Columbus Food Truck Pilot Program Sitting in Neutral
COLUMBUS, OH - Because of complaints from food-truck owners about Columbus’ plan to regulate the popular mobile restaurants, public-safety officials are delaying the start of the program and considering more changes.
Truck owners say the 18 to 20 metered parking spots the city planned to make available on a first-come, first-served basis are not enough and would create a hostile environment among owners scrambling for the spots.
The city is trying to balance allowing the trucks in already cramped areas such as the Short North, Arena District and Downtown while maintaining public safety and not hurting surrounding businesses.
A pilot program was to have been in place by June 1, but the latest back and forth with owners has led to at least a two-week delay to develop new ideas.
The popularity of the culinary cruisers has exploded in the past few years, with an estimated 150 or more of the trucks in the city.
City officials say regulating the trucks is necessary because of complaints from residents and business owners who said some trucks were leaving behind trash, creating noise and parking outside brick-and-mortar restaurants. At the same time, food-truck owners have complained that the city’s commercial sales-license policy is too difficult to understand.
Councilwoman Michelle Mills is leading the charge for regulation that appeases food-truck owners but, she said, “My No. 1 priority is public safety and protecting our residents.”
“There has to be some things that we have to say no to,” she said. “We absolutely want to support the food-truck industry, and it is a huge part of our tour-ism industry here, so we have to strike a balance.”
The city’s pilot program includes the following provisions to operate on city-owned property:
• Trucks have to obey time limits at the meters.
• Public spaces must be vacated by 3 a.m. every day.
• Trucks cannot be longer than 25 feet.
• Owners must obtain a temporary sales permit.
Find the entire article by Lucas Sullivan at The Columbus Dispatch here
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Don’t Miss Food Truck Tuesday’s at Grady High School
Don’t Miss Food Truck Tuesday at Grady High School. The trucks will be located at Grady High’s 10th Street Parking Lot on Tuesday, May 14th from 3:00 pm – 7:00 pm.
According to the most recent Grady Gram, the Grady High family is looking forward to a sampling of great food and desserts at this year’s Food Truck event!
You need to eat and the teachers need supplies – so it’s a win-win.
All money raised at Food Truck Tuesday will fund supplies for Grady classroom teachers.
Stay and enjoy the Grady cluster jazz bands at 7:00 pm. Everyone is welcome to attend the events!
Can’t make it Tuesday, but would like to contribute? Teacher sponsorships are $50 — feel free to sponsor a teacher in part or in full. Please click here for more info: Food Truck Tuesday Info.
We are also in need of volunteers to help the evening of the event, so please click here to volunteer and get your limited edition T-shirt. Food Truck Volunteer Sign-up
Have questions? Contact Erlese Caruth at ecaruth@comcast.net or Gigi Schwartz at jesgigi@comcast.net
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Fat City food truck rally grows to 10 vendors on Monday
The second Fat City food truck rally has attracted 10 vendors, up from six at the inaugural event. It’s scheduled Monday from 5 to 10 p.m. at 3215 Edenborn Ave. in Metairie.
The first rally April 15 was so popular that the trucks ran out of food before 8:30 p.m. Vendors were La Cocinita, Epanada Intifada, NOLA Girl, Rue Chow, Crepes a la Cart and Foodie Call.
On Monday evening, those will be joined by Frencheeze, For Here R 2 Go Po-Boys, Crazy Johnnie’s, and Maurice’s Bakery, said Jefferson Parish Council member Cynthia Lee-Sheng. Crazy Johnnie’s and Maurice’s both have stores in Fat City.
Lee-Sheng has organized the events with the Drago’s Family Foundation and the New Orleans food truck coalition. She has said that she hopes to enliven the area with new businesses and residents.
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Food Truck Festival Rolls into Odessa Friday
Westchase area residents who are tired of pulling kitchen duty in the evenings can grab some lawn chairs, load up the car and head to the Odessa Organic Farmers Market on Friday.
May 10 is the night for this month’s Odessa Food Truck Festival. The trucks roll in at 5 p.m. while the fun lasts until 9. Rollin Zoinks Truck, Holy Smokes BBQ, 3 Suns Bistro and other popular eateries on wheels all plan to be in attendance, according to the market’s Facebook page. Entertainment is also usually a part of the fun.
The market is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, May 10 and again from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. It’s closed on Sunday in recognition of Mother’s Day.
To check out the fresh produce or the festival, just stop by the market’s 8701 Gunn Highway location. For more details on this week’s harvest or other upcoming events, check out Odessa Organic Farmers Market on Facebook.
What’s your favorite food truck? Tell us by commenting below!
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Which Carbonated Beverage Brand Does Your Food Truck Sell?
With the mobile food industry continuing to grow we are constantly on the look out to assist both the owner operators as well as the customers of these rolling bistros. From time to time we run polls to gain industry information that truck owners can use to help better their customer service and the options that they provide to the communities that they serve. Other times our polls are set to find out general information “we” want to know.
This poll looks at the brands of carbonated drinks mobile food vendors owners sell. If you sell multiple brands, please feel free to select those that are appropriate.
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Let us know and be sure to share this post with all of the other trucks in your area, so we can share our findings with our readers.
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Food Truck Alley Grows in Second Week
Visitors to downtown Alpharetta Thursday night for the Food Truck Alley found more food and more tables than in last week’s inaugural event.
Fork in the Road promised to arrange for more trucks and they did, with seven trucks this week compared to four last week. Two dessert trucks plus a food cart serving up handmade popsicles increased the number of after dinner treats, too.
Mild temperatures and a stiff breeze made for a pleasant evening before the sun went down. Sweaters or light jackets were probably appreciated after dark as the temperature dipped to 60 degrees.
The Food Truck Alley is held every Thursday on Old Roswell Street in downtown Alpharetta, weather permitting. If severe weather threatens the event – like it did for the planned start date – the city will announce its status by 9 a.m. on the city website. And Alpharetta-Milton Patch will pas son that update, too.
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Riverside County OKs food truck festival – U
Riverside County supervisors have given the green light for a food truck festival to be held outside the County Administrative Center in downtown Riverside on June 25.
Proposed by Supervisor Kevin Jeffries of Lakeland Village, supervisors unanimously approved the festival Tuesday.
Jeffries said it is his aim to return later with a measure that would open the door for trucks serving hot food to operate throughout Riverside County all the time. He said Riverside is the only Southern California county that bars them.
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DUMBO Food Truck Lot Opening Today
Domo Truck (Tien Mao/Gothamist)
The new DUMBO food truck lot we told you about last week debuts today. Bian Dang owner Thomas Yang emailed this morning to let us know about the soft launch and Domo Taco has already set up shop in the dainty space.
The fusion taco truck will be joined by Hibachi Heaven and Fishing Shrimp for the inaugural encampment. We also have word that Bian Dang will be vending on Wednesday; follow @dumbolot on Twitter for updates about which trucks will be participating. This is going to be dangerous!
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Mt. Pleasant discusses revising peddlers and transient merchants ordinance …
Mt. Pleasant city commissioners are looking at revising ordinances that interfere with downtown food cart and trailer businesses.
Existing ordinances state that large trucks cannot park on city streets or in public lots, and cannot take up a major number of parking places.
“Our peddler transient merchant … ordinance for those kinds of merchants was written decades and decades ago, and thus, no longer works,” City Manager Kathie Grinzinger.
After being approached by local transient merchants, commissioners gathered for an April 8 work session to develop new rules and restrictions for door-to-door merchants and food carts in the city limits.
“The Wiener Wagon recently came to us; it upgraded,” city attorney Scott Smith said. “(It) used to be a hand pushed cart, now it’s a motor vehicle pulled trailer.”
Smith said the Wiener Wagon sought to renew its license, but because it no longer fits the peddler category, there is no category under the current ordinance to accommodate the Wiener Wagon’s large trailer.
No firm policy decisions were made, but Smith will draft a revised vision of the current ordinance for commissioners to explore further.
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Hutto taps into food truck trend
Hutto plans to roll out a year-long plan this summer to revitalize the city’s downtown area by opening a venue to host food trailers.
Planning and zoning ordinances and the city charter would first need to be amended to allow the project to move forward, the Community Impact Newspaper reports.
The city is considering a lot near Farley Street and adjacent to The Co-op to set up the trucks. Hey Cupcake has revealed its interest in setting up a Hutto trailer.
“We have been approached by some businesses that specifically want to do a food truck,” Planning Manager Will Guerin told the newspaper. “Part of the trend of food trailer parks is that it’s a good trial period for businesses.”
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