HOUSTON - Randy€™s Fine Foods stock frozen meat, catfish nuggets, chicken tenders, pickles, Honey buns, candy and corn dogs €" a veritable grocery store on wheels. These days, a big part of its business comes from food stamp recipients, the San Antonio Express reports.
Randy€™s, along with Bag Lady on Wheels and Boxes and Bags Mobile Grocery, frequent low-income neighborhoods to deliver access to residents lacking cars or nearby grocery stores. Texas makes it easy for those folks to spend their food stamp money at mobile food trucks with its Lone Star Card, a debit card that loads food-stamp funds on it.
"We rarely get cash," said Keidrick James, a Randy's manager. James estimated that nearly 100% of customers pay with Lone Star Cards.
However, not everyone is happy with the arrangement. The Texas Health and Human Services Commission, which administers the Lone Star Card program for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is concerned that mobile food trucks could be doing more harm than good in the neighborhoods they serve.
"Vans that deliver food may provide a convenience for families without transportation, but it comes at a high price," said Stephanie Goodman, HHSC spokeswoman. "The prices can be so high that it hurts families struggling to make ends meet in the long run."