By Wendy Leung | DailyBulletin.com
This past year, the gourmet food trucks that have been so popular in Southern California have come peering into San Bernardino County, hoping to get in.
On Saturday, 14 of these eateries on wheels descended on Don Lugo High School for a school district fundraiser. In June, an I.E. Food Truck Festival brought 11,800 foodies to Ontario.
Although the demand for food truck fare – Asian tacos, fusion fries, etc. – is high, some politicians in this county are skeptical, fearing that trucks would bring unfair competition to brick and mortar establishments that are already suffering in this economy.
San Bernardino and Riverside are the only two counties in California that ban food trucks from operating on occasions other than special events. Efforts to lift the ban were thwarted when the majority on the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors believed it would create too much competition for the business community.
At a recent Rancho Cucamonga City Council discussion, Councilman Chuck Buquet called food trucks “gypsy restaurants.”
“People spend millions and millions of dollars to build restaurants. These are mobile homes set up for food operations and what I believe to be a detriment of existing businesses,” Buquet said. “I’m hoping there’s nobody entertaining any delusions of getting support from this corner of the council for launching some sort of food truck operations to go up and down the city streets.
“The last thing we
need is some people setting up at Victoria Gardens.”
Earlier this month, the City Council asked the Planning Department to monitor decisions from the Board of Supervisors with regard to food trucks and review its municipal code to see if changes need to be made.
Councilwoman Diane Williams said it would be a “fun idea” to have food trucks at special events such as the Grape Harvest Festival but she would not support them roaming.
“We don’t want a food truck to go willy-nilly, anywhere they wish, anytime they wish,” Williams said. “My goodness, they could pull in front of our restaurants at any time. I don’t want that. I think we need to, at all cost, protect those people who put blood, sweat and tears in their businesses.”
Supervisor Janice Rutherford is not certain that food trucks are as threatening as they’re perceived.
“What we found were examples of brick and mortar restaurants that expanded their business to open a food truck themselves. We also heard from restaurants that don’t want competition,” Rutherford said. “But there are state rules that govern where food trucks can park and in talking to mobile vendors, they do not park at existing restaurants.”
Rutherford said state guidelines require food trucks to operate near restrooms and since most restaurants won’t allow mobile vendors to use their facility, the trucks won’t park there.
If Rutherford could have it her way, the ban would be lifted and food trucks would be free to roam. But Rutherford only had support from one other supervisor, Brad Mitzelfelt, so mobile vendors for now can only operate at special events.
Last month, the county eased restrictions on food trucks but only slightly. Originally, food trucks were permitted at special events but the definition of “special events” was narrow, said Rutherford. Saturday’s event in Chino would fall under that category.
The Board of Supervisors voted to broaden the category of special events, giving these vendors more opportunities to come to the county.
“Let’s say at a strip mall, somebody wanted food trucks to come park in the parking lot; the city would not have permitted that. But under the new way of doing things, if a city wants to allow that, the county would allow it,” Rutherford explained.
Although the county does not have jurisdiction over cities with regard to business licenses, the county does issue health permits for food trucks to operate throughout San Bernardino County.
This is one reason why Rancho Cucamonga wants to take a closer look at its municipal code. If the county plans on issuing more health permits for food trucks, the city wants to make sure these mobile operations know they are not welcome to roam freely.
“Since hot food trucks in the future will get clearance from county health, we want to make sure our ordinances are up to snuff,” said Planning Director James Troyer.
Currently county staff members are coming up with new rules to allow cities that want food trucks be able to let them in. Cities will set their own regulations including the definition of a special event.
Rutherford believes that in time, food trucks will gain acceptance as more events bring them to town.
“We’ll begin to see and experience more of them and understand that this creative entrepreneurial spirit creates opportunity rather than competition,” she said.
