into the sidewalk. She claims it was "the halal guys," and the landlord of the building there confirms that "somebody moved our planters and cemented them in place, so we had to chip the cement off to move them back." These guys obviously mean business—how long before that cement gets poured to make some heavy shoes? more ›

The recent eviction of Pasang Sherpa—the hot dog vendor who was booted from outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art after refusing to pay the full $643,000 a year rent to the Parks Department—got us thinking: Why didn't we major in hot dog vending? The previous permit holder outside the museum paid $415,000 annually and didn't go under, so one imagines there's a tidy profit to be made there or other tourist magnets around town. But street vendor advocacy groups tell Slate that selling dogs isn't as glamorous as it might seem, and most food vendors make just $14,000 to $16,000 a year after they've paid for permits (and, inevitably, a few tickets). Vendors on city streets (not the ones at or near park areas) pay $200 a year for the permit, but the city caps the number of permits at 3,100, creating an extensive black market. Some unscrupulous companies buy up permits for dozens of carts and then lease them to individual vendors at highly inflated prices. And now there are these fancy new food trucks horning in! Kenny Lao, an owner of the Rickshaw Dumpling Truck, says his life was threatened by other vendors he opened flast year, telling the Times, "The old vendors are edgy." more ›

Doug Quint is part bassoonist, part ice cream man. And not just any old ice cream man at that. Just last month he and boyfriend Bryan Petroff launched the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck, a venture that's blown up beyond what they ever imagined. With the help of Twitter (they have over a thousand followers to whom they tweet toppings of the day, truck location and solicit suggestions), the truck has become a bit of a summer hotspot to those seeking both a good cone and some good humor. more ›

How many more hot dogs can a vendor outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art sell at the north side of the museum entrance, as opposed to the south side? First-time vendor Pasang Sherpa is betting he can unload at least $81,701 more lips and assholes, because he's coughing up that much extra for the north location, even though the southern spot is only 100 yards away. Sherpa paid $362,201 to the Parks Department for rights to vend at the north side and $280,500 for the south, but now he's fuming because the more heavily-trafficked north entrance has been blocked by construction won't be done until May. "I don't want to pay them now," he tells a Post reporter, who theorizes that this might be the most expensive retail space per square foot in all the land. more ›

Fellow vendors and loyal customers are rallying to the defense of Antonios Dragonas, the 50-year-old pushcart food vendor who may soon be put out of business. For the past 25 years, Vendy runner-up Antonios Dragonas, has been serving his famous lamb shish kebab from the corner of Madison Avenue and East 62nd Street, but now the Department of Health is refusing to renew his license and permit. more ›

Reader Douglas sent us this photograph of a 14th Street vendor unable to vend various 2008 and New Year's Eve tchotchkes. We've seen these vendors are on many corners, so one probably doesn't need to go too far to find one. And we have to admit that the wacky metallic top hat with LED "Happy New Year" (with a blinking and constant modes) are pretty hilarious. So hilarious that we bought one, along with 2008 sunglasses and a Happy New Year tiara. more ›