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What do you think will be the outcome of this lawsuit?

Poll ended at Wed Jul 12, 2017 11:49 pm

The food trucks will win.
3
20%
Metro government/brick-and-mortar restaurants will win.
1
7%
The law will be changed but there will still be some restrictions.
8
53%
Undecided on what the outcome will be.
1
7%
As in most lawsuits the only winners will be the lawyers.
2
13%
 
Total votes : 15
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Mark R.

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Food truck lawsuit

by Mark R. » Wed Jun 28, 2017 11:49 pm

I'm surprised nobody has commented on the lawsuit that owners of local food trucks have filed against Metro government. Here's a good article about it from Insider Louisville: https://insiderlouisville.com/business/ ... gulations/

I certainly don't have a legal background but on the surface at least it seems like there lawsuit has some merit. They certainly aren't being treated the same as a brick-and-mortar restaurant would be which could build right next door to competition. I'm not sure why this is part of the ordinance except possibly by pressure from brick-and-mortar restaurants.

What's anybody else's opinion on the issue?
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Deb Hall

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Re: Food truck lawsuit

by Deb Hall » Thu Jun 29, 2017 8:39 am

Love the Food Trucks, but unsure of the right answer here. I understand why the 150 feet from a restaurant with the same food is desirable from a brick and mortar owner perspective:
What if a BBQ truck pulls up in front of the line at Feast BBQ, and attracts it's customers? Feast is paying significant rent and overhead to operate- it's costs are significantly higher, and it can not move it's location to follow the crowds. ( the same is not true of the Burgert King/McDonalds argument the attorney makes. )That's not really level competition either.

What do you think?
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Re: Food truck lawsuit

by RonnieD » Thu Jun 29, 2017 10:48 am

Here's the gray area I see: A food truck can park literally in front of your front door, depending on the parking situation. That would be akin to me sitting outside the front door of a hardware store selling hammers to people as they walked in.

Ultimately the legality of it may swing either way, but in the realm of business ethics, any food truck that parks right in front of a competing brick and mortar comes across as a bit sketchy to me. If you food is that good, people will find you. I just see no need to be so aggressive with a competitor. Park across the street if you have to, but if you have to be closer than 150 feet, then maybe the problem is you.

I've got big love for food trucks. Folks are turning out some amazing stuff and reaching a lot of people. But I think scruples are important too.
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Re: Food truck lawsuit

by RichardM » Thu Jun 29, 2017 12:00 pm

So I buy the building next door to Feast and open up a BBQ joint. It's totally legal. Parking a BBQ truck right in front of Feast would be unscrupulous, mean and not a way to get fans but it is really no different. Now having said that, food truck owners need to use some common sense too. Most of us can figure out who was behind the signs around 5th & Market. There is no food truck in the city that can hurt that place. That whining from when food trucks first burst on to the market and parked in that area is why we never go there anymore.
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Re: Food truck lawsuit

by Deb Hall » Thu Jun 29, 2017 12:29 pm

Richard,
Are you saying no food trucks along 5th & Market anymore? When did that happen? I work a block away and go to Food Trucks there all the time ( but not this week).
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Re: Food truck lawsuit

by Jeff Cavanaugh » Thu Jun 29, 2017 1:56 pm

RonnieD wrote:Here's the gray area I see: A food truck can park literally in front of your front door, depending on the parking situation. That would be akin to me sitting outside the front door of a hardware store selling hammers to people as they walked in.

Ultimately the legality of it may swing either way, but in the realm of business ethics, any food truck that parks right in front of a competing brick and mortar comes across as a bit sketchy to me. If you food is that good, people will find you. I just see no need to be so aggressive with a competitor. Park across the street if you have to, but if you have to be closer than 150 feet, then maybe the problem is you.

I've got big love for food trucks. Folks are turning out some amazing stuff and reaching a lot of people. But I think scruples are important too.


"Across the street" could easily be closer than 150 feet. And if the 150-foot buffers around every restaurant in town overlap to deny food trucks the ability to set up in most of the desirable locations, that's not right.

I agree it'd be bad form for a BBQ truck to set up outside a BBQ joint, and operators ought to have the decency to respect others in the business and not do that. But legislating it is a step too far.
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Re: Food truck lawsuit

by Alanna H » Thu Jun 29, 2017 2:09 pm

I got my weekly Wednesday tacos from the Traveling Kitchen at 5th/Market yesterday. I was surprised that it was just TK and the German (Doner?) truck. Usually there are several parked right there. Couldn't tell you the last time I only saw two trucks there.
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Re: Food truck lawsuit

by Deb Hall » Thu Jun 29, 2017 2:16 pm

Jeff,
Not disagreeing, but I believe the current statute limits the food trucks only to 150 feet from another similar food restaurant. Thus, Germany's #1 ( doner kebab) can't be within 150 feet of say, The Grape Leaf, but it's fine anywhere in NuLu ( I don't think there is a kebab place there.) So I'm not getting how it overlaps...?

I do think the example of Pollo ( All chicken) being told they can't be within 150 of Crave ( basically a cafeteria) is unfair; same with saying the Dessert Truck could not park anywhere that has any desserts ( which is basically every place) :shock: This language should be changed to be more specific.
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Re: Food truck lawsuit

by Carla G » Thu Jun 29, 2017 4:39 pm

Most of the food trucks I've seen are only opened for a couple (or so) hours around lunch time then they split. Evening hours may work differently. I think of all the temp jobs I've work at day care centers where most of the employees only get a 30 minute break and it's a good 10 minute drive to the nearest fast food. A food truck out front would do very well. Do they really need hundreds of people to show up or just enough to keep them busy during the lunch hours? Isn't that how the food truck from the Mayan Cafe got its start? Going to construction sites? It just seems no one is taking advantage of the obvious availability if everyone is piling up on one another.
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Re: Food truck lawsuit

by Jerry C » Thu Jun 29, 2017 5:07 pm

So I buy the building next door to Feast and open up a BBQ joint. It's totally legal. Parking a BBQ truck right in front of Feast would be unscrupulous, mean and not a way to get fans but it is really no different.


You really do not see the difference in the two scenarios??? Think about the investment!! If you've got the "nads" to buy the land and building next to Feast and then try to directly compete...well, you be the #1 Que man in these parts!
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Re: Food truck lawsuit

by RonnieD » Thu Jun 29, 2017 10:01 pm

I'll cop to being a bad judge of how far 150 feet is, but I don't think it's unreasonable to ask food truck operators not to park directly in front of a competitor, brick and mortar or another food truck or whatever. Across the street, next door, fine, but right in front?

If I set up a lemonade stand by the sidewalk (with proper permits of course! :P ) and you set yours up right in front of mine, one of us is a tool and it's not me.

If you are confident in your product you have no need to resort to something petty like that. It's so silly there really shouldn't need to be legislation for something in the realm of common decency.
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Re: Food truck lawsuit

by Mark R. » Fri Jun 30, 2017 10:09 am

RonnieD wrote: If you are confident in your product you have no need to resort to something petty like that. It's so silly there really shouldn't need to be legislation for something in the realm of common decency.

That's my thought. I'm not sure what restaurants were complaining initially but if they are that fearful of their business that they don't want competition and need to be in another business. In addition as you said any food truck operator with any ethics isn't going to park directly in front of any other restaurant whether it sells the same type of product or not. The problem is that in today's world it seems like common sense has gone out the window!
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Re: Food truck lawsuit

by Suzi Bernert » Sat Jul 01, 2017 3:33 pm

OK - One of the issues here is what consitutes "same food". The owner of Reds Hot Dogs was told he could not be near a brick and mortar because they served bread and his hot dogs are on bread. That is silly and petty. Most food trucks do not want to park in front of similar places, but there is now a swath of downtown that is becoming "no man's land" because of the complaints. So by some definitions, Pollo cannot be near any place that has one chicken dish and Reds cannot be near anyplace that serves bread. The food truck owners have overhead, too. They PAY for those spaces BTW.
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Re: Food truck lawsuit

by Robin Garr » Sat Jul 01, 2017 3:39 pm

I wonder if an open-records request might reveal the complainers so a little shaming could take place.
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Re: Food truck lawsuit

by RichardM » Sat Jul 01, 2017 5:32 pm

Robin Garr wrote:I wonder if an open-records request might reveal the complainers so a little shaming could take place.



A very well crafted ORR about work orders, who complained, by what method, could reveal who it is. Unless the complaint was made through 311 anonymously. Would make it harder. But really all you need to do is see where the signs have been placed and you can get a good idea of who complained. The city didn't just go put up signs willy nilly. I ran the sigh shop for years for Louisville City and you didn't spend a dime in material or labor if there was not a work order generated for any kind of 'special' signs like No Food Trucks. Someone got an inspector to write the work order and that inspector knows who complained.
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