Today, the Chicago city council is going to approve a food truck ordinance that is less than ideal for a food truck operator. Yes, it will allow them to assemble their menu items fresh and hot which they were not able to do prior to this doctrine, but they still have to operate out side a 200 foot radius of any brick and mortar dining establishment. How is this fair?
Food truck operators complain that restrictions in the ordinance expected to be approved Wednesday protect bricks-and-mortar competitors too much. (Chris Sweda, Chicago Tribune / September 15, 2011)
The ordinance doesn’t serve the needs of the lunch-seeking public. It benefits the brick-and-mortar eateries, whose owners don’t want the competition.
Those business owners complain that the food trucks park near their restaurants and hijack customers. A traditional four-walls-and-a-roof restaurant has higher overhead, including real estate taxes, the owners argue. Yes, but it also has air conditioning, table seating, restrooms and maybe a liquor license. If that business model doesn’t work, then maybe those restaurants should have their own trucks. Some of them already plan to do so.
In other cities, the reverse is sometimes true: A popular food truck becomes an incubator for a new restaurant.
Restauranteurs and established places to eat need not complain and instead welcome the ever evolving competition. What are your thoughts?
Quotes taken from the Chicago Tribune
