New Orleans, LA- A newly formed New Orleans Food Truck Coalition prepares to approach the city council with proposed changes they'd like to see happen to the city's current ordinances.
Truck vendors say the biggest problems seem to stem from confusion, on what the ordinances actually mean. That confusion stems from everything to the number of permits available, to where vendors can park, and overall enforcement.
Now the New Orleans Food Truck Coalition is working to persuade city officials to ease the rules of the game.
Benoit Angulo, owner and operator of La Cocinita Comida De La Calle, which means "little kitchen, food from the street," is one of several small business owners on wheels, still struggling to do business in the city.
"We're 10, 15 years behind cities like New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Portland, Austin, they have thriving food truck scenes, and they do well, everybody does well," said Angulo.
They call New Orleans food truck regulations a "bureaucratic red tape nightmare." Vendors often get different answers from different city officials, and enforcement seems to be based on the whim and confusion of whomever is enforcing whatever, on any given day.
"It's conflictive. The law is written in such a way, that there could be different answers to each one of the different articles, that are incorporated. It's up to interpretation," said Angulo.
That's why a Food Truck Coalition has been formed.
"The eventual goal is to try to get some consistency out of the laws," said Metairie Lawyer Andrew Legrand.
Legrand has stepped in to help form the organization, one that vendors hope will create a central organization for them to come together with one voice, and one goal.
"We've already filed with the secretary of state, and so we're right now in the process of getting a bank account set up so we can have some sort of money flow, we're in the process of drafting by-laws, so we know who the members are, who can be members, what sort of rights we have," said Legrand.
Right now, the coalition is pushing to change city codes that prevent them from setting up outside hospitals, uptown apartments, and universities. City code also requires food trucks to operate at least 600 ft. from restaurants, schools and churches, and restricts hours of operation. Trucks are currently banned in a large portion of downtown, the CBD is off limits.
"And I mean, it's like where everybody is, it's the biggest market that there is in town, especially for lunch and such. We're willing to change things, update them if you will. We're not going into City Hall to raise hell or do anything like that. We just want to make government aware, that there is a problem," said Angulo.
The coalition has invited legislators who've helped with food truck legislation in the past in other parts of the country, to come down for a meeting July 24th at City Hall. The coalition is also inviting city council members and other city leaders.
The city says they simply try to enforce the current rules. This year, we're told they've made over 20 new permits available.
