Trucks and Trunks Food Truck Lunch Rally Thursday 11:30AM at the Arena

[fieldafm]

We're hosting a unique lunch time food truck lunch rally with five trucks this Thursday from 11:30-1 in front of the Veterans Memorial Arena.  Come have some lunch and meet an elephant (there will be 8 of them).

More info in Gary Mill's column here:

http://jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/423471/gary-mills/2013-01-11/thursday-food-trucks-and-elephants-come-together-trucks

[fieldafm]

bumping this up

[Captain Zissou]

I saw some pictures of the elephants walking down Talleyrand this morning and it looked like quite a sight.  They were walking single file with no restraints or anything preventing them from getting away.

[fieldafm]

To be honest, I'm kinda curious how this is going to turn out. 

And they say you can't do cool stuff downtown....

[fieldafm]

bumping this up

[fsujax]

Looking forwaard to it. Just keep the elephant protestors away! those people annoy me. haha

[Noone]

trunking this up!

[fsujax]

Big turnout for this event. Great food, great people and not to mention seeing the elephants. Nice job Mike and Caron.

[thelakelander]

^Great.  I wanted to go but was double booked.

[fieldafm]

We had a great turnout and an even better time.  First Coast News just had coverage on and WJXT should have a reel in a few.  Jacksonville.com will have pictures up soon. 

[Noone]

It was fun to be a part of the Greatest Show on Earth. the elephants were cool too. Parking had me doing circles.

[urbanlibertarian]

From New Orleans Times-Picayune:

http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/01/expected_proposal_to_liberaliz.html

Expected proposal to liberalize rules for food trucks upsets some New Orleans restaurateurs

By NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
on January 23, 2013 at 7:29 PM, updated January 23, 2013 at 7:47 PM


An expected attempt by New Orleans City Council President Stacy Head to liberalize city regulations for food trucks is drawing opposition even before Head formally presents her proposals. Head has indicated she will introduce an ordinance to ease restrictions on food trucks at Thursday's council meeting. The council could not vote on the issue until next month at the earliest.

The ordinance is expected to propose expanding the area where food trucks can operate, increasing the total number of permits for such trucks and allowing them to stay longer in one spot.

The prospect that food trucks might for the first time be permitted to operate in the Central Business District and to sell their wares near regular restaurants apparently is raising the ire of some restaurateurs.

Head reportedly wants to double the number of food truck permits from 100 to 200, increase the time the trucks can park in one spot from 45 minutes to four hours and allow them into parts of the CBD. She is expected also to propose reducing the required buffer zone around restaurants from 600 feet to as little as 50 feet.
Rachel Billow of the New Orleans Food Truck Coalition, a network of food truck operators, told the Baton Rouge Advocate there has been a positive response from many restaurants to the idea of loosening the existing regulations. She said the goal is to bring dining options to neighborhoods that lack them and to promote a form of small business that requires little overhead to start.

However, an online petition opposing Head's expected proposals claimed to have gathered almost 200 signatures by Wednesday afternoon. The petition, begun by Reuben Laws, warns that if Head's ordinance passes, "restaurant owners in the CBD are about to have their sales invaded on by the food truck industry."
Saying that restaurant owners "have made great investments in their product and have worked hard to build a following of customers in their area," it concludes: "To think that a food truck can soon park 50 feet from our doors and sell food during peek hours of business for 4 hours is truly concerning!!!!! This legislation should be stopped immediately!!!!!!!"

How many of those signing the petition own or work at New Orleans restaurants was not clear.

Food trucks and "pop-up" vendors have been a growing phenomenon in many cities in recent years. In 2011, close to 3,000 people bought tickets to New Orleans' inaugural Street Fare Derby at the Fair Grounds to showcase and celebrate the growing local trend of mobile food options.

They sampled cuisine ranging from black bean, plantain and coconut rice empanadas to bacon-and-Havarti grilled-cheese sandwiches, white-truffle Parmesan fries and cake-batter snow-balls. The one-day event was created by NOLAfoodtrucks.com, a website that billed itself as "a practical guide to New Orleans street eats."

http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/01/expected_proposal_to_liberaliz.html

[fieldafm]

WJXT had a story on food trucks this morning, which will also re-air with their evening news service today.  Arbus Magazine features a story about food trucks this month.

Next month, we hope to have legislation introduced to allow food trucks to operate in Jax Beach... with Neptune Beach to hopefully follow soon after (their ordinance should basically mimic Jax Beach).

On the other hand, Clay County seems to be going down the same road that Duval County looked at not too long ago by proposing to limit any mobile vendors from operating more than 45 minutes at a time and for only 4 times a year... b/c two vet clinics complained about a mobile vet clinic in Orange Park... just like some nursuries in Jacksonville complained about transient nurseries that set up in empty parking lots which led to a proposed transient vendor ordinance that was later withdrawn. 

Which is like trying to push in a thumb tack with a sledgehammer. 

Meanwhile, we have worked with several restaurants in the area to create win win partnerships.... while a seperate select group of downtown restaurants are circulating a petition to have food trucks banned from downtown all together, despite the overwhelming popularity of jax food trucks with consumers and the life they have brought to otherwise dead streets downtown. 

It's not surprising that the restaurants that are complaining about food trucks are the sames ones that are they themseleves struggling... while the downtown restaurants that are welcoming food trucks don't seem to have the same financial struggles of their counterparts.  Is that simply a coincidence?

[thelakelander]

Coincidence?  No way.  More like an operation that would be struggling regardless of what happens to food trucks.  I'd advice those owners to seriously consider striving to improve their products, service, and ambiance before investing less time in their own businesses to lobby against food trucks.