Browsing articles tagged with " Street Vendors"

Sep 28, 2012

Tim Lester

Immigrant street vendors in Los Angeles want to legalize their businesses

Ruxandra Guidi/KPCC

An organizer from Boyle Heights’ East LA Community Corporation speaks to immigrant street vendors about efforts to legalize their businesses.

Street food vending in Los Angeles County is illegal.

But thousands of Latino and immigrant vendors who scrape by to earn a living say they should be allowed to physically have food carts on city sidewalks selling food. Even if they can afford the health permit fees, and undergo inspections, they still can’t sell most prepared food items under current law.

Marina Hernandez is originally from Mexico but has worked as a street vendor in Highland Park the last seven years. She sells paletas, or popsicles, roasted corn, and chicharrones, or fried pork skin.

Hernandez has gotten warnings and a couple of tickets from police over the years. It was enough to convince her to give up street vending and take a job caring for an elderly woman in her neighborhood. But that earned her less than $40 for an eight-hour shift.

“I got so depressed with my wages that I said, ‘No more… I’m leaving,’” said Hernandez. “So I quit. Because it’s really important for me to have a flexible schedule, to earn a little more, and focus on going back to school.”

Hernandez is now back to street vending – and back to earning $60 to $80 a day. She has also decided to join other vendors in L.A. County in a budding effort to make it easier for get “legal” – to pressure local officials so they can sell food on LA streets.

Los Angeles County’s Street Vending Compliance Program does require some better equipped mobile food facilities–not on sidewalks–to pay fees and get public health permits. Ten inspectors investigate potential complaints about vendors who sell food from grills, carts and stands.

At a town hall meeting held Wednesday night inside a low-income housing development in Highland Park, street vendors broke up into small groups to talk about their demands and learn their rights.

Isela Gracian is an organizer with the East L.A. Community Corporation in Boyle Heights. She has worked with street vendors there for the past three years.

“Policies shouldn’t just be made at City Hall,” said Gracian. “We should be engaging the residents that are most affected by these policies in how to develop that. So we know that we want it citywide; we know that we want it to be a process that’s easy to implement and easy to access – but the specific details, we really want that to come out of the town halls.”

Gracian says these meetings are still early in the process.

Gracian plans to bring immigrant vendors from MacArthur Park, Highland Park and South L.A. nto a broad effort to rewrite the regulations that keep them getting “legal.”

The Big Lie: Mobile Food Vendors Cause of Restaurant Closings

Where is the proof that food trucks are causing financial distress to brick and mortar establishments?

Day after day, and article after article, the consistent theme written by the mainstream media is the same. When brick and mortar restaurant owners are discussing their various points against food trucks and other mobile food vendors it appears to be that these mobile eateries are the cause of numerous restaurant closings. Or at least that’s what they say.

Unfortunately, it appears the mainstream media has taken these comments by restaurant owners as fact, and consistently publish them as if they were the truth without any type of follow up question to verify these claims.

We all know the country has been in a recession since 2008 and restaurant goers have less disposable income to spend on going out to eat, but to tie fewer sales at a fine dining establishment to food trucks who serve gourmet tacos or grilled cheese sandwiches seems a bit far-fetched to us. Has there been a study released that shows that those who choose to eat out have chosen food carts over restaurants? Have any of the closing eateries tracked their sales since food trucks have begun operating in their areas?

Our main question is this, who and where are all of these restaurants that have been forced to close their doors due to the traffic of food trucks in their city? It is worth contacting Mailing list companies? In researching this question, we have scoured the internet looking for some proof that this is happening. From Los Angeles to San Francisco, from New York to Miami we were unable to find a single case where a restaurant closed based on the fact that they were run out of town by food trucks, food carts or even street vendors. Yes there have been numerous restaurant closings since the start of this recession, but at the same time we found that for every closing there appeared to be at least one restaurant opening in those areas in the last year.

Cities across the country are currently looking at food trucks and other mobile vendors to help spark their floundering economies and restaurant owners seem to come out en mass when the discussions start. What we would like to see happen, is instead of the politicians taking the restaurant owners word that food trucks will force them to close, is for them to ask these owners to provide backup to their claims. Instead of allowing these restaurant lobbies to stifle competition with government backing, ask them to show statistics of cities where trucks and carts have been operating to prove their point.

Before the local newspaper writes an article describing the fear and frustration of the brick and mortar association, instead of assuming what they are giving you as fact can actually be backed up by proof, not opinion. Not that they should need to be reminded, but news agencies should verify the information they print to make sure it is factual.

Honest debate should always be part of the due diligence done by municipalities before writing laws which open up new avenues for mobile vendors to operate. The big problem is that one of the first talking points used by restaurant owners in the debate is false or yet to be proven.

If you are a restaurant owner that was forced to close because of mobile vendors, please let us know, we would love to hear from you. We promise to share your story, but only after we are provided with evidence that the sole or primary reason for your business closing was from all of the sales you lost from these restaurants on the go.

Eater’s Digest: Dreaming of a healthy food cart

Apparently, food trucks are a big deal right now. Savvy street vendors from New York City to Portland are offering more options than ever. I have dreams about all the pulled pork, ice cream sandwiches and empanadas I could be eating on a sidewalk, if only I lived in another city.

But the trend has spread even to little old Newark, where food carts on Amstel Avenue and Main Street are thriving. I would know; a solid third of the conversations I have with my boyfriend are devoted to the cart mac and cheese he had for lunch. His head is in the right place. The chicken quesadilla I had today at the Dumpling Cart in the business quad was delicious, worth so much more than the $4 I spent on it.

The latest Newark food cart is “I Don’t Give a Fork” on South Campus. Run by alum Leigh Ann Tona, the sandwich cart opened last Monday.
Instead of being excited at the prospect of a new, convenient meal option, I’m somehow frustrated. I’m sure Tona’s cart will do well financially but for me her menu of hoagies and cheesesteaks just highlights a major gap in the Newark street vendor fare. What we need is a healthy food truck.
Any successful business knows they need to study their demographic to create the best product. At a school where gyms are more crowded than classes and dining hall salad bars are overflowing with bodies, a low-calorie menu would be a sure hit. Factor in the students, staff and locals with dietary restrictions and a vegetarian or gluten-free truck could do even better.

The market is wide open. Reading a menu at almost any Main Street restaurant, you have to dig through a lot of sludge in order to find something guilt-free. Burgers, burritos and flatbreads dominate, while healthy-seeming salads are often far more indulgent than you would expect. Even at Pita Pit, which boasts of “healthy eating” in its slogan, it’s easy to let the fat count get out of hand with added sauces and cheese. The fact that food carts are also likely to charge less than restaurants with foundations would make the model even more competitive.

My health-food cart would specialize in balanced breakfasts and lunches that you can grab quickly between classes. I’d base the menu in simple, colorful plates packed with vitamins and protein. Before 11, egg white breakfast burritos on whole-wheat tortillas, with greens and fresh, local tomatoes. For lunch I’d serve low fat mozzarella and sun dried tomatoes on baked whole wheat bread.

The clichés—organic, gluten-free and vegan, alfalfa sprouts, tofu—these would all be there too, with fun twists. I’m not normally moved by any of that, but even I would eat gluten-free pancakes if they were loaded with bananas and walnut chunks. The popularity of Whole Foods suggests there are more than a few people that do care about those labels. A range of low-sugar juices, smoothies and flavored iced teas would be the cherry on top. If the lineup seemed too girly I’d throw in low-fat Mexican cuisine because if there’s anything a college-age male can’t resist, it’s a cheap taco.

Nationally, the impact of health food on the restaurant industry is impossible to miss and food trucks are no exception. In Madison, WI, the Igo Vego truck offers vegan burgers for the hungry herbivore, cheap harvest salads and “loco cocoa bites” filled with walnuts, dates and fair trade cocoa powder. Momogoose in Boston serves light Southeast Asian sandwiches and rice, noodle and salad bowls. The make-your-own menu lets Bostonites pile their rice bowls with colorful vegetables (meaning more vitamins) and tofu if they choose.

I’m not saying that a new, health-minded food truck would be superior to its competitors. Not everyone is down for chickpeas, and tofu will never, ever taste like pork. I just think it would make money, and it would be nice not to have to walk back to my apartment if I want something light. My healthy truck’s menu wouldn’t be more thoughtful; it would just represent a different kind of thought.

That is what it all comes down to, right? The genius of an organic, locally sourced, low-calorie menu is all in the thinking that went into its creation. If you talk to anyone that serves that kind of food, they have pretty detailed explanations for their choices. But so does any good chef.

Strict food safety regime soon

A strict food safety regime, where people will not have to be apprehensive about eating out, will be in vogue in the State within three years, Food Safety Commissioner Biju Prabhakar has said.

Inaugurating a one-day workshop on ‘streetside vendors and food safety’, jointly organised by the SEWA-Union and the Kerala Street Vendors’ Forum (KSVF) here on Monday, Mr. Prabhakar said the recent happenings in Thiruvananthapuram and elsewhere after the death of one person due to food poisoning had got the public thinking more on the safety aspects of eating out.

Hotels had already lost about 60 per cent of their business, according to hotel sources themselves, he said, stating that only few hotels had managed to get back to normal business.

A fast food trend that was rapidly catching up in the State had brakes applied on it, though the department had not taken any drastic step other than making clear what the law said.

Street vendors or the ‘thattukada’ sector was yet to feel a serious impact of the developments, most probably because there was no stocking of food for the next day.

Still, unless street food vendors upgraded their hygiene levels, they were bound to lose customers gradually, Mr. Prabhakar said.

Stating that a grading system, based on the hygienic practices and standards adhered to by each hotel and food seller, would soon be introduced, Mr. Prabhakar said street vendors too would have to go in for food safety registration and certification, which was being made mandatory.

It would cost only Rs.100 a year, he told the gathering of street vendors at the workshop, adding that future training programmes, rehabilitation programmes, campaigns and the entire gamut of government initiatives for the sector would require such registration.

The aim was to bring into force a strict food safety regime, in which hotels or street vendors who were not registered or did not adhere to safety and hygiene norms would not be allowed to do business, he said.

Citing examples of the law already being enforced strictly, Mr. Prabhakar said the Indian Coffee House at Thampanoor had been served an ultimatum to shift base from its current location, since there was a drainage adjacent to it and that could not be allowed under any circumstance.

Joint Food Safety Commissioner K. Anil Kumar, SEWA-Union State secretary Sonia George, and KSVF State president Sadashivan Nair spoke.

Street Food Is Not A Crime

Vallianatos — who previously spoke with the Laws That Shaped L.A. about zoning and sprawl and Why We Don’t Live Where We Work — rightly labels all of the above as contradictory.

“So the question is, ‘How do you develop a system that is legal?’” the policy director says. “That’s something we’re wrestling with right now.”

The “we” in the above quote means, in a larger sense, all of us who are interested parties in Los Angeles — from the people who sell elote, bacon-wrapped hot dogs, pupusas and all other manner of edibles, to the gastronomically obsessed Gold-o-philes (and yes of course he deserves all the acclaim), to public space advocates to free market aficionados to, in some cases, immigration rights advocates.

Street food scene. Photo by and courtesy Mark Vallianatos

The “we” in Vallianatos quote also refers specifically to the Los Angeles Food Policy Council, a food reform coalition that the professor is part of.

Text on the ‘Street Food‘ section of the coalition’s website reads, in part:

Since its inception, the Street Food Committee has recognized that many of the city’s poorest communities have limited access to affordable, healthy food, and that within these same neighborhoods, street vendors with carts and trucks fill the void left by the absence of mainstream grocers within the community. Engaging and mobilizing street vendors to sell healthy food, while identifying a legal pathway for the selling of healthy food, can enhance this existing resource within the neighborhood food environment.

So, how did we all get to this point? How did Angelenos come to consume so much contraband cuisine?

In part, thanks to the ongoing reaction to the food preparation horrors that Upton Sinclair wrote about more than a century ago in “The Jungle”, Vallianatos says.

“We used to have food contamination, and even to this day, there are still a lot of issues anywhere from on the farm to in a restaurant,” Vallianatos says. “If food isn’t prepared properly, people can get sick and die.”

The professor — like most if not all street food reform advocates — is not in favor of eliminating vital food safety measures. He’s certainly not in favor of, say, deadly outbreaks of listeria or any of the horrors found on the pages of Sinclair’s book and in the news media since and still.

But Vallianatos, same as Laws That Shape L.A. regular contributor James Rojas, does think the regulations that govern street food selling could be re-fashioned to create a situation where everyone involved benefits.

For example, UEPI — directed by Bob Gottlieb — deals with food access and obesity and other public health issues.

Valliantos’ UEPI affiliation puts him, then, in an excellent position to observe that the current street food selling prohibitions make life much easier for vendors who sell pre-packaged bags of potato chips and soda cans than on vendors selling sliced fruit.

Vallianatos explains:

As soon as a food seller handles the food — if you’re selling an apple for example — then you have to have a built-in sink. The sink has to be a certain size, the water has to be a certain temperature and you have to be located within 200 feet of a bathroom. So suddenly you can’t just have a jury-rigged cart. You have to have a unit that has a propane system or something to heat water.”

The Retail Food Code, sometimes called “CalCode,” also mandates that if the vendor’s products require the use of a utensil — say, a cutting knife — then the vendor’s cart needs to have a three-chambered sink — one for dirty utensils, one for soaking and cleaning, the other for drying.

The Code also includes requirements for refrigeration and for separate areas of counter space for various functions. The demands add up, size-wise. “You think you can do a little push cart and suddenly, you can’t do it anymore,” Vallianatos says.

Valliantos offers up an example of all the above regulations in action, and their cumulative effect: “You’ve probably seen cut fruit carts around the city,” he says. “This is one of the few types of street foods that is popular on the westside, the eastside and in South L.A.”

Vallianatos continues: “This is considered a healthy choice — it’s really cool to go up to one of the guys and say, ‘I want a mango’, or a pineapple, and see them cut it. And they have what look like these antiseptic carts made of metal and filled with ice.”

In other words — illegal, illegal, illegal. On three counts.

“The sellers are handling food so they need a washing sink,” Vallianatos explains. “They are using a knife to cut the fruit, so they need a three-chamber sink. They need to have electric refrigeration and they are using ice.”

Indeed, the County of Los Angeles’ Public Health Department clearly lays out eight bullet-pointed regulations on this page – the internet presence of the Department’s Street Vending Compliance Program.

“Illegal vending is a serious public health hazard to our communities throughout Los Angeles County,” text on the site reads. “The Street Vending Compliance Program is responsible for inspecting these vendors who prepare and/or sell food without a Public Health Permit.”

The site also includes photos of the approved permits, photos forbidden food carts, and a hotline number [(626) 430-5500) for people who care to dime on a seller.

When a vendor is busted, Vallianatos says that the vendor's moveable feast-mobile is often confiscated. Vallianatos says he's been told that a County warehouse fills up every six weeks with such seized street-aurants.

So, then what happens to the carts and grills and stands? "They basically sell them for scrap," Vallianatos says. "Most of the vendors don't want to get involved with the legal system, so they won't try and come back and fight the citations. It's a wasteful situation."

Of course, the enforcement squad has to first catch the vendors before they can seize their illicit units. During the course of research on street food vending, Vallianatos and his colleagues interviewed some of the enforcement folks.

The compliance offers apparently speculate that some street vendors employ spotters. The spotters presumably monitor the enforcement vehicles as they depart from headquarters, follow them and alert vendors when the enforcement units draw near.

"They told me that sometimes their inspectors will come to a street where there have been reports of vendors," Valliantos says. "And they say they can still smell the food, but they can't see anyone because they've run off."

Street food in other cities -- okay, we see you Portlandia, please sit back down -- isn't necessarily as stuck in the shadows. And L.A. has at least once nibbled at street food reform. Back in 1994, the city permitted an amendment to the sidewalk vending ordinance that allowed a few vendors to go legit.

This short-term exemption permitted Mama's Hot Tamales, of MacArthur Park fame, to legally sell off-site its glorious goods. This amendment, though, turned out to be at once overly restrictive and under-enforced, Vallianatos says.

"You need twenty percent of adjacent property owners to sign petitions to approve of it and you had fixed locations and pretty high costs," Vallianatos says. "Then illegal vendors would come up right next to you or right across the street and sell cheaper. These two issues caused it to fail and right now there are no legal zones in the city."

So the city's street food life sneaks along nearly two decades later -- more black market than supermarket. That's even with this recent home-baking development as well as progress regarding farmers markets.

So what are the ingredients for change? "Food safety is still a legitimate concern," Vallianatos readily acknowledges. "I think there is a way to have flexibility in how you design carts so it would still be possible for low-income immigrants to use this as an entrepreneurship entry point."

He's ready to work with both health regulators and car and truck manufactures to make that happen. Meanwhile, legalizing such a key element of the city's street life would -- as James Rojas notes here - also help return Los Angeles public space to pedestrians instead of only automobiles and also acknowledge that the city is changing from more suburban to urban, as well as becoming more polyglot -- and epicurean - bite by bite.

Because for every Coolhaus and Kogi, think about how many anonymous vendors are wheeling beat-up carts through the big city; hawking fruits in traffic islands; twinkling dinner-sounding bells on sidewalks; seducing club kids with post-set pepper and onion aromas.

"The issue," Vallianatos says, "is making sure there's a balance between enforcement and creating a good system for vendors so they feel like they have a legitimate reason to become legal and can actually sell and make money and operate and [dealing] with these health code issues so making sure that no one can do it without a $200,000 food truck.”

Top photo: Elote, from Santa Monica Boulevard. Photo by Flickr user A Culinary (Photo) Journal under Creative Common license.

To suggest a “Law That Shaped L.A.” or otherwise contact the columnist via: arrivalstory [at] gmail [dot] com, or leave a comment at the bottom of this page. Follow Rosenberg on Twitter @losjeremy

Letters: Food trucks raring to go

World-class?

Regarding “Food truck fight hits speed bump” (Page A1, Wednesday), having lived in Houston for almost 43 years, I can remember the arguments that Houston would never be a world-class city without light rail. I always disagreed with this.

But if you have traveled to great cities around the world on any continent you find that they universally have one thing in common – great street food. Houston deserves, and can have, a vibrant street food culture and street vendors, including great food trucks.

I wonder why, if restaurateurs think food trucks are such a threat, that they don’t develop their own food truck concepts, enter the marketplace and compete with the existing food truck community. That’s a level playing field, since virtually every gourmet food truck operator wants his or her bricks-and-mortar location. Existing operators would welcome them with open arms.

Al Marcus, Houston

Think different

In the future, if we want to be an economically vibrant city with walkable, urban street life, the City Council must adopt a modern food truck ordinance.

We should look to cities such as Denver, and even Dallas, which are good models with the necessary safeguards in place.

We recognize the concerns of the Greater Houston Restaurant Association, but according to recent studies, food trucks in an urban district (such as downtown or midtown Houston) encourage more eating out and increase local restaurant patronage.

New regulations should permit food truck parks in dead areas of the city, such as under-utilized parking lots, to add life to these areas, as a successful program in Denver demonstrates.

All of this stimulates economic activity and enhances tax revenues for the city. The message from City Council to the food trucks should be: “Keep on food truckin’.”

Peter Brown and E.B. Brooks, BetterHouston

Serve all people

It boggles the mind how Houston City Council members and the Greater Houston Restaurant Association are only fighting to protect the elite population who can afford to eat at expensive downtown restaurants with no thought for the working poor.

Downtown Houston is filled with hard-working folks who don’t earn high wages and who would welcome cheaper and more delicious food options as, I’m sure, everyone else would. I sincerely hope that city officials remember that they were elected to represent all the people, and not just a privileged few.

Anna Núñez, Houston

The Cost Of Starting A Food Truck

In recent years, consumers have increasingly turned to mobile food trucks for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks in between. A industry survey by IBISWorld placed annual revenue from food trucks around $1.2 billion in 2009 and annual growth rates from 2007-2012 near 8.4% annually. “Street Vendors in the US: Market Research Report” estimated that there are over 15,500 individuals who serve food to diners in open-air locations. Due to the continued growth in popularity, starting a food truck is a viable business opportunity.

Big Spenders
At this point, the majority of consumers are familiar with food trucks and have already purchased food from one. Food trucks represent the growth portion of eating out dollars in the U.S. A Gallup poll showed that consumers who eat out of their homes regularly spend more than $100 on a weekly basis, with the average falling around $150 each week. Roughly 10% of those surveyed spent more than $300 each week, with another 8% spending less than $50. Younger people, and men in particular, eat out more often.

In terms of cost, there is a wide range for starting up an outside dining establishment. Street kiosks can be started for only a few thousand dollars. Street kiosks generally cost $3,000 to purchase a food cart, $500 for the food ingredients, and around $1,000 to get the necessary permits and rent a space on the street.

Costs Vary
An actual food truck will likely run into the tens of thousands of dollars. As with any business venture, the costs can be quite low to get a bare bones operation off the ground or extremely high if all the bells and whistles are added immediately. In terms of dollars, the range could be anywhere from $50,000 to $200,000. The higher end of that range would be considered pretty outrageous for anything but a high-end establishment that might also want a food truck presence to cater to its customers. On the lower end, anything below the $50,000 range could start to cause concerns about the reliability of the transportation or quality of the food and preparation equipment.

A very reasonable range for getting a food truck off the ground is likely between $70,000 and $80,000. A reasonably-priced food truck, such as one that is only a few years old and can reasonably be ‘remodeled’ to fit a new food focus, will make up the bulk of the cost at around roughly $60,000. Going new would add considerable expense that might not be worth the risk of a new venture. The additional costs include fuel and maintenance, business permits, kitchen equipment purchases or rental expenses, food supplies, insurance, advertising dollars, and any employee expenses.

The Bottom Line
The growing popularity of food trucks means the costs of getting one going also continue to rise. A price tag that should easily run below six figures is well below that of a traditional brick and mortar restaurant. Opening a physical space in one location will run anywhere from $100,000 to $300,00 at the low end. The key benefit is that diners know where to find the establishment each day. In stark contrast, they need to be updated on where a food truck will be each day. A regular location would be ideal, but the flexibility to drive to where the customers are could be a key competitive advantage for a food truck operator.

Original story – The Cost Of Starting A Food Truck

Travel smart: Should you eat street food in foreign lands?

Should you eat food from street vendors when traveling abroad? Safety experts say no, but Budget Travel magazine’s August issue has good advice for travelers who want to try a sample.

Make sure the food is very hot, it advises. Choose a cart with “a long line and a quick turnover. In the developing world, bring your own bowl and utensils. Avoid carts where flies are flitting.”

And “If you don’t see a place where workers can wash their hands, pass.”

Traverse City Food Trucks Caught Up In Fee Hike

TRAVERSE CITY, MI - Traverse City is a foodie town. You can find locally-sourced meals and treats everywhere. So some people were surprised when the city commission doubled the cost for street vendors to do business in town.

Now, the issue is back before the commission.

Roaming Harvest started rolling just as the commission decided to double fees for street vendors to do business. The converted delivery truck operates at different locations around Traverse City, four days a week and at local events.

On Wednesdays, you can find Roaming Harvest across the street from the Munson Emergency Room on Elmwood and Seventh.

Simon Joseph and his wife, Rebecca, decided to try something new – and contribute to Traverse City’s reputation as a “foodie” town. After two years of planning, they rolled onto the city streets.

The Cost To Do Business In Traverse City
“We’ve been open for a month and a half, and we paid the city of Traverse City 750 dollars to operate.” Joseph continues, “This is on top of a lease we have on Cass Street—that is not in the city limit.”

If the Commission decision stands, Roaming Harvest’s fees will double, to 100 dollars a day, beginning September 15. Joseph says they took the daily fee structure into account when they made their business plan.

“At 50 dollars a day, it was a stepping stone to have this conversation. At 100 a day, I mean that’s almost forbidding me from coming downtown,” Joseph explains. “I mean realistically. We’re a food truck that can carry only so much food. In order for us to do enough business to pay that, it seems a bit of a stretch.”

Find the entire article by Candice Ludlow at ipr.interlochen.org here

Sammy Kassem at his Halal food Cart on 86th St. in Bay Ridge. (Bryan Pace/for…

“It’s amazing. The situation is being recognized,” said Kassem, the whose award was announced Tuesday by the Street Vendor Project at the Urban Justice Center which runs the contest.

“There are people all over the city who have similar problems. I tell other vendors, if you let them take your spot you will never get it back,” Kassem said.

The group’s lawyers teamed up with Kassem this spring at the height of his beef with Lone Star Bar and Grill owner Tony Gentile who launched the Save Our Streets campaign with other Bay Ridge shops.

Gentile complained to police and politicians that Kassem’s cart is dirty and was illegally parked too close to the curb. But city officials haven’t closed down the cart, which is half a block away from Lone Star, because no major violations were found.

“It’s a sad day in Brooklyn, New York, and in America that we give an award to someone who isn’t operating legally,” said Gentile about Kassem’s Vendy award.

Kassem, like other street vendors, doesn’t have to pay rent for his sidewalk space angering the shop owners even more.

Officials will name the other Vendy picks, including “Rookie of the Year” and the top honor of “Vendy Cup,” during the Sept. 15th ceremony on Governor’s Island.

Kassem is New York’s second Vendy hero.

Last year, Patty’s Tacos truck in Manhattan got the award after suing the city, with the aid of Street Vendor Project’s lawyers. Cops said they couldn’t sell food next to parking meters.

Kassem’s refusal to move has transformed him from an unknown Halal street cook to political activist, triggering a flood of requests to the Street Vendor Project asking to make him a hero.

“People talked about how great his food is, but they also talked about the conflict between him and the brick-and-mortar businesses,” said Street Vendor Project staff attorney Matt Shapiro.

simonew@nydailynews.com

Immigrant street vendors in Los Angeles want to legalize their businesses

Ruxandra Guidi/KPCC

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The Big Lie: Mobile Food Vendors Cause of Restaurant Closings

Where is the proof that food trucks are causing financial distress to brick and mortar establishments?

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Eater’s Digest: Dreaming of a healthy food cart

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Strict food safety regime soon

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Street Food Is Not A Crime

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Letters: Food trucks raring to go

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The Cost Of Starting A Food Truck

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Travel smart: Should you eat street food in foreign lands?

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Traverse City Food Trucks Caught Up In Fee Hike

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Sammy Kassem at his Halal food Cart on 86th St. in Bay Ridge. (Bryan Pace/for…

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