The streetfood business is awful in the long term. I hope he can quickly move into a brick and mortar restaurant. Depending on the municipality, streetfood vendors get nailed by all sorts of random fines, get shunted around to various "permitted areas" which may or may not have lots of foot traffic, and the worst part: the low barrier to entry. Competitors can come in super quickly, and when they do, they can lower the total revenue by just a few percent for all other vendors in an area and kill profitability.
It's not even a big news to make a fortune by selling street food in Asia. Personally I know a family selling Pan-fried Stuffed Buns as street vendors in Taipei about 25 years ago. After 5 years or so they earned their buildings and moved in to a brick and mortar place in a neighborhood that's equivalent to the UES in NYC. Their business is still standing today, with three or more items on their menu. I would say they pretty much embed the "lean startup" spirit by surrounding their MVP, Pan-fried Stuffed Buns, from the beginning.
