Food Truck Setback: What Can Be Done?

Here's an online link to the metro ordinances: Metro Ordinances the section in question is under Title XI; Business Regulations, Chapter 115. Reading it is certainly confusing to say the least. It looks like anything could be declined or allowed depending on your interpretation.

State Fair and Chow Wagon are specifically excluded from the majority fo the rules. They're on city or state owned property.

[Robin Garr]

State Fair and Chow Wagon are specifically excluded from the majority fo the rules. They're on city or state owned property.

They do have to undergo health inspection and earn their "A", though.

State Fair and Chow Wagon are specifically excluded from the majority fo the rules. They're on city or state owned property.

Certainly makes for a level playing field doesn't it!

State Fair and Chow Wagon are specifically excluded from the majority fo the rules. They're on city or state owned property.

They do have to undergo health inspection and earn their "A", though.

Yes, absolutely. I believe that the HD stations a full time onsite inspector for the run of the fair and Chow Wagon.

How are the Gordita and Cuban trailer getting by with no problems? Do they know something the rest of us don't?

I'll do anything I can to help out. This is utter bullshit!

Ray the Cuban guy is operating by temporary health department permits and has actually called me trying to find someone to buy his trailer. He cant make it doing automotive dealership rotations. He is also leaving his trailer on those lots. I cannot leave my truck sitting in a parking lot downtown for 14 days.. it will get vandalized, generator stolen, 200lbs of propane sitting out, plus I need to clean and restock my truck and someones parking lot isnt an approved location.

The private property stationary vendor permits are $200 per location, per year and this comes straight from the horses mouth. They require a schematic of the parking lot showing basically every parking space, building, the location of my truck, etc. I have over 100 people asking me to come and park for a day, property owners, business managers, doctors, lawyers, etc. I cant possible permit myself to sit on all of them, I would go blind on fees and paperwork.



and p.s. I knew all about this and knew it would be a fight which is why we got health department permitted in Indiana first we can freely operate on any private property with owner permission for 50 bucks a year. We can operate on public property if we contact the City of Jeffersonville and ask. As long as it isnt a traffic or safety issue they usually say yes. We can still live off food in Indiana and festivals but our concept is perfect for the highlands and for corporate lunch and the majority of our followers are in Louisville.

Jimmy O'Higgins with the pit smoker has been having these problems for over a year now. His private property mobile vendor permit was revoked because he practically cut a restaurants lunch business to zero... he was over 5 miles down the road from them. IPL said he needed to build walls onto his pit smoker. They also said that the field he was parked in caused a traffic hazard. He was compliant with all their regulations and submitted all the paperwork they requested. But since people complained a lot they put pressure on Jimmy. For the record, the Clark County Indiana Health Department specifically created a regulatory policy on BBQ smokers so Jimmy could operate. The Louisville Metro Health Department has issues with the way he cooks and transports his meat. He slow smokes his pork shoulder between 200 and 300 for 30 hours straight. The Louisville Metro health department wants him to remove the meat from the smoker, put it on ice in coolers and put it back in the smoker when he gets to his destination. Changing the temp of the pork like that seems like it would be more of a health issue than just leaving it on the heat.. but perhaps I am not a professional. I do know that I have eaten his BBQ many times and I am not sick. I see him with lines out the back of his trailer before he even gets set up and out of his truck. He has a huge following now over here in Indiana.

If Louisville Metro will work with us on the food trucks and locational issues I can deal with everything else. Clark County created a policy specifically for Jimmy... hopefully Louisville will extend the same courtesy, but I am not holding my breath.

And yes Derby Festival activities are protected on high and to be involved you must pay their HUGE vendor fees up front. Most festivals will come get their fee or percentage after its all said and done but the derby and other big festivals require up to 2000 up front to get in. Bonnaroo wants you at their location in TN 5 days early for set up and you basically are sitting around with thumb in anus for 5 days waiting for Eminem and Loretta Lynn to show up.

We cant get anywhere near the Derby without their permission. To do Thunder Over Louisville on the Indiana side of the bridge we have to go through Sivori Catering and from what I understand there are 1000 to 1500 in fees depending upon where you are sitting. If I get a couple blocks away and find someone that will let me park on their private property (commercial or residential) then I dont need anything other than what I already have.

Basically in Indiana as long as the property owner wants me to come we can come set up with zero issues and zero stress for one $50 permit fee for the year (thats not per location, thats 50 bucks a year period) and if we do anything on public property its a $60 a year (also one time only) for a city vending permit from Jeffersonville. I dont mind that Louisville Metros fees are so much higher and I dont even really care about paying a percentage of my sales to the Metro or whatever because I dont pay property taxes an all. Other counties like Spencer County just require like 100 bucks a year for a permit and 1 percent of your annual sales. So many other places are innovating and doing things to expand their economic growth Louisville needs to recognize the difference between a food truck and someone selling fake tu-pac shirts out of a beat up minivan.

Once they open it up and make food trucks able to operate everyone and their mother will be starting them. If they were getting percentages of sales then they would start getting all kinds of money every month.

P.S. I turned down a 1000 attendance convention at the Galt House for tomorrow (Monday) lunch. 1000 people on a Monday lunch out of my food truck.... you dont know how it crushed me to say no to that. Nothing I could do. If I dont work these rules and regs the right way up front I will get pegged as a trouble maker and they wont work with me at all.

The fella that owns Holy Smokes Pitmaster Q is encountering the same issues with his mobile smoker rig. As I understand it now, he's working in Jeffersonville and outside Jefferson County.

http://www.facebook.com/bbqcowboy

Full carry-out container of pulled pork BBQ and a side for $5. Pretty good deal. I don't get it very often because he's usually in Jeff only during the lunch hours while I'm over yonder on the south side of the river. This week, he's on vacation. But he posts his "whereabouts" on his Facebook page.

When I was contacted by Gretchen Boyd from the Louisville Metro Health Department she mentioned that she had seen that I was operating at ear x tacy illegally that night but after some talk and some looking she found our temporary event permit. We are getting health department inspected in Louisville and should be able to operate on temporary event permits strictly through the health department but we will need approximately 5 of those a week at 25 bucks a turn (which I am completely fine with) and we wouldnt be allowed to have a reoccuring gig like Ear X Tacy, Headliners, etc. Because once we leave after a few hours we cannot return for 30 days. The problem is that the Health Department requires that I have a master plumber draw up and sign plumbing riser diagrams and this is costly and time consuming. We know a master plumber but the man makes a huge hourly and is constantly busy. Who has time to do a riser diagram on a crude plumbing system in a truck? I am going to do it all like they ask and I will find anyway I can to operate its just a matter of finding the loopholes and exploiting them.


She told me that she got the information off of our Facebook page and she called me I didnt leave a number she actively sought me out and I was mentioned at Jimmys IPL meeting where he was surrounded by 8 officials (one even with a 9mm strapped to his hip) all over this skinny little guy selling bbq... they are stalking our facebook pages to find out where we are.

While we were sitting in Jeffersonville 2 Louisville Sherriffs came across the bridge to make sure we were all in Indiana where we should be. Came over there, in a marked vehicle, parked in front of our operations in Jeff and sat there and made phone calls while looking straight at us.

I am not much of a conspiracy theorist but after Gretchen called "this street food revolution" a "debacle" and said she needed to get a grip on it before it got out of hand. I dont know exactly what that means but it doesnt bode well for anyone wanting to get into mobile food.


Jimmy has been antagonizing them on his FB page by saying things like "peek a boo" and "come find me" they are watching our pages to see our locations and keep tabs on us. Its a fact.

Matt, I saw your truck on 10th Street in Jeff about a week ago and wondered about your schedule, etc. You were already rolling, probably heading back to KY.

Now that I've found your Facebook page, I'll try to come over to the Sunny Side for lunch some time soon to check out Lil Cheezers. At a minimum, I'll convince my husband to come by.

Louisville Street Food (Lil Cheezers) Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Louisvill ... 8095749360

Lois

"The private property stationary vendor permits are $200 per location, per year and this comes straight from the horses mouth. "

While that is a true statement, I do not see how you fall into that category per the definitions. You are a mobile food vendor and therefore only required to get a permit annually on the truck.

I have a pushcart/hot dog cart and I have been talking to Metro to let me use homemade sausages (you know, the good stuff) on my cart. I am fortunate, I have a commercially licensed kitchen to work from and a push cart is way less regulated than a truck.

From my experience and research (re hot dog carts) the laws seem well, archaic. According to state law I can only sell hot dogs, bratwurst, polish sausage, and red hots. Red hots? Who still eats red hots? This tells me that this law was developed back whenever.

My point? We are going to have to lobby our local politicians both state and metro and let them know that these laws need to be updated. Updated to accommodate both the cultural shift towards street food and the current economic environment. It's a win win for everyone IMO. Although the effort would have to take into consideration the brick and mortar joints. Lobby for events and after hours stuff only maybe because the brick and mortar joints will definitely say hell no to making it easier for them to lose business.

I only want to do events. I did the street corner last summer and while fun and extremely interesting it wasn't as good as doing an event.

Although the effort would have to take into consideration the brick and mortar joints. Lobby for events and after hours stuff only maybe because the brick and mortar joints will definitely say hell no to making it easier for them to lose business.

And the internet makes it easier for Barnes & Nobles to lose business.

Boo-*******-hoo.

If someone would rather eat from a cart/truck while standing on a sidewalk, then maybe the restaurants need to seriously reconsider what they are doing. The ones I see being hurt are the downtown places that people run thru and grab something quick at lunchtime. The ones that are nothing more than permanent food carts anyway.

I'm kinda having mixed feelings about this "Food Truck" thing...on one hand I really like what Matt's done. I like his style/approach, I like his efforts to cleanly jump through the bureaucratic hoops, I like his approach to food safety, I like the effort he has put into his truck...and (based on his menu) I wouldn't hesitate to try his product. In short, think people like Matt deserve a place in the Louisville dining scene.

On the other hand, in the absence of all of these rules and regulations, without the bureaucracy and general red tape I have (forgive me) this mental picture of street corners and parking lots filled with every imaginable form of mobile food truck/trailer/cart in various states of repair (or disrepair)...Staffed by anyone from a slovenly short order cook who cares nothing about food safety to chattering people serving "mystery meat" in a taco or wrapped in rice paper.

Personally, I have limited exposure to "Food Trucks"...I've tried a couple in places I've visited and I've seen the same shows everyone else has detailing the "scene" in other places (L.A., Portland, NY, etc). Provided these (local) "establishments" are subject to the same over-site given to our "brick and mortar" restaurants I guess I wouldn't hesitate to give (some of) them a try...However, without this over-site the concept kinda creeps me out.