THE URBANITE
June 4, 2014

Tight regulations and competitive fear challenges vendors

It’s a common scene in Ontario’s urban centres: diners lining the streets for a quick, cheap meal from curbside food trucks. In Windsor, these mobile vendors exist mainly at festivals or private events, and some operators are saying restrictive city bylaws are to blame for the lack of local eats on the streets.

Billy Deslippe, owner of Smashed Apple Catering & Food Truck, moves his mobile food trailer between two public parks in Amherstburg and to private events and festivals serving up casual, gourmet comfort foods such as deep fried macaroni balls, fish tacos and braised pork belly grilled cheese.

“I believe in making good quality food from scratch. We’re just starting to take off in Amherstburg,” said Deslippe, who started the business two years ago. “Last year we had four or five bookings (for private events and festivals) throughout the summer and this year we are booked every weekend.”

“I moved here from out west and trying to make a living here I couldn’t survive. I couldn’t afford to get into a restaurant, so I got into a food truck,” said Deslippe. He pegs his start up costs between $80,000-$100,000 for his truck and food trailer.

Deslippe, the only food truck operator in town, successfully lobbied council to amend its bylaws to allow him to park a few hours per day in the parks. He pays an annual licensing fee of $132 for his vehicle.

When asked about his interest in selling food in Windsor, Deslippe remarked, “Absolutely, I’d actually consider moving up there.”

Like Deslippe, John Neill also wants to bring his truck to Windsor but says regulations are a turn off. Across the county in Kingsville, he operates Blackjack Gastrovan. It opened in June 2013 as a partnership between Smokin Aces Mobile BBQ and Jack’s Gastropub. Neill parks three days a week at the corner of Main and Wigle streets on a private parking lot and offers catering typically on weekends.

“We’re out probably five to six day a week at this point,” said Neill, who plans on expanding to locations in Leamington, Lasalle and Amherstburg.

Neill pointed to Ouellette Avenue, when it closes down for evening patios in the summer, and the Windsor’s riverfront downtown as prime areas to set up shop. He’s surprised a greater food truck culture doesn’t exist in Windsor-Essex, especially considering the thriving scene in Detroit.

“You would have thought if the food truck movement was going to start anywhere in Ontario, it would have started closer to the border where food trucks have been established. … I have an interest in it and that’s why we are pursuing the area. I’m hoping with people like us and with Billy from Smashed Apple that maybe they will start a movement.”

Elsewhere in Ontario

Mobile food vendors are lining the streets in most urban centres. The Ontario Food Trucks Association estimates that there are 120 gourmet food trucks in the province. Association co-founder Sid Friedman said the biggest concentrations of food trucks are in Toronto, Hamilton and Ottawa.

Hamilton’s food truck scene has boomed in recent years, resulting in direct economic impact. A survey by the Ottawa Street Business Improvement Area shows 30,000 people spent $804,500 during the Sew Hungry food truck rally event in 2013.

Even smaller cities have food trucks. Burlington is hosting Curb Your Appetite event with 15 vehicles this month, and Thunder Bay has four food trucks known to operate in the city centre with live music during lunchtime.

But establishing food trucks across Ontario hasn’t been an easy feat. Until 2013, Toronto food trucks could only operate in private parking lots and at events. Now, a new bylaw allows carts and trucks in most of the city.

Recently, many food vendors in the Kitchener-Waterloo operator travelled to Hamilton due to more affordable licensing fees. Friedman said many vendors were not going to renew their license following Waterloo’s one-year food truck pilot project because of the high costs, leading the city this spring to reduce the annual fees from $2,215 to $329.

Meanwhile closer to home, the City of London just shot down a pilot project that would have seen the creation of a food truck bylaw.

“It’s a lot of fear and misinformation about food trucks,” said Friedman. “It’s interesting that the biggest push back is from sit down restaurants that serve alcohol. They’re really not the target because most people are not going to head out for a sit down dining experience and decide to eat on the street. Typically, it will be impacting drive thru traffic and we’ve had zero pushback from the fast food chains.”

Not in our BIA

In many Ontario cities, the cost of licensing a food truck has been upwards of $2,000, as the case until recently in Waterloo. Fees across the GTA includes a first-year vehicle fee of $1,030.25 in Toronto, $690.01 for renewals, and $311 for all food refreshment vehicles in Mississauga. Windsor’s annual fee per vehicle is just $148, so where are all the food trucks?
Technically, Windsor has them. According to Craig Robertson, a licensing commissioner for the City of Windsor, there are 23 licensed motorized food trucks from 11 companies. Last year there were 30 vehicles, 38 in 2012 and 33 in 2011.

Local trucks include Dino’s Catering, Fox on the Run, Dairy Treats, Gee-Off Mobile Cafe, Ruby Smooth, Lee’s Hot Stuff, Metro Enterprises, Roberta’s Catering and The Baconman.

Despite the numbers, most trucks don’t offer curbside service and are only present during festivals or private catered events due to policies restricting where they can operate in the city.

Unlike Kingsville and Amherstburg, Windsor has very detailed — six pages, in fact — rules regarding mobile food vendors under the city’s business licensing bylaw. Food trucks and mobile carts are restricted from operating in a number of locations in Windsor: all business improvement areas, residential areas, in or near public parks and community centres or within 30 metres of other restaurants or residences, to name a few. Some vehicles can sell in protected areas if they seek approval from various city departments or operate on private property.

Robertson explained the rationale of the bylaw prohibiting food truck operations in BIAs. “It’s to protect the downtown businesses and to promote restaurants in the downtown area. … We do have the (three) hot dog guys that are down there; they enter into an agreement they are kind of grandfathered into the bylaw.”

“People come in all the time and they want to apply to operate in the BIAs and we don’t permit it; all BIAs are prohibited areas,” said Robertson, adding that in his 11 years working in licensing, vendors haven’t challenged the rules.

Larry Horwitz, president of the Downtown Windsor Business Improvement Association, agrees that there’s been little dialogue from established and hopeful food truck operators wanting to sell in the BIAs.

“I think that [food trucks] are acceptable under certain conditions and certain locations,” said Horwitz. “In the downtown and different BIAs I think it’s hard to find a location that doesn’t interfere with traffic, that doesn’t interfere with pedestrian flow. I think if the right location was brought forward to council, and it didn’t compete against the business very close by, it could be looked at favourably.”

Neill said the discussion over competition between mobile vendors and bricks-and-mortar restaurants has occurred in just about every city. “We’ve actually worked with the restaurant association in Kingsville … we’re certainly not competing against each other.”

“If [customers] stopped at a food truck they already had plans to do so. … if anything, food trucks bring more foot traffic into your area. I would rather see food trucks work in partnership with the restaurants instead of in competition, and it can be done very easily I think.”

Horwitz is optimistic that food trucks can make a stake in Windsor’s BIAs if a plan was brought forward, but he says the DWBIA hasn’t received feedback from potential vendors. He believes vendors aren’t coming forward because they already know the bylaws are too prohibitive.

“There’s too many rules and regulations that affect all the businesses, not just food vendors. … [The rules] make it really difficult to do business in Windsor, and they all need to be looked at with a fresh eye. … it’s not about them just paying taxes and feeding the monster, it’s about them being to support their families, whether it’s food vendors or merchants in small shops, they need to be taken care of.”

Horwitz’ suggestion? The city should better regulate the food truck business, possibly by increasing licensing fees for vendors so they contribute more to the BIAs.

“I understand when merchants feel threaten and feel like someone is going to take the bit of business they have,” he said. “Remember, the [businesses] in the BIA pay BIA tax, they pay property tax and property tax is very high, and they pay utilities … you need all these fees to maintain a city and maintain a downtown or BIA. There has to be some type of levy that makes it an even playing field so they contribute to the community.”

Shifting gears

So what’s in store for Windsor’s food truck industry? The revolution hasn’t hit home, yet. Robertson doesn’t have high hopes his department will see an increase in applicants or any backlash from operators.

“… I don’t think it’s something that’s very popular and maybe it’s because of the regulations that are there. They’re not able to operate in those core or key areas.”

Food trucks bring awareness to different areas of a community, helps draw tourists and gets people outdoors, according to Friedman. He suggested two ways to drum up political will in Windsor for bylaw reform.

“Find councillors who are opened to the whole concept of food trucks. … or start pressing the envelop the other way, having food truck festivals and having more presence so the public will start putting pressure on the politicians.”

Neill contemplates joining forces with other food vendors to bring curbside food culture to Windsor.

“I’ve been to many of the rallies out in Hamilton, Niagara and Toronto. The more trucks you get on the street the more people you get,” said Neill. “Maybe if there were three or four trucks here in Windsor already who were struggling to get by, if all three of us got together we may find out the turnout could be astronomical.”

“I’d like nothing more than to drive that truck into Windsor and park it right down on the riverfront, at the festival plaza. My dream is to see a strip of trucks along the riverfront, five, six, seven trucks everyday at lunch or once or twice a week.”