I wrote a greenpaper that is available on marketumbrella.org’s website about the lack for balance in mobile markets. I should have taken more issue with the name and the sustainability of them as some are not that mobile and some, many are not truly markets if you term that in the same vein as farmers markets (meaning competition) or if you believe Wikipedia:
For a market to be competitive, there must be more than a single buyer or seller. It has been suggested that two people may trade, but it takes at least three persons to have a market, so that there is competition on at least one of its two sides.[1] However, competitive markets rely on much larger numbers of both buyers and sellers. A market with single seller and multiple buyers is a monopoly. A market with a single buyer and multiple sellers is a monopsony. These are the extremes of imperfect competition.
It’s possible that a mobile truck could serve well as a long-term grocery store in some remote areas where resources especially capital and electricity are limited. Check out the briefs from The Center for Rural Affairs on rural grocery stores:
cfra

What I find though, is that mobile markets are another example of the industrial food system expecting to change little while getting the credit that they are feeding needy people. Sure they are getting food out there, but the mobility is overstated in some cases and as far as I know have not been shown to make long-term changes in food insecurity or to necessarily support growers or small businesses (Even with this headline generously given to it by HuffPost: Next Level Food Trucks: MoGro Eliminates Food Deserts). What is true to me is that they could serve a very important purpose, just like a buying club can or a food security farmers market does (that term comes from an emerging typology of markets, more coming soon on that…) by priming the pump for food system changes, if they would work hand in hand with farmers and potential market or store organizers.
This story is fascinating; check out where the guy worked before retiring and starting this project:
MoGro