An OPEN LETTER to … Food Truck Owners …
You can drive your restaurant. That’s the issue. No brick and no mortar involved. That’s the crux of the complaint.
You park where you can according to local laws or by invitation, and fortunately you appear at local festivals and events, but the uproar concerns hoarding the hungry in close proximity of other eateries.
Ordinance # 15388 contains Article 780, a section that pertains to “street vendors,” and it sets rules pertaining to hours of operation, music levels, garbage disposal, and what can be sold and what cannot be sold. The bold text below represents the recent amendment made to Article 780, and it is also the portion of the law again under consideration by the mayor and city council following backlash in an election year.
“There is, however, no such vending permitted within a two-hundred-foot radius of the Wesbanco Arena, the Capitol Theatre, or the Centre Market during events, nor within a two-hundred-foot radius of any privately sponsored fair, festival, event, or within a one-hundred-foot radius of an establishment located upon real property which provides a similar product as that being offered by the Vendor. (E.G. food, beverage, wares, etc.)”
Some business owners in Centre Market, according to the reporting of the Wheeling newspapers, complained about the Cheese Melt and Ideal Provisions food trucks parking within the Centre Market district, and it’s only a guess that such action was driven by concern that a potential customer would choose the truck fair over theirs. Sense makes sense.
But there is a solution.
No matter what Wheeling’s council members and mayor reconsider and re-establish, you don’t need Centre Market because, unlike brick-and-mortar restaurants, you can go anywhere you wish that’s not close to another eatery. Best-case scenario is that all of you partner at least once per week to find a lot location for food trucks only for a lunch service.
We. Will. Be. There.
Advertise it (but not with roadside signs, please), make it fun (live music or a DJ), and split whatever collective cost that’s incurred, and based on the social media reaction this council controversy received, such a venture likely would be successful. Plus, keep in mind, 100 feet is not that far a distance, so the options are almost limitless.
Do what you gotta do, keep kickin’ butt with the great food you offer, and make the amendment unnecessary. Make your money, and at the same time understand we’re all trying to survive.
Sincerely,
Food Truck Fans
