Posted on 12/12/2017 10:11:51 PM PST by Oshkalaboomboom
Laura Pekarik bakes cupcakes and sells them from a food truck. Her truck provided a great opportunity, letting her open a business without having to spend big to hire a staff and rent space in a building.
"Instead of renting a whole brick and mortar and managing a team of people, it was just me and one baker," she explains.
But increased regulations, such as new rules that forbid trucks to park near established restaurants, make life hard for people like Pekarik.
"It became ever more difficult to find parking locations when we went to the city (Chicago) to try to sell our cupcakes," she says. "I would have customers calling me trying to find us and I was like, I'm trying to find a parking spot! I'll post as soon as I land."
Jumping through hurdles like that forced her to waste gas, money and time, so she cut back her business and rarely, if ever, drives to Chicago. "Every moment that we're driving around and not parked in a location with our window open meant that we couldn't sell."
Food truck operator Joey Vanoni is tortured by regulations, too. He sells pizza in Baltimore.
That rescued him from unemployment. After serving in Afghanistan, he couldn't find a job. But then he learned about food trucks. "It really started taking off right around the recession ... 2008," he told me for my YouTube video this week. "A lot of restaurant entrepreneurs -- capital they had was not enough to go out and start a restaurant on their own. Banks weren't willing to give loans. So the food truck phenomenon really took off."
But now Baltimore's anti-food truck rules make that harder. Vanoni is not allowed to park within 300 feet of any established restaurant selling the same product. Since there are pizza restaurants all over town, that leaves him few places to park.
Why do bureaucrats create hurdles like that?
People who trust government assume it's to reduce congestion, or something like that.
But the real purpose is to protect already-established restaurants. They don't like competition. No business does.
They shouldn't have to face such competition, argues Chicago Alderman Tom Tunney. He sets food truck parking rules in his district.
"A brick and mortar is a much more stable enterprise," he says. "I'm going to be prejudicial towards those kinds of businesses."
Tunney has another reason "to be prejudicial." He owns brick and mortar restaurants in the area. At least he discloses that.
Regulations that limit food truck operations are a protectionist scam, says Dick Carpenter of the libertarian law firm Institute for Justice. Carpenter says such rules are "a bottleneck" that established businesses use to kill competition.
The rules, like demands for licensing of florists, moving companies, hair dressers, tour guides, etc., are passed by politicians. But often these politicians are in cahoots with owners of established businesses.
"But in the case of food trucks, is the competition fair?" I asked Carpenter. "The guy who opened the restaurant and had to pay real estate taxes -- and pay for his building. Isn't he getting ripped off by these new guys?"
"That assumes the food truck operator doesn't pay expenses of the same type," answered Carpenter, but they do. "Food truck operators pay taxes, they pay rents, and through their rents they pay property taxes."
With the help of the Institute for Justice, Pekarik and Vanoni are suing Chicago and Baltimore, arguing that it's unconstitutional for regulators to favor one industry over another.
It's been a long battle, says Carpenter. "This case with Laura: five years and going." Food truck owners face very organized opposition, he adds. "The restaurant association has so much influence over those who are elected officials."
All these battles against "bottleneckers" are important, argues the Institute, because Americans have a right to economic liberty -- the right to earn a living in an occupation of their choice, free from excessive government interference.
Getting rid of that interference will give us all more choices, even if it's just one cupcake and pizza slice at a time.
Picking winners based on who pays property taxes...that makes sense.
Oh, and hire folks to work in the brink and mortar cafes, etc.
Anchorage has the same issue set - street carts selling food vs tax paying restaurants.
So far, the food carts are losing.
Food trucks ought to pay something for the space they occupy just like anyone else does. Why shouldn’t they? When these food truck owners say they pay rent, are they talking about renting or do they own their parking spots? I don’t think so.
They should pay more than they're paying. The brick and mortar establishments have far more overhead costs. They're paying towards property taxes that maintain streets and utilities such as sewer, gas and water infrastructure. People that buy from food trucks need receptacles for litter, restrooms for crapping (which uses sewer and water infrastructure), sidewalk and crosswalk maintenance, etc., the list is lengthy. The food trucks skip out on these overhead costs. They are convenient to drop by a factory setting where the factory welcomes the convenience for their employees. But the food trucks really are a hindrance to established brick and mortar establishments. By the way, brick and mortar places have many regulations foisted on them, handicap access, restroom maintenance, kitchen compliance which is real crazy difficult to comply with, seating and parking restrictions, etc. I had a friend who went bankrupt trying to comply with all the regulations while opening a pizza restaurant.
In a case like this I will usually come down on the side of the business owner who is paying rent and taxes in his own business establishment. How do you compete against someone whose place of business is in a public right of way?
PJ O'Rourke
Most food trucks lease a space. Taxes are paid on that space, Sales tax paid on product.
I’m a fan of food trucks.
But increased regulations, such as new rules that forbid trucks to park near established restaurants,
I have seen a bunch of long term restaurants close in the last few years near my office, There are at least 5 sidewalk restaurants setup everyday, complete with Tables and Chairs all along the street within walking distance of the restaurants that closed.
Chef (2014)...R | 114 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama: A head chef quits his restaurant job and buys a food truck in an effort to reclaim his creative promise, while piecing back together his estranged family.
whatever rent they pay covers the property tax + loan for the property owner...so yes they do pay a portion of property tax...if even indirectly through the land owner.
A renter pays property tax indirectly.
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