Downtown Food Trucks, Conventional Dives See Boon From Guthrie Green

Since it opened, thousands have flooded Guthrie Green -- a new park and amphitheater area in the Brady District, and on any given day, lines stretch around the block for the food trucks that park nearby.

It may be cool outside, but the grills inside food trucks are hot and ready for the weekend rush.

The crowds may be smaller because of the weather, but on warm days, hundreds will stand in line for a fresh meal.

"We were so busy we were running out of food, it was crazy,” Brownie’s Hamburgers cook Shawn Kinnard said.

Lyndsi Baggett, owner of The Wurst, said her crew is working hard and keeping up with the demand.

"We'll get anywhere between 100 and 400 people," she said.

Two of those are Steve and Linda Hardt, who swung by Brownie’s for some cheese fries.

“The smell, I think, it’s what drew us in,” Steve Hardt said. "We were going to eat at a restaurant and decided to get a snack."

It's those quick snacks that concerned the owner of Caz's Chowhouse at first, but he said the more folks come downtown the better.

"You always look at those things as competition… but the more we thought about it, the more we realized it's just one more reason for people to come check out the neighborhood,” Caz’s owner Jeff Castleberry said.

He said they've seen record sales the last two weeks, and they expect business to heat up along with the weather.

"It ends up being a shopping mall theory, you come down figure out where you want to go, make a selection and come try it out,” Castleberry said.

If the Brady district were a mall, Laffa would be the next store over.

"There's plenty of business here for everybody, the food trucks from down there don't detract anything from the restaurants around here,” Laffa owner Philip Kaiser said.

Justin Barzellone of Spaghetti Warehouse couldn't agree more.

He said they've had to share their parking lot since the Green opened, but if anything, the crowds and even the food trucks, have been great for restaurants downtown.

"We're definitely seeing our sales increase,” Barzellone said. "At the end of the day, if they want to come eat at Spaghetti Warehouse, they are going to eat at Spaghetti Warehouse."