Manhattan West NYC – Iconic Retro Airstream-style trailer

• Medium-duty custom dual-axle trailer chassis
• 16×7’6”
• Main Panel circuit breaker box featuring a 220-volt, 30-amp GFCI breaker
• Integrated fresh water tank, under-mounted grey wanter tanks, exterior city fill inlet

• Custom-engineered dedicated plumbing line specifically designed to feed a commercial espresso machine.
• Hard-wired option
• Separate 3-phase electrical option
• Hard-plumbed option
• ANSUL certified Hood system

Manhattan West NYC was looking for a way to activate the pedestrian plaza between two of their main buildings, flagship hi-rises in New York. They needed two units that stood out, drew attention and would also be capable of housing different food vendor concepts.

The units had to be identical, highly visual and serve as magnetic centerpieces to draw foot traffic. Operationally the units had to be versatile enough to be able to swap between different food vendor concepts – it could be a Taco food truck one week and coffee truck the next.

While this was a fun challenge, as such “plaza activation” or lobby activation is actually one of the most common commercial developer use cases we see a similar request multiple times a week.

The solution was a pair of matching, high-end Aero-Style trailers, designed from the chassis up to be both visually iconic and operationally agnostic.

Most mobile food units are mobile – this one has the option to be hard-plumbed and hard-wired. The electrical system is pre-wired with the capability to easily convert to 3-phase power for more capacity. The unit includes a 3-phase power cord and a dedicated 3-pole, 3-phase breaker for commercial high-draw applications such as combisteamer ovens or espresso machines.

The strategy has been a decent success. UpTaco, a hot new breakfast catering option in NYC, was the inaugural tenant to take over the trailers.  instantly drawing regular, recurring crowds to the previously underutilized space.

By providing a premium, plug-and-play culinary infrastructure, Manhattan West achieved their primary goal of activating the plaza.

Moreover the trailers let UpTaco test their concepts on a hip, high-volume Manhattan demographic validating the use case before singing their permanent brick-and-mortar lease.

While crowd sizes and social media attentions had had a natural ebb and flow with the rotating tenants, the trailers themselves have become a permanent, revenue-generating anchor for the property.