Despite all the excitement surrounding Tampa's first food truck rally, the mobile eatery craze is having a difficult time making its way to the 'Burg side of the bay. Sam Dudding, Pinellas-based owner of the Fire Monkey Food Truck, shares some reasons why.
Todd Sturtz: Can you explain the heartache in trying to operate a food truck in St. Petersburg?
Sam Dudding: According to the city of St. Petersburg, food trucks belong under the chapter of the code of ordinances called "Vending, Roadside Market." This code was written in 1998 in an effort to promote economic development in disadvantaged neighborhoods, otherwise known as the Empowerment Zone. While food trucks did exist in 1998, they did not exist in their current incarnation as clean, well-run commercial kitchens on wheels with certified chefs … serving up creative street food and gourmet offerings. It is apparent from reading the code that it was not written with today's food trucks in mind.
The code relegates food trucks to roughly 30 street corners [in St. Pete]… limits roadside market activity to private property with the property owners' permission, and the market cannot be located within 100 feet of an existing brick-and-mortar restaurant location. The total square footage of the roadside market cannot exceed 200 square feet and the property cannot be [zoned for] residential use.
The code seems detrimental to local truck owners.
Absolutely. The biggest problem is that the conditions have changed at those corners since 1998, rendering most unusable because of change of use, no parking whatsoever, or the property now being owned by the city and therefore [no longer] private. Some corners never appeared to be viable, and it is unknown why they are even designated as appropriate. For example, the corner that the St. Petersburg Municipal Building sits on is designated as appropriate, even though the footprint of the building occupies the entire lot, meaning that there is no parking at all.
When taking all factors into account, only two to four corners are viable out of the 30-plus that the city had set aside. The code further limits the number of vendors at each intersection … and even if a food truck was to attempt to operate under these conditions, the corner that they are permitted for is the ONLY corner in the entire city where they could then sell their wares.
We were also told by zoning and permitting that food vending from a vehicle is prohibited on private property anywhere and everywhere within the city limits except as outlined in the code. This means a business owner who owns his land cannot call a food truck to come to his/her place of business and sell food to his own employees on his or her own private property.
Why do you think they've put such strict regulations into place?
I cannot fathom any reasonable explanation for why the city would completely prohibit commerce of an otherwise legal, state-licensed activity on private property between two or more consenting parties or entities. The scope and reach of this is downright scary and it does wonders to inhibit job growth, business creation and economic expansion. And to do it during these economic times just makes no sense. I can understand protecting the citizens from nefarious activity like illegal bomb-making or operating a brothel. But serving lunch to hard-working employees?
What would you ideally want to see in the future?
It's time to revisit this code and to create a more favorable environment to foster the growth of the food truck industry here and stop losing the jobs, businesses and tax revenue to Tampa, Orlando and Miami. As food truck owners, we don't expect preferential treatment, just a reasonable environment in which to operate. We're fine with limiting access to private property even though the cities that embrace the industry like Orlando and Miami, provide city parks and other public property for food truck rallies which can draw thousands of people to family-friendly events.
The city of Charleston, S.C., did not permit vending downtown either, but did recently set aside a large vacant lot to accommodate the food trucks in the city, and just that lot alone was enough for the industry to begin to show signs of life. We're not asking for much — in fact we are asking for much less than other cities provide — we just want reasonable rules that will allow us the opportunity to earn an income and put a few people to work. We love this city and do not want to move our businesses to Tampa.
Fire Monkey serves fresh, global fusion for breakfast and lunch, with plenty of veg-friendly options, at various location around St. Pete, 727-373-8825, Facebook.com/FireMonkeyFoodTruck.
This article appears in Sep 22-28, 2011.