Korean Job Discussion Forums

[benjaminthunderbolt]

Does anyone know how the Turkish dudes set up their Kebab carts? I'm just curious- do they need to apply for a license? How does that whole process work in Korea? Does anyone have any first hand knowledge- i.e. how they buy their carts, what they do with them at the end of the night, etc. ?

Thanks.

[jrock]

The Moroccan sandwich man told me that he didn't have/need any kind of permit. He laughed a little when I asked him.

[northway]

Talking to the 3 Kings Truck guys I'm gathering they just decided to go out and sell tacos, so I would assume it's the same for the kebab guys.

[madoka]

I'm pretty sure they do need permits. There used to be TONS of street food vendors back in the early 90s. Now, not nearly as much. When I asked why, I was told it was due to permit restrictions and increased fees.

I don't know if other places are similar, but I saw that in Insadong, there is a garage of sorts for street vendors to put their carts away.

[Troglodyte]

I was curious about that as well. I've asked a few Korean friends and usually I get a similar answer. None of them were really familiar with the details but it seems that you DO need a permit to operate a food card, but that they're relatively easy to get. I think that they are limited to where they can park the card and sell food. I have no idea where they get the carts from but I imagine there are companies that make/import them and sell them. I'm sure you could Google it (or Naver it, I guess).

At night two things can happen. Some vendors push/pull them home or to some other nearby place to store them. It could be in a parking garage, an actual storage area, or in someone's driveway. Whichever way, they pay someone to store it at night. In some places, they just throw a tarp over the cart and leave it. That seems to be particular common for the large carts, in areas not so densely occupied. Some places probably have rules about whether or not you can leave them overnight.

I've occasionally seen an abandoned cart. I remembers seeing one down the road from my school. The vendor used to sell fried stuff in the afternoons and evenings. Then he'd cover it up and go home. At one point he never returned and the cart stayed there on the sidewalk for a few months. Eventually the city put a large sticker on it saying that fees hadn't been paid. A couple months after that, it disappeared. I suspect that the city just took it away. If it had been the owner who took it, I'm sure he would have picked it up long before that.


That being said, I'm quite sure that there are a few people who don't have a permit, especially people with small cards (like the Turkish ice cream guys). Even if they don't have a permit though, I'm sure that they still have to pay off someone. If you notice they're usually always in the same place. So either no one else wants that spot, or they have some kind of claim to it.

[nathanrutledge]

Troglodyte's comments are right on. Where I live, there aren't so many "carts" as there are "bongo/damas restaurants" that they wrap up every night, and the truck/van stays where they are.

An x-gf called me out of the blue the other day. Got to talking, she's working on getting her "barista license" (and that's why we aren't dating anymore, Ms. Ambition-at-life). Apparently, the K-government has a TON of licenses for anything you want to do.

[pkang0202]

I heard that you need a license to operate during a specific time (before 10pm I think).

Look around Itaewon one night and you'll see all the food carts setup shop at the same time in the evening. The ones that you see during the daytime have licenses to operate.

Also, I heard some other food stalls operate without a license and they get fined repeatedly. Some of them food stalls really rake in the cash, so they just pay the fines and consider it part of their operating costs.