The laws that govern food trucks in Pittsburgh were written in an era when ice cream trucks were the only food vendors on wheels, well before mobile pierogi and taco vendors took to the streets, councilman Dan Gilman said.
For example, city code requires food trucks to move every 30 minutes.
“That’s not practical in today’s world,” he said. “By the time you heat up the stove and get ready to serve, you’re at 30 minutes.”
Gilman introduced legislation Monday to update city code to make things easier for food trucks. He wants food trucks to be able to set up shop within 100 feet of similar restaurants, instead of the current 500-foot requirement. They would be allowed to stay in the same location for up to four hours and would be permitted to park in approved locations in Schenley and Frick parks.
“So now if you’re at your son or daughter’s soccer game up at Schenley Oval, you’ll have the ability to go to food trucks to get food as well,” Gilman said.
The councilman has also proposed allowing food trucks to park in metered parking spaces, as long as they pay the meters. He also wants to boost the license fee from $500 to $1,200.
Matt Geller, CEO and co-founder of the National Food Truck Association, said permitting and licensing procedures vary widely from state to state and city to city, which makes it hard to quantify exactly how many food trucks are in operation nationwide.
The website PGH Mobile Food lists 27 mobile food vendors in Pittsburgh, but includes businesses like Leona’s Ice Cream Sandwiches, which serves sweet treats from a freezer attached to a bicycle. That kind of mobile vendor isn’t subject to the same regulations as a traditional food truck, and the list also doesn’t include some other local offerings, such as Berlin Street Food.
City officials didn’t immediately respond to a request for information about the number of businesses with mobile vehicular vendor licenses, but Geller said broadly, food trucks represent one of the fastest growing segments of the restaurant industry.
They can only grow as quickly as regulations allow, he said. The sooner cities pass legislation that makes sense for mobile vendors, the sooner the industry will professionalize.
Gilman said his proposed legislation will help make Pittsburgh more food truck-friendly.
“If you’re someone who is looking at Pittsburgh as a potential place to open a small business, you would assume that Pittsburgh didn’t welcome food trucks and I don’t want that to be the message,” Gilman said.
