Focus Group Summary Report: Fruit and Vegetable Street Vendors in New York City: Work Challenges, Arrangements and Needs

Published November, 2007

CCC conducted a Focus Group with seven fruit and vegetable street vendors from New York City and learned that the participants wished to obtain their own cart permit and for the most part, they were willing to relocate to a location that had enough foot traffic to enable them to sell their produce and make a living, so long as they also had a place to store their cart at night.

Given CCC’s interest in advocating for the creation of Green Carts, we were interested in having a better understanding of vendors’ existing work arrangements, challenges and vending needs. We worked with the Urban Justice Center’s Street Vendor Project to recruit and hold a focus group with the seven vendors.

The vendors spoke about cart permits, working hours, cart and food storage, making a living, and vending locations. The vendors were generally open to changing their location so long as they were able to sell their fruits and vegetables and have a place to store their carts.