Abstract:
Nyeri town boasts of informal street food vendors found almost in every street, offering
products ranging from indigenous to trendy cuisines. During evening hours, the
informal street food operators compete for the street space with the town publics. The
design and the size of the town’s major streets have not been reviewed to
accommodate the increasing informal street food vendors and the growing urban
community. This study investigated the effects of the informal street food vendors’
location, products, operating time and modus operandi on the urban community in
Nyeri town. The researchers combined the Neo-Marxist theory-positing that the
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informal sector expands as urbanization increases, and the Neo-liberal theory –arguing
that entrepreneurs pursue informal sectors in order to operate outside the official
business frameworks to explore the subject of the study. Using the cross-sectional survey
design, the study adopted the enumeration and convenience sampling techniques to
select vendors and consumers respectively that responded to questionnaire
administered face-to-face. The qualitative data was analyzed using the thematic content
analysis, and the output transformed into quantitative data to give percentages and
frequencies. The informal street ventures inconvenienced street users especially during
rush hours. The food related wastes and a cocktail of food aroma made the street
ambiance less attractive. The equipment used on the streets and the unsecured fire
points posed a great risk to the public. The study concludes that the informal street
foods ventures provide employment that sustains livelihoods. The informal street
businesses facilitate the flow of resources, and promote the mainstream economies like
agriculture, retail and food manufacturing, thus contributing to wealth creation in the
county. Study recommend benchmarking to explore ways to change the perception
that the informal street foods are unsafe, unhealthy and the ventures make the street
look unattractive. In countries like Thailand in the city of Phuket, informal street foods
are conducted in an organized manner.