www.nytimes.com Open in urlscan Pro
151.101.65.164  Public Scan

URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/04/nyregion/nyc-costs-chicken-rice-cart.html
Submission Tags: democrat progressive woke eric adams mayor huchul governor constitution human rights law Search All
Submission: On February 05 via manual from US — Scanned from US

Form analysis 2 forms found in the DOM

POST https://nytimes.app.goo.gl/?link=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/04/nyregion/nyc-costs-chicken-rice-cart.html&apn=com.nytimes.android&amv=9837&ibi=com.nytimes.NYTimes&isi=284862083

<form method="post" action="https://nytimes.app.goo.gl/?link=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/04/nyregion/nyc-costs-chicken-rice-cart.html&amp;apn=com.nytimes.android&amp;amv=9837&amp;ibi=com.nytimes.NYTimes&amp;isi=284862083"
  data-testid="MagicLinkForm" style="visibility: hidden;"><input name="client_id" type="hidden" value="web.fwk.vi"><input name="redirect_uri" type="hidden"
    value="https://nytimes.app.goo.gl/?link=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/04/nyregion/nyc-costs-chicken-rice-cart.html&amp;apn=com.nytimes.android&amp;amv=9837&amp;ibi=com.nytimes.NYTimes&amp;isi=284862083"><input name="response_type" type="hidden"
    value="code"><input name="state" type="hidden" value="no-state"><input name="scope" type="hidden" value="default"></form>

POST https://nytimes.app.goo.gl/?link=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/04/nyregion/nyc-costs-chicken-rice-cart.html&apn=com.nytimes.android&amv=9837&ibi=com.nytimes.NYTimes&isi=284862083

<form method="post" action="https://nytimes.app.goo.gl/?link=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/04/nyregion/nyc-costs-chicken-rice-cart.html&amp;apn=com.nytimes.android&amp;amv=9837&amp;ibi=com.nytimes.NYTimes&amp;isi=284862083"
  data-testid="MagicLinkForm" style="visibility: hidden;"><input name="client_id" type="hidden" value="web.fwk.vi"><input name="redirect_uri" type="hidden"
    value="https://nytimes.app.goo.gl/?link=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/04/nyregion/nyc-costs-chicken-rice-cart.html&amp;apn=com.nytimes.android&amp;amv=9837&amp;ibi=com.nytimes.NYTimes&amp;isi=284862083"><input name="response_type" type="hidden"
    value="code"><input name="state" type="hidden" value="no-state"><input name="scope" type="hidden" value="default"></form>

Text Content

Skip to contentSkip to site index
Search & Section Navigation
Section Navigation
SEARCH

SUBSCRIBE FOR $1/WEEKLog in
New York|What’s Behind a $10 Chicken Over Rice From a Cart? An $18,000 Permit.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/04/nyregion/nyc-costs-chicken-rice-cart.html
 * Share full articleShare free access
 * 
 * 


WHAT’S BEHIND A $10 CHICKEN OVER RICE FROM A CART? AN $18,000 PERMIT.

By Stefanos Chen
Photographs by Ahmed Gaber
Feb. 4, 2024

Blame rising costs, shrunken crowds and a black-market permit trade. Chicken
over rice — a sauce-drenched, workweek staple — costs $10 at the Halal Plates, a
cart in Lower Manhattan, up from $6 prepandemic.

Nearly everything has surged in price, said Mahmoud Mousa, a co-owner of the
cart, which opened near Zuccotti Park in 2016. The owners now pay $22.50 for a
10-pound bag of chicken, almost twice the cost in 2020.

“It’s very normal to be losing money every single day” during the winter, when
more customers work from home, Mr. Mousa said. A box of clamshell containers has
jumped to $28 from $11 in 2020.

Sauces have gotten pricier, too. Since 2020, a gallon of yogurt-based white
sauce has climbed to $13 from $9. Mr. Mousa’s red sauce of choice, a spicy
sambal, costs $23 a gallon, up from $11.

But the biggest factor? A slip of paper. Mr. Mousa said the business paid a
former vendor $18,000 in cash in 2022 for a food cart permit — an illegal
arrangement — because the city limits the number of permits.

Mr. Mousa and his business partner bought a new cart in 2019 for $47,000 —
mostly from savings and family loans. They also paid $3,700 for a neon sign and
$2,000 for menu display panels.



Supported by

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT





WHAT’S BEHIND A $10 CHICKEN OVER RICE FROM A CART? AN $18,000 PERMIT.

 * Share full articleShare free access
 * 
 * 
 * Read in app
   

By Stefanos Chen and Ahmed Gaber

Feb. 4, 2024, 7:09 p.m. ET

But Mr. Mousa focused on one number: 3,892. That was his position on a New York
City food vendor waiting list.

Like thousands of the city’s mobile food vendors, Mr. Mousa cannot get a permit
for his cart, the Halal Plates. A longstanding cap limited the number of permits
to 5,100, before a 2021 law began allowing for 445 new permits a year for a
decade. So far, the city has issued 71 new permits.

Almost 9,500 people were on waiting lists in January, according to the city’s
health department. A spokesman said it had released 1,074 applications — a
permit prerequisite — since the law was enacted, but most applicants had yet to
complete the process.

While he waits, Mr. Mousa said he and his business partner pay $18,000 in cash
every two years to rent their permit from a Bronx cabdriver who Mr. Mousa said
obtained it decades ago for a few hundred dollars. Mr. Mousa said such
arrangements were the only ways many vendors, who otherwise follow regulations,
can avoid fines and confiscation of their carts.



Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT




Mr. Mousa hopes to negotiate the same price this summer, but anticipates the
permit holder will try to raise it.

Sign up for the New York Today Newsletter  Each morning, get the latest on New
York businesses, arts, sports, dining, style and more. Get it sent to your
inbox.

“What can I do?” Mr. Mousa said, adding, “He has the thing I need.”

Such is the math of chicken and rice — a heavily spiced mound of boneless
chicken with yellow rice and a side salad — which swept the city in the 1980s,
after a wave of Egyptian immigrants arrived.

Subscribe to The Times to read as many articles as you like.



Stefanos Chen is a Times reporter covering New York City’s economy. He
previously covered real estate in the city for over a decade. More about
Stefanos Chen

 * Share full articleShare free access
 * 
 * 
 * Read in app
   





Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT




SITE INDEX




SITE INFORMATION NAVIGATION

 * © 2024 The New York Times Company

 * NYTCo
 * Contact Us
 * Accessibility
 * Work with us
 * Advertise
 * T Brand Studio
 * Your Ad Choices
 * Privacy Policy
 * Terms of Service
 * Terms of Sale
 * Site Map
 * Canada
 * International
 * Help
 * Subscriptions




KEEP READING THE TIMES BY CREATING A FREE ACCOUNT OR LOGGING IN.

Continue


Enjoy unlimited access to all of The Times.

See subscription options