Food Truck Regulations in Columbus

[News]

Meals on wheels
Council looks at regulating Central Ohio’s food trucks
Posted on December 20, 2012
by Melissa Dilley

It seems the only place you’d be hard-pressed to find food trucks nowadays is in Columbus’s law books.

City Attorney Rick Pfeiffer said the lack of specific city oversight for these rolling, roving kitchens has less to do with the “new” concept of mobile restaurants (the Mexican culture set the precedent decades ago with taco trucks and anyone who’s ever been to the fair knows the corn dog, funnel cake and fried Oreo trucks are the real attractions) and more to do with the fact that, prior to about three years ago, food trucks didn’t generate any buzz.

READ MORE: http://www.theotherpaper.com/news/article_1f88af02-4ac3-11e2-9f10-001a4bcf887a.html

[News]

Food truck operators band together to seek rule changes, including on-street sales
Business First by Dan Eaton, Staff reporter
Date: Monday, December 24, 2012, 11:19am EST

Cold weather means quiet time for most food trucks, but there has been plenty to work on this winter. Several area mobile food owner-operators have banded together to form the Central Ohio Food Truck Association, an industry group aimed at giving the growing business a unified voice on industry issues.

READ MORE: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/blog/2012/12/food-truck-operators-band-together-to.html

[susank]

I always wondered why I did not see them in a lot of key locations at certain times like late at night when other restaurants are closed. They really should be allowed to park and vend from the streets.

I also wonder why there are no food carts at Gallery Hop? It seems like a no-brainer with all of the overflowing traffic looking for a quick bite to eat.

[kessler]

I would like to see food trucks able to use parking spots ( the same way as on park-ing day we are allowed to use them as displays )… Added to that they should be able to have a light weight 4/ 6 top picnic table to set beside for consumption.
Keeping in mind the said table can only be utilized as not impeding the walkway.

They should not be allowed to let the meter run out of time/ or maybe a special all day parking pass bought from the city. Then to prevent wars between trucks maybe a Normal and a special occasion schdule could be set up to select locations. The special occasion could allow multipe trucks same block. Normal schedule could be 2 per block (all prescheduled)

Again just my thoughts…(early morning still working on the coffee) Peace out!

[billbix]

Don’t see the issue with allowing some food trucks to vend from the street. It could only increase foot traffic in our neighborhoods. If a brick and mortar is worried about losing their business, then they need to step up their game.

[News]

The State of Columbus Mobile Food: A Resolution for 2013
December 24th

What does the world of mobile food have in store for our city in 2013? We know from the past year there will be more vendors and more places that seek their services. There will be more events large and small. No surprises there.

The mystery for the new year, is what direction our city government will take in their approach to kitchens on wheels. The rise of mobile food has taken the city somewhat off guard as several departments struggle on how to license and permit these vendors. The interpretation of existing regulations has frequently been inconsistent and unclear.

READ MORE: http://streeteatscolumbus.com/2012/12/24/the-state-of-columbus-mobile-food-a-resolution-for-2013/

[News]

New Regulations Governing Columbus Food Trucks In The Works
January 9, 2013
by Sam Hendren
89.7 NPR News Reporter

The food truck industry is booming in Columbus. The popularity of these new mobile mini-restaurants has grown so fast they’ve outpaced city regulations. Now a member of city council wants to establish regulations that would serve as a model for the nation.

READ MORE: http://wosu.org/2012/news/2013/01/09/new-regulations-governing-columbus-food-trucks-in-the-works/

[News]

Department of public safety closer to new rules for food trucks
By GARY SEMAN JR.
ThisWeek Community News
Tuesday January 22, 2013 11:41 AM

The Columbus Department of Public Safety is writing new regulations for mobile food trucks and adding a fresh layer of inspections. Also, as part of the current budgeting process, City Council has recommended spending $150,000 to hire more licensing officers through public safety.

READ MORE: http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/germanvillage/news/2013/01/22/department-of-public-safety-closer-to-new-rules-for-food-trucks.html

[Anne Evans]

Columbus City Council
Councilmember Michelle Mills will hold a public hearing at 5pm on Wednesday, May 8, to discuss a proposed pilot program that will help responsibly guide the growth of the mobile food truck industry in Columbus. The hearing will outline a program that will allow mobile food vendors to sell to patrons from designated spots on the street. Speaker slips will be accepted on the day of the hearing until 5:30pm. The meeting will be broadcast live on CTV.

http://council.columbus.gov/advrel_content.aspx?id=59029

[FoodFort]

Want to let people know that the city, especially councilwoman Mills have been vrey good to work with on this project – which is focused on making a good thing better. They city has done a fine job reaching out to the community, restaurant owners, city departments, the Central Ohio Food Truck Association and others.

We think that Columbus has a good chance of creating a model for food trucks for the rest of the nation and we are happy that Food Trucks have become an important part of the culture of Columbus as well as a draw for people outside of our city.

Keep up the good work all.

[News]

Food trucks getting street parking access – but no guaranteed spots
May 8, 2013, 12:47pm
Dan Eaton
Staff reporter – Business First

Columbus is set to open street parking spaces for food trucks, but getting those prime spots could be a fight. The city is launching a pilot program, set to run from June 1 through the end of the year, aimed at promoting the growing food truck and food cart movement by designating specific parking spaces around town for mobile food vendors. The spaces will be marked with silver stars (download the locations here).

READ MORE: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/blog/2013/05/food-trucks-getting-on-street-parking.html

[FoodFort]

T

News said:
Food trucks getting street parking access – but no guaranteed spots
May 8, 2013, 12:47pm
Dan Eaton
Staff reporter – Business First

Columbus is set to open street parking spaces for food trucks, but getting those prime spots could be a fight. The city is launching a pilot program, set to run from June 1 through the end of the year, aimed at promoting the growing food truck and food cart movement by designating specific parking spaces around town for mobile food vendors. The spaces will be marked with silver stars (download the locations here).

READ MORE: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/blog/2013/05/food-trucks-getting-on-street-parking.html

This is the best article to date about the proposed pilot program by the city. The discussion should be interesting tonight. Good job on the artile by Dan Eaton.

If you have some free time – it much to the flavor of Columbus and have attracted national attention to our community.

[News]

Food-truck operators not thrilled with street-parking plan, suggest several improvements
May 9, 2013, 2:00pm EDT
Dan Eaton
Staff reporter – Business First

A Columbus pilot program that will free up some public parking for food-truck operators is generating more concerns than praise from the community it claims to be helping. The city’s Mobile Food Vendor Pilot Program will open select on-street parking spaces to mobile food vendors, predominately food trucks, starting June 1, but the discussion between city leaders, industry representatives and business owners Wednesday night painted a picture where skepticism abounded.

READ MORE: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2013/05/09/food-truck-operators-not-thrilled-with.html

[bucki12]

A reservation system would make a hell of a lot of sense.

[myliftkk]

A lot of good feedback was given when the SN neighborhood was surveyed by the SNA about starting a food truck program. Why none of that feedback seems to have made it into the pilot program boggles the mind.

[Author]

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