Street Food

A 93-Year-Old Vet Is Getting NYC’s First Ecofriendly Food Cart

The spiffy new set of wheels.
The spiffy new set of wheels. Photo: Move Systems

Soon, 500 ecofriendly food carts will be on New York streets, and the lucky man operating the first one is Joe Sardigur, a 93-year-old hot-dog seller who fought in the Battle of the Bulge and helped invade Normandy. His MRV100 — the model of the sleek, free carts being passed out by start-up MOVE Systems — will run on natural gas and solar-charged batteries, and comes equipped with a newfangled wireless card reader that scans smartphones and analyzes sales trends, making Sardigur the highest-tech vendor in the city.

It sounds like plenty of vendors want to get their hands on the clean, quiet carts, and MOVE Systems will eventually profit by selling fuel and taking a cut from credit-card fees. But the first 100 are going to disabled vets — like the three veterans behind a patriotic taco-and-gyro cart called TrueHeroes, and Vietnam War vet Michael Cook, who hopes the public is ready to eat his veggie burger. Meanwhile, Sadigur says he’s already planning to relocate to better real estate, and he’s scoped out a prime spot in front of the Met. “It will be nice to have a new cart — state-of-the-art — right in front of the museum,” he says. “It will enhance the museum.”

[WSJ]

A 93-Year-Old Vet Is Getting NYC’s First Ecofriendly Food Cart