NOLA Food Trucks

New Weekly Tuesday Food Truck Series

noftc — Fri, 03 May 2013 18:46:50 +0000

FIRST BI-ANNUAL ROLLING THROUGH:

A MOBILE SERIES BY “MY HOUSE”

Tuesday Evenings in May & June

The series will highlight four unique New Orleans neighborhoods and nonprofit partners – Bayou-Treme (The Bayou Treme Center), Central City (Good Work Network), Broadmoor (Broadmoor Improvement Association), and Bywater (The New Orleans Center for Creative Arts Institute).

“The series is unlike any other event in New Orleans,” says event organizer Barrie Schwartz “Our mission is to draw attention to New Orleans neighborhoods, support our nonprofit partners, spotlight the mobile food truck movement, and support our local small business owners.” Schwartz added that a portion of the proceeds will be given to the nonprofit partners.

The first event is on Tuesday, May 7th, 5-9 p.m., at The Bayou Treme Center (2541
Bayou Road). In addition to the food trucks, NOLA Drive-in will show “Singing In the
Rain” inside the center, starting at 8 p.m.

DATES & LOCATIONS:

1st Tuesdays, Bayou Treme: May 7, June 4

The Bayou Treme Center, (2541 Bayou Road)

2nd Tuesdays, Central City: May 14, June 11

Good Work Network, 2038 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd.

3rd Tuesdays, Broadmoor: May 21, June 18

Rosa Keller Library and Community Center, 4300 South Broad Street

4th Tuesdays, Bywater: May 28, June 25

Press Street Lot at the Corner of Royal and Press

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New Food Truck Laws Pass!

noftc — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 05:08:14 +0000

City Council Passes New Food Truck Laws!

After months of discussions, compromises, revisions, and amendments, we have finally made some progress! Here is a summary of the set of ordinances that passed today, with the help of Council Members James Gray, LaToya Cantrell, and especially Stacy Head:

THE GOOD:
1) An additional 75 permits for food trucks
2) The ability to park in one location for up to 4 hours
3) A decreased restaurant proximity restriction, from 600 to 200 feet (only during the restaurant’s business hours, and can be waived with written permission from the restaurant)
4) Access to the BioMedical District and the rest of the area between Rampart and Claiborne, and Howard and Esplanade

THE NECESSARY:
1) A 100% increase in permit fees
2) A requirement that trucks provide trash receptacles and pick up truck-related litter
3) A requirement that trucks carry a minimum of $500,000 in general liability insurance
4) A requirement that permit numbers be posted visibly on the exterior of all trucks

THE BAD:
1) A requirement that trucks have written documentation of restroom access within 300 feet of the truck (unless there are not public or commercial restrooms in the area, which is an exemption aimed at allowing food trucks to serve in food desert areas of the city)

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Next Food Truck Round-Up: Friday, April 26th!

noftc — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 16:51:06 +0000

Next Food Truck Round-Up in the CBD!

When: Friday, April 26th, 11 AM-3 PM

Where: Carondelet & Common

Featuring: Foodie Call, La Cocinita, NOLA Girl, & Empanada Intifada

Brought to You by: My House, Southern Food & Beverage Museum, Wisznia, & Merchant Cafe

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Food Trucks in Fat City!

noftc — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 20:54:35 +0000

Food Trucks are Coming to Fat City Tonight!

For the first time since 2007, food trucks will be setting up in Jefferson Parish!

When: Monday, April 15th, 5-10 PM

Where: 18th & Edenborn

Which Trucks: Crepes a la Cart, Empanada Intifada, Foodie Call, La Cocinita, NOLA Girl, & Rue Chow

How: An exciting collaboration between Council Member Cynthia Lee-Sheng, the New Orleans Food Truck Coalition, & Drago’s Foundation

Come show your love for food trucks and hopefully this will become a regular event!

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Food Truck Roundup Today at the Library

noftc — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 06:17:40 +0000

Food Trucks for Lunch Today in the CBD!

New Orleans Public Library

219 Loyola Avenue (Corner of Tulane & Loyola)

11 AM-2 PM

Happy Library Week–YUM!

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Support New Orleans Food Trucks

noftc — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 21:00:51 +0000

Latest Update

The City Council has given us some of what we’ve asked for. Unfortunately, they’ve also added several new, more restrictive provisions. Based on emails obtained from the city council members themselves, support for food trucks outweighs opposition by a 3:1 ratio, so it’s clear that special interests or heavy hitters are more persuasive to some city council members.

A final vote on food trucks may happen April 18. Details on where we stand and ways you can help support New Orleans food trucks are below.

Sign Up for Updates

If you’d like to stay up to date on what’s going on with food trucks in NOLA, sign up to receive our newsletter.

What we’ve asked for:

Access to the Central Business District
An increase on the 100 permit limit (includes ice cream trucks, Lucky Dogs, and fresh fruit vendors)
Elimination or reduction of the 600 foot restaurant protection zone

The Current Proposal

Access to the area between North Rampart and I-10. The rest of the CBD is still off-limits.
75 new food truck permits, which will expire after 1 year
A 100 foot restaurant protection zone (rumor has it that the Louisiana Restaurant Association is pushing a certain council member for 300 feet).

Additional Restrictions Added by the City Council. We do not support these:

Bathroom access within 300 feet of a truck
A prohibition on serving in residentially-zoned neighborhoods. This include a ban on serving in front of some neighborhood bars, like Pal’s and Vaughn’s, and serving near the Loyola and Tulane campuses.

Changes we support:

Trucks must provide a trash can and pick up trash around their truck before they move.
Trucks must have at least $500,000 in general commercial liability insurance.

What we’re asking for

First, we’d like to eliminate or reform the current bathroom proposal. We’re adults, and we can find a sanitary spot to pee without the government telling us how to do it.

Second, we do not want to serve customers in front of your house. But we do want to serve you in front of your corner bar. We don’t mind being banned from some residential neighborhoods, but we’d like access to higher-density residential areas (the University, Bywater neighborhoods, and along St. Charles).

How you can help: Email the City Council

Here are the emails for the city council and their staff. Please let them know how you feel about the current proposal:

shead@nola.gov;jbclarkson@nola.gov;sgguidry@nola.gov;lcantrell@nola.gov;kgpalmer@nola.gov;chmorrell@nola.gov; jagray@nola.gov;jtharris@nola.gov;eswhite@nola.gov;mdfraser@nola.gov; derauch@nola.gov;vjrossmeier@nola.gov;lestewart@nola.gov;espears@nola.gov

We’re supported by the public, restaurants, bars, coffee shops, deli’s, and plenty of venues throughout the city. Thank you for your support as we work to create fair food truck law reform.

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Please Help Support Food Trucks in NOLA!

noftc — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 17:14:51 +0000

THIS IS IT: Last chance to support New Orleans food trucks!

A final vote on food trucks will take place on April 18. We need your support now more than
ever. Please send a quick e-mail to City Council to let them know that you support us. You can
do so by clicking here to email your city council members, or copying and pasting these e-mail addresses into your “to” field:

shead@nola.gov; jbclarkson@nola.gov; sgguidry@nola.gov; lcantrell@nola.gov;
kgpalmer@nola.gov; chmorrell@nola.gov; jagray@nola.gov; jtharris@nola.gov;
eswhite@nola.gov; mdfraser@nola.gov; derauch@nola.gov; vjrossmeier@nola.gov;
lestewart@nola.gov; espears@nola.gov

Council President Stacy Head’s food truck proposal will help make New Orleans an even better
place. And according to a recent Freedom of Information Act request, support for food trucks
outweighs opposition 3:1—but we still need your help to convince City Council to vote in favor
of it.

The Proposal

The city’s unfair and outdated law makes it extremely difficult for food trucks to operate.
Council President Head’s proposal would:

Reduce prohibition on parking near a restaurant from 600 feet to 100 feet
Increase permit cap from 100 to 200
Open up certain areas of downtown
Allow us to park for up to four hours, instead of forcing us to pick up and move every 45
minutes.

Food trucks enrich our local culinary scene, create safer communities, increase food traffic
for nearby businesses, offer fresh food at affordable prices, contribute to the city’s coffers by
paying sales, permit and payroll taxes, and create opportunities for self-sufficiency and business-
ownership. And contrary to what a few vocal restaurant opponents say, many restaurants support
food trucks in New Orleans.

Thank you for your support!

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St. Claude Food Truck and Art Bazaar

noftc — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 11:30:09 +0000

Come join us this weekend for your favorite NOLA food trucks at the St. Claude Food Truck and Art Bazaar this Sunday, April 7th, from 11 AM to 3 PM.

1940 St Claude Ave New Orleans, LA 70116

Featuring: La Cocinita, Grilling Shelling, Fat Falafel, Frencheeze, Beignet Roulet, Empanada Intifada, & Brigade Coffee.

Brought to you by My House: Empowering Culinary Entrepreneurs.

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Tell the City Council You Support NOLA Food Trucks!

noftc — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 18:13:31 +0000

Please show your support for food trucks by attending the next Economic Development Committee meeting on March 12 at 10 AM! This is the meeting at which New Orleans City Council Members will discuss the details of the current proposal for legislative changes affecting NOLA food trucks and the last opportunity for the public to speak in support of it. Nine days after this meeting the City Council will vote on the proposal. Please help us fill the room with food truck supporters to demonstrate the overwhelming public support for our cause! And while you’re there, please fill out a public comment card and let the Council hear from you directly.

In the meantime, be sure to click here to email your city council members and let them know you support food trucks in New Orleans!

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February 4th City Council Meeting Recap

Lizzy — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 07:23:29 +0000

Thank you to all those who attended today’s Economic Development Committee meeting to show your support for NOLA food trucks! For those of you who were unable to attend, here is a brief summary of the meeting. The next steps in this process are unclear at this juncture, but rest assured we will continue to move forward with the support of key City officials and community advocates. We will let you know as soon as possible.

You can watch a video of the City Council meeting HERE

Summary:

First, it’s worth noting that 6 of the 7 council members attended today’s meeting to discuss this issue, despite the fact that only 4 are on the economic development committee charged with addressing the food truck issue (Clarkson is the Chair; Gray & Cantrell are Members; and Head is an Alternate). This demonstrates strong interest in this topic.

Andrew Legrand, Attorney for the New Orleans Food Truck Coalition, gave a presentation discussing the benefits of food trucks for our community (e.g., increased foot traffic, low-barrier opportunity for entrepreneurs, etc) and addressing some recent objections to food trucks (e.g., sanitary concerns, limited parking, access to restrooms, competition for restaurants, etc).

City Health Commissioner Dr. Karen DeSalvo then spoke briefly to share the health department’s plans to work on strengthening the current health code for both mobile vendors to ensure public safety. Stacy Head jumped in to clarify that the health department is focusing on revising the health code for both restaurants and mobile vendors.

Paul Rotner, President of the Greater New Orleans Chapter of the Louisiana Restaurant Association, then read a letter addressing his concerns about the sanitary nature of food trucks (including several examples that had already been refuted by Legrand’s speech). He also expressed concerns about where food truck employees would use restrooms. And he claimed that because restaurant owners pay high property taxes, food trucks should not be able to park nearby. He also stated that the LRA is not opposed to food trucks, as long as their operations are properly enforced by the health department and restricted to areas that do not have restaurants.

Two members of the public (Cassandra Sharpe, a commercial real estate broker in the Warehouse District, and Steve Gundlach, owner of Terrazu and Steve’s Diner in the CBD) spoke out against food trucks operating in the CBD, due to concerns about generators for residents and competition for restaurants.Several members of the public spoke in favor of food trucks. Tamara Muno of Velvet Espresso explained that she is opening up a restaurant on O.C. Haley based on the vibrant nature of the food truck round-ups she attended on that street. Barrie Schwartz, founder and owner of My House: Empowering Culinary Entrepreneurs, an event planning company focused on alternative dining, discussed the business opportunities that food trucks have presented for her as a local entrepreneur. Food truck owners Taylor Jackson and Theresa Galli discussed their ability to act on their entrepreneurial dreams by starting their own food trucks here in New Orleans. And Christopher Brancato, co-owner of Merchant Cafe in the CBD, discussed his work with Marcel Wisznia and the NOFTC to bring food trucks downtown. He reported record-high sales on the day that 5 food trucks parked directly across from his cafe for the CBD Food Truck Round-Up earlier this month. He explains that food trucks bring foot traffic, and therefore benefit store-front businesses. He also remarked that, if he found that his business was suffering due to competition with food trucks, he would know it was time to reinvent his business.

Stacy Head announced that she would reluctantly amend the previous proposal, due to some opposition to her initial plan. She plans to increase the proximity restriction from restaurants from 50 feet to either 75 or 100 feet. Also, food trucks would be allowed to operate in a more limited area of the CBD than previously proposed. The area from Howard to Esplanade and from the River to Rampart would no longer be included in the proposed area accessible to food trucks.

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