By Gene Sonn<\/p>\n
When you sit down in the barber chair at Nicecutz<\/a>, it feels like any other neighborhood barbershop. There’s a flatscreen TV, fresh wallpaper, mirrors and the usual haircutting tools.<\/p>\n The difference comes before the haircut.<\/p>\n Customers climb a few steps into a converted box truck near the corner of North Broad and York streets, right next to a Dunkin\u2019 Donuts parking lot. The side of the truck proudly declares: \u201cI fix $10 haircuts.\u201d<\/p>\n On his barber license, he\u2019s William Sanders, but everyone knows him as Siddiq.<\/p>\n He learned to cut hair at 15 but it wasn’t until the COVID-19 pandemic that the idea for a mobile barbershop took shape.<\/p>\n Siddiq had stopped cutting hair during lockdowns and was selling home and beauty products out of this truck when he saw photos of a high-end barber truck with marble tile built inside a Mercedes van.<\/p>\n \u201cI looked at it and said, \u2018My truck is bigger than that; I can do something with that.\u2019 Of course I don\u2019t have that type of money, but I can do something with this truck and make it nice. That was my inspiration,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He had cut hair in various shops in North Philly for years and customers kept asking if he was going to return.<\/p>\n So he built out the truck mostly himself, wiring it, adding heat and air conditioning, all powered by a small generator that runs outside. Siddiq says lots of people notice as they drive on Broad Street, even if they don\u2019t stop right away.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd maybe a month later, [they\u2019ll say], \u2018Hey, I ride by you all the time man; I gotta come and check that out.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Trading booth rent for freedom<\/p>\n All the years he cut hair in traditional shops, Siddiq was paying \u201cbooth rent\u201d to the shop owner.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAnd that booth rent has to be paid every week, it doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re there or you\u2019re not there,\u201d he said. \u201cThis right here \u2014 I enjoy my freedom, of \u201cOK I don\u2019t want to cut. OK, I\u2019ll cut.\u201d And I don\u2019t have to pay anything if I\u2019m not here.\u201d<\/p>\n While operating the truck used to cost him $7 a day, with today\u2019s gas prices, it\u2019s been as high as $15 a day.\u00a0 That doesn\u2019t count the money he spent buying or outfitting the truck. <\/p>\n It\u2019s a far cry from the $175 a week he was paying in booth rent. It is much easier for him to earn a living charging $40 for an adult haircut and $25 for a kid\u2019s cut with the lower operating expenses.<\/p>\n However, there are limitations to the truck set-up. Siddiq has to pay attention to extreme weather. He doesn\u2019t open the shop if it\u2019s going to get to 100 degrees; his AC just can\u2019t keep up. Similarly, the heat struggles if it gets in the single digits.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI was here when it dropped to single digits and still had to cut,\u201d he said, and that wasn\u2019t easy for him or his customers.<\/p>\n While he mostly keeps the truck at the same location, Siddiq does get hired to come to neighborhood events, especially back-to-school gatherings.\u00a0<\/p>\n Businesses moving to opportunity<\/p>\n Philly has lots of mobile businesses. PNC Bank has a fleet of \u201cmobile branches\u201d<\/a> where you can set up an account.\u00a0 You can have a pet groomer van come to you, and there are countless car repair and detailing businesses that will pull up to your location. Of course, food trucks are the pioneers of the mobile business model and offer a more affordable way to start a food business.<\/p>\n There are 620 active food truck licenses <\/a>in the city, and the thousands of inactive ones show it\u2019s a tough way to make a living. The group Roaming Hunger has 336 member food trucks in the Philadelphia area<\/a>, but they don\u2019t all necessarily work regularly in the city.<\/p>\n There are other smaller food truck associations as well. Erion Meni has seen wild success and real struggles. He doesn\u2019t own a food truck; he builds them at American Mobile Vending on Castor Avenue in Port Richmond.<\/p>\n In the 20 years he\u2019s been building food trucks, he says the COVID-19 pandemic years were the only ones when business didn\u2019t grow. He got his start with small hot dog stands after moving to the U.S. from Albania in 2005 and now builds high-end trucks that cost $125,000 and more. He says those costs can be lower if you buy a used truck as the base.<\/p>\n \u201cI respect every dollar people pay to me, because I started from the bottom in my life,\u201d Meni says, trying to work with customers on a plan they can afford. <\/p>\n While his business has focused on high-end trucks, he says he inspects used trucks that clients are considering buying because he’s seen too many of those purchases go badly. Some of that is the typical risk of buying a used vehicle that could need a new transmission or an engine rebuild. But the problems he\u2019s seen really add up when the kitchen can\u2019t pass a health inspection. Not only can that be expensive, but you can\u2019t do any business until city inspectors are satisfied.<\/p>\n Meni has been a welder all his life, but never got into food trucks until coming to America, where they are far more common, he says, than in European countries where he worked. He has three or four employees at a time; they\u2019re mainly other Albanian immigrants like him.<\/p>\n With that crew, they can work on two or three trucks at one time, each taking eight to 12 weeks.<\/p>\n \u201cSome clients say, \u2018Erion, I need to finish in two weeks.\u2019 No, I can\u2019t finish in two weeks. If you want to finish in two weeks, you go somewhere [else], not to me,\u201d he says.\u00a0 He insists on taking enough time so he can guarantee a high-quality truck that will pass inspections.<\/p>\n If you look at photos on his company website<\/a>, you\u2019ll see trucks selling burgers, BBQ, crepes and birria. Some are the kind that have mostly permanent locations near Penn or Temple. Some get hired as mobile catering and plenty go on the food truck circuit at festivals.<\/p>\n Meni says he\u2019s been impressed that clients who began in food trucks and make the jump to having traditional restaurants often want to keep their trucks. Some clients have fleets of seven or eight vehicles.<\/p>\n Even though Meni\u2019s business continues to grow, opening a food truck, or any mobile business, faces many of the same risks as traditional ones. If you search online, you\u2019ll see 60% to 80% food truck failure rates quoted. If you dig into them enough, they mostly lead back to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report that includes all food service businesses, not differentiating mobile vs. brick-and-mortar. Because of lower up-front costs, mobile businesses generally have larger profit margins than regular restaurants<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hoping for growth<\/p>\n The neighborhood where Siddiq operates the Nicecutz Barber Truck is not known for economic mobility<\/a>. Children who grew up in this area of North Philly now have a median income of $17,000 by the age of 35, according to analysis by Opportunity Insights<\/a>. That is lower than the generation before in the same neighborhood.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis is just where I started at; I don\u2019t think it\u2019s where I\u2019m going to finish, because I have big goals. I have big goals to expand,\u201d Siddiq said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Lately he\u2019s been getting quite a bit of media attention \u2014 including from the Inquirer<\/a>, PhillyCAM<\/a> and 6ABC. <\/a>He\u2019s hoping the exposure will help him with those dreams.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m looking for people who want to collaborate. Looking for people with more business savvy, who could help structure it better and resources to help grow,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n His first step is to use the attention and his growing following on Instagram <\/a>to connect with other barbers who are interested in joining him.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cTo fellow barbers, connect with me. I want to do some big things. Maybe you can be part of this.\u201d<\/p>\n