Eat & Drink
Toronto begins cracking down on "illegal" food trucks
Food Cabbie, a popular food truck operating near George Brown College, has been given a verbal warning by the City of Toronto to cease operations by the end of the month. The turn of events is the result of a rather obscure bylaw that states, "Refreshment vehicles cannot park or operate in a public or private parking lot". It's all the more surprising because back in August The City issued them a permit to operate in the parking lot near Mutual and Queen Street East where they've been dishing up pulled-pork sandwiches, Philly cheese steaks and breakfast burritos to hungry students and workers in the area.
The popularity of food trucks has been on the rise in Toronto for the past year and this represents yet another setback in the ongoing efforts of many to improve the quality of Toronto's street food offerings. Luckily, Food Cabbie doesn't plan on giving up without a fight,
So far they have started an online petition in hopes that the bylaw will be altered so that food trucks like theirs can park on private parking lots if the landlord gives them approval. Otherwise, the withstanding bylaw all but guarantees that food trucks won't be able to park anywhere this side of Hamilton.
Having run a successful food truck (with plenty of media attention I should add) since the summer, the couple is confounded about the situation they now find themselves in.
"Toronto is a world class city but the way their by laws are and the way their licensing department works is very confusing." said Spiros. Regardess of the warning from the City, the couple plans on staying put for now.
Photo by Jesse Milns
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The second is that some city employee, they're not all like this but they're a vocal minority, lives in Pickering, 8th grade education, functionally illiterate except they have every word of the collective agreement memorized, is running behind on his quota this month and/or has decided he doesn't personally like the food truck thing for some reason, probably because it means more work for them and decided to do something about it.
Comments alluding to Rob Ford's weight always come up in stories regarding Toronto food trucks and it's a stupid thing to bring up. Ford is a meat and potatoes guy, who probably doesn't eat anything considered "exotic". (Okay the Food Cabbie is not the greatest example to support this line of thinking.). Most overweight people are terrible eaters, who have their palettes blown off by highly sugared and processed foods. Though Rob Ford should like food trucks because they are small businesses and are victims of red-tape and "government policy"
Set some simple but strict food handling and sanitation standards, whitelist or blacklist certain areas and zoning types for truck/cart locations (whichever is least confusing), ensure proper funding and training for regulatory staff to make sure the industry doesn't fall afoul of the established rules (and to ensure that the rules adequately protect public health, and don't unduly restrict operators from conducting otherwise legal business), and let the chefs rip.
I eat at the food cabbie quite often, I would hate to see it go. There really isn't much in the area to eat.
Let them run a small business and make a few bucks.
So maybe Toronto IS on par with the "World Class" cities for once...
Toronto, I love you but you give me more reasons everyday to HATE YOU.
Not quite the case. Nearly every state in the U.S is taking a different approach to food trucks. If you look at SXSW right now, it's food truck in all its wonderful glory. Dozens of carts participating at the festival using a
variety spaces, public and private.
Austin and Portland are leading the way in this scene, always have been.
In LA, food trucks roam, because of the open spaces, and the drive mentality.
In Miami, food trucks have been getting hammered with legislation, but events flourish. Lots of great food from the trucks in Miami.
In Baltimore, the city is encouraging entrepreneurs to open food trucks, employing relaxed rules and allowing truckers to use certain zones to operate.
In Philly, food trucks are setting up at universities, pedestrian ways, and sometimes festivals. Imagine walking by UofT or Ryerson and seeing 12 trucks lined up for lunch, that's Philly.
In Boston, food trucks participate in many festivals, and a few, very few public spaces.
In New York, well there's no space...we all know this. It's not food truck friendly, so the city is cracking down on food trucks. However, look at cart culture. NYC has a tremendous number of food carts, and they are rocking it. Over 75% of it is halal too, to boot.
Comparing Toronto to NYC would be totally silly, but you can see what's happening in the U.S. with varying states and their varying landscapes.
We already know Toronto has 'some' room for food trucks. The ones at UofT, the ones by Nathan Phillips square (those food trucks can operate there because their licenses were acquired before the 2002 Moratorium).
But Toronto doesn't have THAT much space. It's not as dense. The solution, in my humble opinion, is not to allow food trucks to be curbside in the core. The solution is to set up food zones in the city. Areas where 1-3 trucks can set up for a day, and rotate, without pissing off restaurants, creating a food culture, and functioning as a starting point.
Food pods or zones, whatever you want to call it, is the solution for Toronto. Our own hacked version of the Singapore hawker centers.
It is totally possible, look at food truck eats.
/Suresh
oh sorry did we miss them parked for the last thirty years in front of city hall ????
why is this little food truck getting so slammered ?? is it because it actually has a rotating food menu and it tastes better than the crap there slinging in front of city hall or is some crazy legislation or by law stopping them after they gave them permission and a license to set up ???
what the hell is going on at City Hall ??? Can they just revoke their licence after they made them jump through a million hoops ??? Come On !!
When is city hall going to get its shit together and protect its city's population instead of burying their heads in the crap that they initiated in the first place ???
as long as they play by the rules which in my opinion they have ... screw all the disgruntled
people who find this not acceptable
last i remember we live in a democratic society and the way i see it this food truck has a family to feed and a mortgage to pay and all those in favour of it staying front and centre unite and place your comments so others can do as well !!
what a bunch of crap !! all over food trucks !! this city has lost a bit of its charm and is becoming a real dump in my mind ... have you seen the trash of losers and homeless that litter the downtown streets ?? the drug addicts and dealers that the city does nothing about ?? the pan handlers and ditch dwellers and seriously dirty ill people touching every door handle and pissind in every corner of the downtown metro .....
wake up people .. the battle with the food truck is small in comparison to the poverty that makes its ugly presence know each and every day !!
I BELEIVE in Food Cabbie !!! so should you !!
all i can think about is how awesome the food trucks are in new york. man i wish i could walk down to the corner of the street and get a fish taco for like $3. The quality and diversity of food trucks in other places is soo much better!!!
I don't agree with what Harris did, but he's the only politician in a long time who did every single thing he was elected to do. He cut as he said he would, and reformed as he said he would. You may not agree with his policies, but that is at least an honest person.
Now if only all three parties could offer up such a person.