Hipsters are doing to food what they already did to music and comedy.
Posted on 01/23/2013 1:49:23 PM PST by PJ-Comix
Food trucks have become the hottest new industry, yet many cities are doing everything they can to stop them in their tracks. In city after city, lawmakers are imposing complicated regulations on food trucks and other street vendors, often in the name of consumer safety, which make it nearly impossible for vendors to actually operate their trucks. Chicago’s regulations are particularly onerous, as Reason reports:
According to the Chicago Tribune, 109 would-be purveyors of mobile cuisine have applied for licenses, but the city hasn’t seen fit to OK any of them. Among the requirements they may be having difficulty meeting:
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.the-american-interest.com ...
Good subject-—tab for later reference.
John Stossel should be on this soon....
Our church was opening up a day care center.
The city told us our kitchen was inadequate: it had to be a commercial grade kitchen. The fact that we had published we were not going to serve food meant nothing. So we installed a very expensive commercial kitchen.
Next we were told we had to have we had to have a fire lane installed in the woods behind the building. When we applied for a permit to do so, we were told we had to have a restraining fence inside the firewall before they would issue the permit.
When we tried to get a permit for the wall, we were told we could not get one because there was no fire lane in the woods.
We tried for years to get beyond this impasse. We eventually gave up.
The food truck fad will pass much like the mobile ice cream truck Mr. Softee.
Really a shame that food trucks are being run out of existence.
Austin might be the liberal capital of Texas, but its residents are proud of the quality and variety of food available from food trucks and local vendors. One of the things Austin does right, imo.
I suspect this mostly comes down to A) local restaurants don’t want the competition and/or B) the city views them as a nuisance, and is using the building and health codes as an excuse to run them out of town.
In my own experience, I’ve had some great meals from street vendors and “taco trucks”. Some of the best Mexican food I’ve ever eaten has come out of a lunch truck or stand. I admit I’ve seen a few vendors whose fare looked a little iffy. But folks like that don’t last. If you see a line of locals at a spot, you know it’s probably got great food.
They are one of the easiest businesses to start if you are laid off, so yeah, ban them.
Yeah, and on 620 food trucks are starting to make inroads.
Round Rock and Pville are trying to get some going, too.
Reposting from another thread...
In 2002, I bought a lot in WV, on the side of a mountain. I wanted to build a pond on a dry stream bed (Pics 1&2 below) in a partial cleared area, but permits were required since they classified this as a “wetland”. I was at 1600 ft, and this thing only ran water when it rained. I did have some weepy springs adjacent, but they were only wet WHEN IT RAINED or for a few days/weeks after.
I checked on the process and found that there were fees of more than $8,000, plus about two years of WAITING FOR THE PROCESS and MAYBE (or maybe not!) GET THEIR APPROVAL. I was told I would probably not be able to build it!
In December, I hired a young equipment operator, rented a trackhoe and dozer, and began the pond construction (pic 3). My location was sorta private, so I barged ahead. Along the way, a big snow and rain followed, which washed away about $15000 of work. $8000 later, I had a pond (pic $). That summer, I stocked it with fish, frogs, and turtles. Around August, I got a letter and summons. Oops (not!).
The result was a $5000 fine and a nice pond. I recently sold the lot, after divorcing my young wife! I live full time in my RV now and love it!
How to get through grad school without food trucks?
This wasn't a "problem" when latino and other minorities ran such vehicles at labor sites in "the community". But when young upwardly mobile hipsters started selling exotic fusion combination items and $7 hot dogs and $9 hamburgers, well the money became something worthwhile to skim. And the yuppies can afford to pay license fees daily and will obey.
Democrat cities (most major urban areas) are broke. They need more revenue. And they need to keep city employees working (and voting Democrat). Go through the system. Stand here. Pay this. Show your receipt/license here...
Union thugs don’t get any action would be my guess so they put any compotition out of business. Why would anybody live in that sh!ethole!!
Too bad for Carlton....he had good eats
The city conducts frequent sanitation inspections on regular restaurants where I live, but not on the food trucks.
Many have no sanitation facilities on the trucks.
I won’t eat at them because of that.
You are going to the Philippines?
I can’t tell who got screwed in your post: you or them?
They’re a threat to bricks/mortar restaurants, which have pretty powerful lobbies working on their behalf to stiffle real competition.
We’re increasingly moving towards the “Demolition Man” situation where every restaurant is Taco Bell.
“We eventually gave up.”
-
The madness of the regulations gave me one of the best laughs I’ve had in a while.
Astonishing !
.
Hipsters are doing to food what they already did to music and comedy.
Food trucks are the mp3 of the restaurant business. The establishment feels threatened by them NOW. Not so much for the past 80 years though. New blood came into the business.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.