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Brewer, distillery clash with restaurants over food truck hosting

October 25, 2018

Downtown restaurant owners in the Detroit suburb of Royal Oak, Michigan, are unhappy with a brewer and distiller who want to bring food trucks downtown to serve their customers. 

Motor City Gas and River Rouge Brewing Co. found out after hosting a food truck on premises in August that the arrangement violated a city ordinance banning food trucks downtown, according a report by the Detroit Free Press.

Neither establishment has a kitchen, and customers have request food service at both. In a letter to the city commission, the Royal Oak Restaurant Association argued that the distillery and brewery should have to build kitchens as other bars have.

The brewery owner retorted that he hadn't built a kitchen for the same reason that the bars hadn't built distilleries.

The city commission is considering an ordinance that would allow food trucks to operate in a limited way, serving patrons at the brewery and distillery while parked on private property. The ordinance will be subject to a public hearing prior to a final vote.