Food truck goes cashless for safety's sake

DALY CITY, Calif. (KTVU) - Señor Sisig, a popular food truck vendor that serves what they describe as Filipino fusion cuisine, has gone cashless.

The food truck was among the vendors at the Off the Grid event a Serramonte Center in Daly City Tuesday night. 

"It's just different. It's different food you can't get at a restaurant. I've never seen an Asian burrito at a restaurant," said Catherine Chan of Burlingame, who says she is a fan of Señor Sisig's food. 

The food truck vendor is also doing something else different by going cashless. Starting the first of this year, Senor Sisig stopped accepting cash.

Co-owner Evan Kidera says safety and efficiency are factors. 

"I grew up in the restaurant industry. My dad was robbed. It just got to the point where we were accepting so little cash compared to credit transactions, it didn't make sense to carry cash anymore," said Kidera and that he sees fewer and fewer customers using cash. 

"When we started out in 2010, it was 70% cash, 30% credit. Over the years, every year, it's about a 10 percent decline," said Kidera. 

At Da Poke-Man, owner Ray Serrano says he plans to continue to accept cash. 

"Not everybody uses credit cards and a lot of people, especially the older generation don't know how to use apps, using Square and Venmo and PayPal . most people I know believe in old school cash," said Serrano. 

Still, Serrano and the owner of Spark Social SF in Mission Bay say it makes good business sense for vendors such as Senor sisig, that operate several trucks, to go cashless. 

"This whole coordination of a lot of employees in a lot of different locations , money and cash gets lost really easily," said Carlos Muela owner of Spark Social SF and Soma StrEat Food Park. He says he sees pro's and con's of going cashless and that he doesn't expect all food trucks to go cashless at this point.

Customers say they want to be able to pay in cash.

"I hardly see people pay in cash but it's a good option to have always," said Irina Epstein who paid cash on this Tuesday night for drinks but that she usually pays with a credit card.

As for Senor Sisig, the co-owner says going cashless has worked well so far. 

"We feel a lot safer. It's a lot easier to run business," said Kidera. When asked if he's seen any downside, he replied, "We want to focus on food. We don't want to be a bank." 

Most food truck customers told a KTVU crew they usually pay with credit cards or their phones, but they still want the option of paying cash. 

Other than Senor Sisig, the food trucks at Off The Grid at Serramonte and at Spark in Mission Bay are accepting cash.