Times are changing…and in the right direction for food truck owners and for food truck manufacturers, like us, at Custom Mobile Food Equipment. In the past few months, several cities have changed or proposed changes to relax their current ordinances related to food truck businesses. The food truck trend is ever-growing and is projected to be a $7 billion industry.
In March of 2017, an article featured in the Charlotte Observer, outlined a proposal to allow food truck owners to park within 100 feet of residential areas, instead of the current 400 feet law. Food trucks in Charlotte would also be able to stay open later than under current law, which currently requires them to close at 9pm. The proposed changes will go up for vote by the City Council soon and the decision(s) could be several months away.
In April of 2017, the City of Nacogdoches in Texas is considering revising the current ordinances in order to do a better job of serving food truck vendors and their customers. The city’s leaders have recognized that current regulations are outdated and do not meet the industry’s needs. One such proposed amendment to the current regulation would allow a food vendor to be parked at its location longer than an hour. A number of food truck vendors find that the current ordinances are too restrictive and are counter-intuitive to growth.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported that the Illinois Restaurant Association is supporting a plan to also allow food truck vendors to extend their current parking limit of two hours. When food trucks first rolled out onto the food scene, there was quite a bit of animosity between restaurants and food truck owners. Times have changed and we have seen a shift in their way of thinking. A number of restaurants no longer feeling threatened by the competition, but joining in on it. Some restaurants are now rolling out food trucks of their own or utilizing some type of mobile catering service and some are now supporting the relaxation of local ordinances regarding food truck vendors.
