BRAWL: Food Trucks vs. Restaurants

Local restaurants throughout many cities have voiced concern over the expansion of food trucks in their community. Quick service food trucks “stealing” customers threaten traditional brick and mortar restaurants, and in an attempt to level the playing field, they are asking city legislators to toughen up the regulation on food trucks.

The SoCal Mobile Food Vendors’ Association claims that stricter regulations are “clearly anti-competitive…[and] limit the public on their favorite foods.”  It is unfair for restaurants to believe they have a monopoly on a certain area (laist.com).

Recently, due to the popularity of food trucks, cities such as San Francisco have streamlined their permit process and made the cost of obtaining a permit less prohibitive. Permits used that used to run upwards of about $10,000 are now as low as $300. This ends up flooding the market with a bounty of tasty options.

And the only law that food trucks must obey in relation to restaurants is that they must notify nearby businesses about when they are going to be in the area and that they are not allowed to park within 300 feet of a business selling similar food (sfgate.com).

Restaurants have a lot more at stake when customers begin to dwindle, and in an already competitive market (restaurants have a failure rate of over 50%), it’s understandable that there’s a lot to cry about.

However, from a consumer’s standpoint there’s really no battle. It’s a WIN-WIN situation. The wider the selection of good grub the better, and ultimately, the more competitive the pricing. Some restaurants that can’t handle the competition shouldn’t be playing the game. Be better or make room for something better.