News

Regulations stifle food trucks in Chicago and other big cities

May 8, 2017

Government figures suggest the food truck revolution has stalled in several of the country's biggest cities, according to The Economist. The sector is subject to a patchwork of state and local regulations. In few places are these stricter than in Chicago. 

Influenced by a powerful restaurant industry, the city prohibits food trucks from setting up shop within 200 feet of a bricks-and-mortar eatery or from parking in any one location for more than two hours. Vendors are required to carry GPS devices that record their whereabouts every five minutes, on pain of heavy fines. Such restrictions have stifled the industry's growth. Despite being home to more than 7,000 restaurants and 144 craft breweries, Chicago has just 70 licensed food trucks.

The Windy City may be the least food truck friendly place in America, but New York and Boston are little better. In Boston, vendors must compete for space on public roads at specified places and times through an annual lottery. In New York, a vendor must obtain a two-year government permit, which requires sitting through a 15-year waiting list or shelling out as much as $25,000 to rent one on the black market. Adam Sobel, owner of Cinnamon Snail, a popular vegan food truck, shut down his operations in 2015 because of rising costs. "You kind of have to be crazy to have a food truck in New York," he said.