In fiesta season, which just ended, everybody and his grand aunt Chuleta puts up a taco stand or booze stall on the plaza. Yes: In front of God and everybody. These do not have permits.In Santa Maria, CA, with it's heavily Mexican population, BBQ stands are set up Saturday on just about every corner on Broadway.
I live in NC now and thought of doing the same thing here in our little town since I can't find a da*n job. So I made the mistake of visiting the County Health Department to see what would be required to get a permit to do that.
I would have had put up a screened enclosure with fly fans, hot and cold running water and a sink to wash my hands. The temperature of the water would have to be monitored. I would need a refrigerator (also monitored), and restroom facilities.
All food would have to be prepared in a Class A restaurant - no food prep on site. Neither could I sell any food containing mayonaise.
Needless to say, I have forgotten about that idea.
Oh yes, my brother told me that the city fathers in Santa Maria tried to do the same thing to the BBQ stands there. They were gone for about a month, until the local population revolted and demanded that they be allowed to return.
http://www.santamariatimes.com/articles/2002/08/17/news/export4045.txt Crackdown on catering trucks
By Jasmine Marshall and Elizabeth Rodriguez / Times Staff Writers
SANTA MARIA -- Catering trucks have become so popular with Santa Marians, some restaurant owners are thinking of foregoing their more expensive rent and overhead in favor offering a moveable feast. Others are fed up with the trend because they say the trucks are flouting health and operating codes while cutting into their business.
"Many of my permanent facility operators have said they want to sell and get a truck because they just can't make it," confirms Richard Furtado, an inspector for Santa Barbara County's Environmental Health Department, which handles permits and inspections for the food industry.
One restaurant owner who doesn't plan to sell her business and buy a truck is Petra Hernandez. With her husband, Hernandez operates the El Rey Del Taco restaurant on West Main Street. She's fed up with catering truck operators who she says have set up permanent shop at several locations on Main Street and Broadway.
"These trucks are here all the time. Morning, noon and night. They don't move," said Hernandez, showing a photo she recently took documenting a catering truck open for business and serving a customer after dark.
The city of Santa Maria does not permit catering vehicles to sell food between the hours of 6 p.m. and 7 a.m. The trucks are also not supposed to be parked for more than 30 minutes at any location on public streets. Catering vehicles parked on private property must have written permission from the owner and cannot stay for more than 70 minutes before moving to another location for at least two hours.
Hernandez said that isn't happening. She claims catering trucks are operating like restaurants, not moving at all.
"It isn't fair to those of us who follow the laws and codes," Hernandez said. "If you get your permits and follow the laws, then fine, I have no problem with you. But many of them (catering trucks) aren't. They don't pay for business licenses or go through the same health inspection process."
While catering vehicles are supposed to be inspected on a yearly basis, it's up to the operators to come in and apply for the permits, Fertado said.
"A lot of them are not being inspected," said Furtado. "It's on their honor to come in and get the permits, and they don't always."
Many of the catering trucks appear to be coming from Southern California, as are produce trucks, ice cream carts and corn vendors, hoping to capture the lucrative market of Santa Maria's Latino immigrant population. "Coyotes" often bring up newly arrived Mexican immigrants, desperate for work to sell food on the streets. Their customers may be purchasing snow cones, meat or corn kept in unsanitary conditions, but they rarely file complaints with his department, Furtado said.
Spurred by complaints by permanent restaurant owners like Hernandez, Santa Maria's code compliance department has asked the Santa Maria Police Department begin investigating whether the catering trucks violating the law. It won't be the first time the issue has been brought up according to Wendy Stockton, senior deputy city attorney.
"It's cyclical," said Stockton. The city typically investigates and prosecutes catering trucks violating city codes after receiving complaints from business owners like Hernandez.
Some catering truck owners said they follow guidelines to run their business and have no fear of a city crackdown.
The owner of Nohely's Hot Lunch, parked on Main Street, said he has had commercial permits for many years. He did not give his name. Though he did not wish to show the permits, he insisted he does indeed have permits.
"I don't know what you're trying to get at, but otherwise how could I be here," he said in Spanish.
At 3:30 p.m. Friday afternoon Nohely's Hot Lunch was parked at the corner of Kathleen Lane and Main Street. The owner of the truck said he doesn't stay there all day, he moves further west on Main Street where the farm workers are.
Delfino Cuevas, owner of Tacos y Mariscos El Rinconsito de Mexico, was eager to show his permits from both Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. Cuevas said, in Spanish, he takes his truck to San Luis Obispo during the day and comes to Santa Maria in the evenings. He said he moves around different parts of town approximately every hour and added he knows of catering trucks that stay in one location all day.
The food he serves, Cuevas said, is bought at La Chiquita Market and cooked in the truck. He said he has a permit to cook in the truck as well.
Alfonso Navarro, who works for the Tacos y Mariscos El Tapatio, also known as "A Touch of Class," also had no qualms about showing his permits from Santa Barbara County and Santa Maria. He said they have unannounced health inspections, and "that's good," he said in Spanish.
The "Touch of Class" truck is plugged into an electrical outlet in the parking lot of Calderon's Tires. Navarro said the truck owner has a symbiotic relationship with the owners of the tire shop: The catering truck employees keep the tire shop bathrooms clean and the truck can use electricity.
Another employee of the catering truck said the best way to know whether or not a catering truck has a permit from the health department is to look for a sticker similar to that of a Department of Motor Vehicles license plate tag.
Policing the catering trucks is difficult for the Santa Maria Police Department, when officers already have their hands full dealing with crimes and safety calls, said Sgt. Scott Vales.
But Hernandez said the issue is important, especially as merchants like herself are trying to revitalize northwest Santa Maria.
"This isn't how we want Santa Maria to look," she said pointing at a photo of a catering truck. "We're the All-America City, but this makes us look like East L.A."
* Staff writer Jasmine Marshall can be reached at (805) 739-2219, or by e-mail at
jmarshall@pulitzer.net. Staff writer Elizabeth Rodriguez can be reached at (805) 347-4580 or by e-mail at
erodriguez@pulitzer.net. August 17, 2002