Food Truck Owners to City: We're Not Roach Coaches

Gone are the days when 'food truck' meant a grimy wagon selling microwaved burritos to construction workers, mobile food vendors told Elk Grove city planners Wednesday. Today's gourmet trucks serve fresh, locally-sourced ingredients cooked up onsite, often with a propane grill.

And that new reality, they argued, makes —which mandate that vendors parked on streets move every 15 minutes—simply outdated.

"By the time you open your doors and set up your grill, that's easily 20 minutes," Paul Somerhausen, a coordinator for vendor alliance SactoMoFo, said at a public meeting called to discuss changes to the rules.

The meeting came in the wake of a sometimes-contentious debate over whether to relax regulations on mobile food sales in Sacramento. In Elk Grove, where officials are seeking to combat perceptions that the city is unfriendly to business, the arguments of the handful of vendors who showed up Wednesday fell on sympathetic ears.

"One of the things we've noticed is our ordinance is particularly restrictive," said city planning director Taro Echiburu. "The basis for us being here...is to see what we can do to make it more flexible."

Two o'clock curfew

Besides complying with the 15-minute rule, food truck owners currently must obtain an Elk Grove business license, pass county health department inspections and avoid blocking traffic or parking within 350 feet of a school. Trucks that park on streets need a special permit from the city. Serving hours are limited to between 7:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.—even on private property.

Truck owners want to be able to park for at least two hours, or as long as posted parking limits allow. And they say the 2:00 p.m. curfew keeps them from serving hungry crowds at evening events.

"You guys have a lot of cool events going on all the time that go past two o'clock," said Andrew Blaskovich, owner of the hipster grilled-cheese-mobile Drewski's Hot Rod Kitchen. "If you were to open up the curfew, we'd be able to participate in things like the pumpkin festival and the bike park."

Vendors also said that because they operate in several cities, they sometimes have to pay multiple fees to meet the same requirements in different jurisdictions.

But Elk Grove Planning Commission member Frank Maita said those pale in comparison to fees paid by brick-and-mortar restaurants who compete with the food trucks.

"There are going to be concerns about having some sense of equity," he said. "The city charges some pretty hefty fees if you're a restaurant."

Competition with restaurants

As ever-larger crowds of foodies flock to rolling eateries, the California Restaurant Association is keeping a close eye on regulatory discussions unfolding in different cities, said Johnnise Foster Downs, local government affairs director for the association.

While Sacramento requires that trucks change locations every 30 minutes, Citrus Heights allows them to stay in place for one hour; in Rancho Cordova, it's two hours.

Downs said the main concern she hears from members is "when a brick-and-mortar restaurant does extensive advertising and then a food truck pulls up [in front of the restaurant] and benefits from that."

But Stacey Morrison, co-owner of restaurant in Elk Grove, said she thought restaurants and food trucks could peacefully coexist.

"We went to the Sacramento food truck festival in Fremont Park and all the restaurants around there were jam-packed that day," she said. "We ended up eating in a restaurant."

Morrison and sister Nicki Smith have now added a food truck to their business and will debut their bacon-wrapped franks and tri-tip chili at Saturday's SactoMoFo 3 festival in Sacramento.

"We certainly wouldn't want anyone to park in front of our hotdog place," she said. "But [other food trucks] respect business owners and know not to do that."

Elk Grove: food truck hotspot?

City staff say there are still several kinks to work out, such as what to do about traditional trucks that serve pre-prepared food and whether the city should issue separate permits for festivals.

One factor that could entice Elk Grove to relax its rules: increased business from the thousands of out-of-town eaters who follow food trucks on Facebook and Twitter. Many of them are already showing up to at Elk Grove businesses—events that are forbidden under the current rules.

With staff hoping to put a proposal before the planning commission by late January, it's possible Elk Grove could see a change in its regulations before Sacramento. Could that cause food truck vendors to flee Sactown for the Grove?

Not likely, said Blaskovich.

"It's all about where the people are," he said. "I'll still be rocking downtown."

Privately, mobile food vendors admit the current rules are spottily enforced, in both Sacramento and Elk Grove. But when it comes to their livelihoods, they're following the advice of generations of legal experts: get it in writing.