Every year a different US city plays host to the American Planning Association’s annual conference where thousands of planners come from around the country, Canada, and further afield to learn about the most recent trends and practices in planning cities. This year it was held in Los Angeles, and for anyone interested in food policy and street vending it was exciting that this year there were two dedicated events on street food.

Both of these events were filled to capacity by policy makers, planners, and city officials from all over who recognized the surge in public support for street food and the need to reconcile this with often complex regulatory systems.

The first event was a led by Alfonso Morales, a professor at the University of Wisconsin, who has been researching street food for many years. With about a hundred people crowded standing-room-only in a small conference room, he began with an anecdote on how street food vendors have been weaving cultures together for centuries. In medieval cities kings would allow food vendors to have the privilege of crossing territorial boundaries to sell their food to other kings and thus introduce different cultural fare. Vending has had its peaks and valleys since then – falling in and out of public and political favour. Today, while vendors enjoy much public support, there are a number of myths that surround the business and contribute to the perpetuation of complex, often outdated regulations that limit the practice.

Morales went on to address some of the myths around vending*. While he spoke from an American perspective I recognized similar challenges to street food vending coming from Toronto: that vendors avoid paying taxes; that they are a danger to public health and safety; and that they unfairly compete with brick-and-mortar businesses.

First the notion that vendors don’t pay taxes: He made the point that while many people avoid paying taxes, this is often not the case with vendors. In fact vendors who aspire to owning a brick-and-mortar business in the future actually need to provide proof of profitability for future credit and so have no choice but to demonstrate their ability to pay taxes.

Second, the spectre of public health and safety: He made the point that food vending actually addresses three of the biggest public health issues today: 1) the public health problems of obesity and food deserts and the importance of providing culturally relevant produce to diverse populations; 2) growing interest in organic and especially local food makes street vendors increasingly important in supplying demand; 3) the need to diversify food distribution systems and make them capable of filling niches beyond that occupied by the contemporary grocery store. And in terms of food-borne pathogens, food vendors are often subjected to more inspections than brick-and-mortar businesses . You could even add that the very nature of vendors cooking and serving food right in front of their customers provides further transparency.

In terms of public safety, there is no shortage of revered urbanists who speak to the role that vendors play in keeping streets safe. Vendors are to Jane Jacobs the ‘public characters’ who provide ‘eyes on the street’ and William H Whyte has described how their presence draws activity out onto the streets. In an extreme example it was street food vendors in Times Square who alerted police to a suspicious vehicle that was emitting smoke and thus ended up foiling a bomb attack in 2010.

In terms of unfair competition with brick-and-mortar businesses, he noted that most local businesses feel threatened by vendors but once they see the foot traffic and life they bring they are grateful. He supplied us with research that evaluates the notion of unfair competition, which underlines the point that they are very different practices than brick-and-mortar businesses. There is limited, if any seating near the stand; the choice of food is much narrower; there aren’t amenities like washrooms to service customers; and there is no weather protection.

The second event was a mobile food truck workshop where we, the (very hungry) participants, boarded a bus and were taken across the city to visit three different food trucks. A city planner, a council representative, and the owner of a gourmet grilled cheese truck led the tour.

First, we headed to East LA to visit a luncherro. Luncherro is spanglish for food truck or taco truck. These are the classic trucks in LA originally begun in the 1950s and 60s to service the construction boom. At the time they were quite mobile, serving up lunch to service workers at different construction sites. When the construction boom ended trucks became more sedentary like a brick-and-mortar business. Now rather than move from place to place the trucks rely on community ties established from staying in one spot. Trucks need to go to approved commissaries or ‘truck lots’ every twenty-four hours and then they can return to business on the streets.

We lined up in a procession of about thirty people to get our hearty meal of three different kinds of tacos, rice, refried beans, and salad, which was delicious and invoked many sounds of pleasure up and down the bus aisle.

Next we headed over to a gourmet truck ‘meet-up’, where food trucks gather in one spot for a dedicated period of time. Gourmet trucks are a new type of food truck that has come onto the street in recent years. The main difference between gourmet trucks and luncherros is that luncherros tend to be sedentary and long-established in the community whereas gourmet trucks move around and use social media to rally their customers. The mobility of gourmet trucks is less a marketing ploy and more a necessity in response to a regulation that a food truck can only vend in one spot for one hour, unless they have access to a washroom. So, food trucks either need to partner with a store or institution that has a washroom or else they need to keep moving. Social media has been invaluable in providing customers. One of the first gourmet food trucks was The Grilled Cheese. The Grilled Cheese has over 80,000 followers on Twitter waiting to get notification of their next vending spot.

The food truck meet-up we went to was a good example of partnering with an institution (in this case a school). The meet-up happened every Saturday in the school’s parking lot, which wasn’t in use on the weekends. We entered the parking lot and were greeted by a rally of trucks selling everything from hamburgers and tacos to ice cream sandwiches and bubble tea. The trucks formed a ring and in the middle were a series of picnic benches packed with people. We had three tickets to use at vendors of our choice. I strategically went for the ice cream sandwich (ice cream slathered in between two fresh baked cookies) from Cool Haus and capped it off with a bubble tea. The Cool Haus truck used giant magnets on its metal siding to advertise what flavours were in store that day and also to advertise that it was a part of an open-air society that hosted evening events of food trucks, movies, and live music.

Our last stop was an example of a food truck partnering with a brick-and-mortar business in Silver Lake. The partnership provided cross-promotion and assured the necessary washroom facility. The partnering store, Silver Lake Wines, offered wine tastings and so you could bring your food from the truck into the store and enjoy some tapas while tasting wine. And it worked, I bought a bottle of red.

The problem that the food trucks are facing is that within LA County there are some 88 municipalities that all have slightly different regulations for mobile vending vehicles: some ban it outright, others limit stopping times, others limit what you can sell etc. and the County of Los Angeles can only really regulate trucks through requiring a washroom after one hour in the same spot. Seeing the surge in trucks, a Food Policy Task Force has been forged to figure out how to unify these regulations.

In the meantime, the food trucks are regulating themselves. For example, a brochure has been put together on ‘how to be a good neighbour’ with brick-and-mortar businesses, which you get when you pick up a permit. They also steer away from setting up in front of a brick-and-mortar business that sells the same foods. So far self-regulation has worked.

When the owner of The Grilled Cheese was asked where trucks tend to locate, her answer was predictable: where there is a lot of foot traffic, in pedestrian-oriented areas. Also in industrial areas where there are lots of workers. They typically don’t operate in residential areas but do go into some to service construction workers and nannies (which makes sense if you think about it – these areas have few places for day workers to eat, especially affordable eateries). I experienced this later in my trip when I was staying in a residential area in North Hollywood. I went out to find some lunch and couldn’t find any stores and then fortunately happened upon a food truck and was saved by a burrito.

So Los Angeles doesn’t provide a ‘how-to’ story in terms of a regulatory framework. Like many other cities they are still figuring out how to respond to this recent demand by consumers and influx of people wanting to vend food. Still I found it inspiring how food trucks have taken to the streets and have found ways to work around city regulations. And, that trucks are trusted to self-regulate, in terms of where they locate to brick-and-mortar businesses, rather than have more cumbersome regulations imposed on them, which is a good example of letting the market work itself out. Most of all it’s a demonstration of how the street food movement is growing and how regulators and politicians are trying to respond to this movement fuelled by entrepreneurs and their growing customer base. This is best exemplified by the fact that a city planner, political representative, and food truck owner were leading the tour, showing pride in the city’s street food.

What I have come to learn is that the story of street food in every city is different and this uniqueness embodies the history of a city’s growth and street life. If the history of street food in each city embodies a unique story, this is an opportunity to write a new chapter, one where cities relax their regulations, stand back, and watch as street life flourishes and as the public eats it all up.

*The discussion with Professor Alfonso Morales was supplemented with text from his article Race, Class, and Gender Myths of Street Merchants: Reconstructing Perceptions of Street-Level Commerce, 2010.

We are a coalition of food truck and food cart advocates who want a more robust, animated street food scene in Toronto. These are our objectives.

We’d like our City Council to do the following:

1. Recognize the importance of street food vendors to the vitality of the public realm.

2. Recognize that street food carts and trucks provide employment opportunities and play an important role in the city’s economy.

3. Recognize that carts and trucks are above all legitimate small business enterprises.

4. Remove regulatory barriers on cart design and food offerings to recognize the diversity and individuality of street food vendors.

5. Lift the moratorium on vending permits in the three downtown wards.

6. Relax the requirements for vending locations to make it easier for potential vendors to identify suitable spots from which to vend, while still recognizing the need for ample sidewalk space and accessibility.

7. Provide more freedom for food trucks to roam and park with reasonable restrictions.

8. Allow for street food clusters to encourage foot traffic and business in public spaces including certain parks.

By accomplishing these objectives, we can:

Build economic and community vitality in Toronto’s neighbourhoods by attracting foot traffic to commercial districts;

Provide more accessible entry point opportunities for entrepreneurs wishing to enter the food service industry; and

Create increased awareness of the social, cultural and economic benefits of street food vending.

For more information and frequently asked questions, please visit our resources area.

Photo credit 416style

The TSFP was featured on Global TV last night. We are very pleased with the coverage the campaign is getting and the support and participation we are seeing from Torontonians is phenomenal.

A number of Councillors have already indicated they are in support of a more vibrant and diverse street food culture including Glen De Baeremaeker featured in the above video.

“I think this is completely reasonable. We have people from every country in the world living here, it shouldn’t be too hard for us to say, you know what, we can offer you almost any food you want from around the world, as long as it’s safe.” — Glen De Baeremaeker, City Councillor, Ward 38

Let’s keep the momentum going. If you haven’t sent a letter to your Councillor, take action now. If you have (thank you!), please share this campaign with your friends and followers. Help us get the word out!

Though we’re happy that the campaign is reaching lots of people, we want to take the opportunity to reinforce that this is a campaign for better, more diverse street food of all kinds: carts and trucks, hot dogs and tacos.

While we’d all love to see more diverse food offerings, there is a place in the mix for hot dogs – they are an iconic Toronto food if there ever was one.

It should also be noted that hot dog vendors themselves would love to be able to diversify, but are currently restricted from doing so by the City. By being a part of the campaign you’re shining a light on these restrictions, and helping to build public support and the political will to open the doors to all kinds of street food entrepreneurs.

Welcome to the Toronto Street Food Project (TSFP).

The TSFP is a campaign to advocate for bringing delicious and diverse street food to the people of Toronto and supporting the independent entrepreneurs that want to cook it for them.

The TSFP is made up of a coalition of members from different organizations and backgrounds brought together by the same vision for Toronto street food.

Our Goal

The goal of the TSFP is to show Toronto City Councillors that their constituents and the people of Toronto want better access to great street food like so many other major North American cities currently enjoy. Ultimately we want the campaign to generate the political will necessary to get some of the current rules relaxed surrounding food trucks and carts.

Genesis of the Project

The TSFP came together organically in December 2011 when I approached Marianne Maroney, Hassel Aviles and Suresh Doss with an idea to join forces and create a campaign that would prove to Toronto City Councillors that the people of Toronto wanted them to make street food a priority at City Council.

As it turned out, they had already been discussing that very idea. We soon recruited Carly Dunster, Adam Hynam-Smith & Tamara Jensen, Kyla Zanardi, Andrea Winkler and Darcy Higgins who all shared the same vision for street food and could lend their expertise to the campaign.

Having worked for a former City Councillor for four years, I knew the impact that hearing from many constituents on the same issue can have on bringing that issue into focus and making change happen.

All of us involved had also been watching multiple tweets fly by every day from people publicly voicing their frustration with the limited access they had to diverse street food options – especially considering we are the fifth largest city in North America from a population standpoint (not to mention one of the most diverse).

We knew that although these people were frustrated, chances were many of them weren’t going to take the time to figure out who their Councillor was and draft a letter (or tweet) to them regarding this issue.

So we decided to do it for them.

How it Works

The TFSP website makes sending your Councillor a letter or tweet quick and effortless.

Sending a Letter:

1. Select your Councillor or Ward from the drop-down menu
2. Carefully read the pre-written letter and make sure you agree with its contents
3. Add any additional content you wish
4. Enter your name, email and street address and send to your Councillor
5. That’s it!

Tweeting Your Councillor
Tweeting your Councillor is even easier and faster than sending a letter but we recommend you do both. To tweet your Councillor simply click on his/her picture, review the pre-written tweet, make any edits you want and send to your Councillor.

We really hope people take advantage of this feature and leverage the power of social media to make their voice heard and spread this campaign to their friends and followers.

To stay up to date with the progress of the campaign, make sure you join us on Facebook and sign up for email updates.