**Blogging all things Food Trucks live from Neptune Beach.

[AshleyLauren]

We are live from the Public Library in Neptune Beach at the Beaches Watch Meeting. The topic on the agenda for the evening is solely about Food Trucks and why they are an asset to the Beaches of Jacksonville.

Roughly 50 or so people in attendance to hear what the beaches are trying to do in regards to food trucks legally showing up at the beach which currently they are not allowed, at all.

Beaches Watch is a non-profit, non-partisan civic organization whose mission is to promote and facilitate educated and productive citizen involvement in local and state government decisions that affect the quality of life at our beaches communities in Duval County, FL.

Panel of speakers include: Chris Dickerson, owner of Corner Taco Food Truck.
Steve Lindorff, Jacksonville Beach Director of Planning and Development with his intern Kelly.
Greg Pratt, owner of Sneakers Sports Grille (unable to make it).



Lindorff is up first and gives a brief history about the presence, or lack thereof, of food trucks in this part of our city. According to Lindorff, the current law eliminating the city from allowing food trucks is from 1955.

[AshleyLauren]

Intern Kelly takes the stand,

25 cities researched first about privately owned properties and then publicly owned properties.
She reveals most of the cities allow food trucks on private property, 17 of the 25 cities have strict buffer requirements that the food trucks must adhere to. Only 7 of the 25 cities implemented hours of operation. All cities had their own version of Mobile Vending Permits, and seven of the cities cap the amount of permits allocated annually and they are normally first come first served.

Application components for 17 of the 25 cities: proof of automobile, photo identification, consent letter from property owner of private lots, driver's license, lighting, signage, waste management, and a background check.

Inspections: 20 of 25 implement pre-operational inspections. The cities in Florida require minimum of two inspections a year.
Inspection Fees: Range from $100-$649...

14 of the 25 cities must meet operational requirements such as signs, self-containment, etc.

Restrictions vary across the cities, seems to be no set rules there.

Penalties and Fines occur with all offenses, going up each time a food truck does not follow city requirements, meet city inspections, or  not adhere to restrictions.

[AshleyLauren]

Lots of questions to be answered to make the best decision about the food trucks for Jax Beach.
Here are some of them:

1. Where should food trucks be allowed??
    How long can a truck stay in one place?
    Cruise until someone flags them down?
    Where are they allowed? Private, public, both?
    Zoning districts? Residential areas?
    Should there be a mobile vending overlay zone?
    What about during special events?
    Allow food truck rallies?
2. Specific locations be designated by the city?
3. Days and hours of operation be set and what are reasonable limits?
   Days of the week? All day? Fri-Sun? Holidays? Other?
    What hours of the day?? All day? 10am-2pm?
4. Buffers or seperation requirements from brick and mortars, residential uses, schools, other food trucks?
    distance from brick and mortar? What is a reasonable separation requirement?  Should each truck be separated from each other and how far??
5. Permit on the number of food trucks permitted?
     How many? How many per person? Automatic annual renewals or a reapplication process??
6. How will the application process be managed?
   What department should be responsible? What information should be required? Timing? What should be done if initial quota of food trucks is not filled? Processing Periods? And Fees?
7. Should the city set operational standards, such as restroom or hand washing stations, beyond those already under state law?
8. What other operation requirements should be put in place (design standards, nosise, litter, lighting, etc?
9. (sorry moving rapidly)
10. Revocation questions?
Trigger revocation of food truck permit?? Failure to pay fees? Are food trucks a public nuisance?

If you have comments you can contact Jacksonville Beach Planning: planning@jaxbchfl.org

[AshleyLauren]

Chris Dickerson takes the stand, he is the owner of Corner taco food truck. Beaches native, yet he travels to Riverside daily to keep his truck open. All he asks, to allow food trucks on private property with the consent of the property owner.
Food trucks are restaurants on wheels. Food Trucks strive for excellence. Dickerson states, low prices are not the only thing food truck customers look for and not the only reason the succeed. He says, our customers see no difference between a food truck and a small restaurant. They pay the same taxes, undergo the same health inspections, and put the same care and time into the product of their food. An average day for a food truck ranges from $600-$1000 total. Brick and Mortars daily sales come in more than 10 times that (I am a server at Longhorn Steakhouse and my sales this morning for a lunch shift from 11-330 was $582 and I am just one of the 9 servers that worked this morning. What he says is true.) Therefore, food trucks really pose no threat to stationary restaurants.

[AshleyLauren]

Owner of the Hot Dog Hut takes the stand:

Explains how hard it is to get business now. A food truck placed between the beach and the Hot Dog Hut would defer all foot traffic from the beach away from them and therefore it would affect their business which they are currently struggling to keep open.

Both sides fighting for the same thing, the same opportunity. Simply a chance to run their business successfully.

[AshleyLauren]

One man states, two inspections a year will not offer the people of Jacksonville Beach clean and sanitary food options. He states, these people will be whipping up spaghetti sauce in their tubs at night.

Another man points out there are a lot of questions that seem easy to answer, so why does it seem hard for Jax Beach to make decisions to get it worked out?

Lindorff assures the audience these meetings will be taking place more frequently so they can hear from the people and come up with answers that will benefit the entire area.

Dickerson pointed out the synergy created when an area has multiple food trucks in one location revealing today his taco truck and the truck next to his in Riverside both sold out of food reaching record highs.
Dickerson explains the restaurants on King Street don't seem to mind their presence and in fact those restaurants employees eat their food.

[AshleyLauren]

One woman asks for the lists of cities used for their research in order to see perhaps why some of the cities seem more restrictive than others. She asks, How long will it take to create this new ordinance?

Lindorff doesn't see why it can't be written by the end of the summer.

And no position would be created in order to take care of the influx of paperwork.

Another man, it seems to be us vs. them. It shouldn't be that way we are all at the beach, and we all should support one another. Fair competition should be allowed as long as the trucks comply with the rules created. The question should be "How can we help these guys?"  They work hard and should be given respect as a restaurant and privately owned business. It's simple. Make the rules, they follow them and they remain open, if they break them they don't. It's that simple. It's a bad economy we are all struggling and everyone should have a fair shot.

[AshleyLauren]

Lindorff reiterates, we are here to resolve the issue. Points out restaurants at the beach are not allowed to have billboards or large signs, and food trucks basically are a billboard on wheels.
-The man behind me stated,  "must be another rule from the 50s."

While, the setting is friendly, and everyone seems to be here for the betterment of the entire area. If you listen though you can hear the fear in the private business owner's voices.

Reveals there are about 19 food trucks in Jacksonville now.

Action News has left the building.

Mayoral Candidate, points out nothing is funny about this situation. Everyone has taken economical hits the past three years. Points out the beach is struggling due to lots of factors, i.e. lack of a fourth of July celebration.
Points out a collaborative effort will solve this problem quickly and efficiently.

Wrapping up now. The room appears divided. Both sides fighting to survive. Owning a small business has never been an easy feat. While this is personal,especially in a small town, it is business. The nature of business is brutal and evolving, the choice is to keep up and produce a better product or fail.

To be continued...

[TheCat]

Since the predominant fear is food trucks turning into some sort of business parasite and destroying all brick and mortar restaurants...did anyone mention research that supported/negated this assumption.

[mtraininjax]

A food truck placed between the beach and the Hot Dog Hut would defer all foot traffic from the beach away from them and therefore it would affect their business which they are currently struggling to keep open.

Wow, this smells like, wait for it, competition! OMG, nobody told me I would have competition opening a restaurant! Who decided that only 1 business model is what the residents want? After all, isn't it up to the residents to decide what they want in terms of a restaurant, and this is shown in sales? No sales, means go away and find a new profession, aka competition.  New taxes coming on food trucks designed to drive them away.

[thelakelander]

In 60 days Jax Beach plans to have some sort of draft legislation ready.  Competition is good.  The Hot Dog Hut should embrace the opportunity to improve.  If their brick and mortar costs are too much for their business model, they should consider getting a truck.

[mtraininjax]

If their brick and mortar costs are too much for their business model, they should consider getting a truck.

+1

[AshleyLauren]

A food truck placed between the beach and the Hot Dog Hut would defer all foot traffic from the beach away from them and therefore it would affect their business which they are currently struggling to keep open.

Wow, this smells like, wait for it, competition! OMG, nobody told me I would have competition opening a restaurant! Who decided that only 1 business model is what the residents want? After all, isn't it up to the residents to decide what they want in terms of a restaurant, and this is shown in sales? No sales, means go away and find a new profession, aka competition.  New taxes coming on food trucks designed to drive them away.

Jack, were you at the meeting because that sounded a lot like what another man said!! And competition seems to be a foreign concept out there!

Cat, that question was asked. Mike stood up and stated it helped the existing businesses and referred to the food truck event a burrito gallery a few weeks ago, but no concrete numbers from a study. I am assuming he has them but they were rushing people through their comments. However, the food truck event was not indicative of how it would be on a weekly basis if Jax Beach ran with this so I don't know how fair it is to use that particular event as a number.