Council members seek changes to food truck permitting

City Council Member José Velásquez knows what it’s like to work with food for a living. According to his website, “José went to work at age 11 in a local panaderia to help his mother with bills. That same year he wrote his first petition to help a classmate out of an unsafe environment. José has not quit working or serving his community since.” Velásquez is the lead author of a resolution on today’s agenda asking interim City Manager Jesús Garza to consider changes to city rules that require food trucks to prove they are mobile and operating up to code by reporting to a city inspection location on Rutherford Lane once a year.

According to the resolution, there are more than 1,500 mobile food vendors operating within the city and “it is estimated that more than 80 percent are people of color.” The resolution points out that closing and moving a mobile food establishment for a full day to be inspected has a negative impact on the owners and employees of the food trucks.

Velásquez told the Austin Monitor on Wednesday that he has heard criticism about how the city processes the permitting for mobile food trucks. “It’s antiquated, and we can do a better job,” he said. “Having folks who already run on extremely slim margins having to tow their trucks to a central location in a tech hub like Austin, Texas – I think we can do better than that.”

He noted that sometimes a mobile food vendor will get their truck back and find that things are out of place, such as a stove or a propane tank that they use to cook food. He said those things can be broken while being towed to and from the city’s inspection facility, adding to the vendor’s expense.

Velásquez said his office is working diligently alongside Austin Public Health to explore updating requirements for food establishments. According to the resolution, that might mean changes for trucks that have a regular fixed location and an agreement with an adjacent business to opt for on-site permitting inspections in the same manner as brick-and-mortar food establishments.

The resolution directs the city manager to explore and confirm costs for any expanded staffing and equipment required by Austin Public Health and the Austin Fire Department.

Co-sponsors on the resolution include Council members Chito Vela, Zo Qadri, Natasha Harper-Madison and Vanessa Fuentes. Fuentes told colleagues on the City Council Message Board, “I would like to be added as a co-sponsor for Item 33, the resolution to allow mobile food establishments to opt-in to on-site permitting inspections. I want to thank Councilmember Velasquez for bringing forward this item. Having to close down for a day to go get an inspection is a huge burden and can be a huge loss of revenue for small business owners. I support the effort to streamline this process and make it more efficient so our mobile food truck owners don’t lose valuable time.”

Qadri said via email, “This is a commonsense reform that will give a boost to dozens of much-loved food trucks across our city. In District 9 alone, there are so many favorites that will greatly benefit by not having to seriously disrupt their business every time a new routine inspection is due. This resolution also gives our city the tools it needs to help better serve our food trucks moving forward, something that will be great for both our residents and visitors alike.”

Velásquez told the Monitor that Mayor Kirk Watson would also be a co-sponsor.

Photo made available through a Creative Commons license.

The Austin Monitor’s work is made possible by donations from the community. Though our reporting covers donors from time to time, we are careful to keep business and editorial efforts separate while maintaining transparency. A complete list of donors is available here, and our code of ethics is explained here.