Today in unsurprising news: Toronto food truckers hate the city’s new food-truck rules
Earlier this week, Zagat Toronto canvassed a group of popular Toronto-area food truckers to see how they feel about the new food-truck bylaws approved by city council earlier this spring. (For those in need of a refresher, the new rules looked sort of liberating at first glance, and then not-so-liberating on closer perusal, mainly because they hiked the cost of permits up to $5,000 and granted Toronto restaurants a collective 50-metre restraining order against all food trucks.) Unsurprisingly, Toronto truckers don’t seem to be particularly enthusiastic about the rules. What is sort of surprising is how many of them have decided to bow out of the new licensing scheme altogether.
Out of the eight trucks surveyed by Zagat, seven of them—including big names like Fidel Gastro, Buster’s Sea Cove and El Gastronomo Vagabundo—said they probably wouldn’t be investing in a new permit. “To pay more than $5,000 for this frustration seems ludicrous to me,” said Graeme Smith, operator of the Gorilla Cheese truck. “I can’t help but feel like the program in Toronto was designed to fail.”
That’s our Toronto: alienating mobile food vendors since 2009.
![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://torontolife.com/food/today-unsurprising-news-toronto-food-truckers-hate-citys-new-food-truck-rules/&title=Today in unsurprising news: Toronto food truckers hate the city’s new food-truck rules&picture=https://cdn.torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/may12Busters_intro-624x395.jpg&description=[caption id="attachment_274147" align="aligncenter" width="656"] Buster’s Sea Cove owners Tom Antonarakis and Quinten Tran outside their truck. (Image: Gizelle Lau)[/caption]
Earlier this week, Zagat Toronto canvassed a group of popular Toronto-area food truckers to see how they feel about the new food-truck bylaws approved by city council earlier this spring. (For those in need of a refresher, the new rules looked sort of liberating at first glance, and then not-so-liberating on closer perusal, mainly because they hiked the cost of permits up to $5,000 and granted Toronto restaurants a collective 50-metre restraining order against all food trucks.) Unsurprisingly, Toronto truckers don’t seem to be particularly enthusiastic about the rules. What is sort of surprising is how many of them have decided to bow out of the new licensing scheme altogether.
Out of the eight trucks surveyed by Zagat, seven of them—including big names like Fidel Gastro, Buster’s Sea Cove and El Gastronomo Vagabundo—said they probably wouldn’t be investing in a new permit. “To pay more than $5,000 for this frustration seems ludicrous to me," said Graeme Smith, operator of the Gorilla Cheese truck. “I can't help but feel like the program in Toronto was designed to fail."
That’s our Toronto: alienating mobile food vendors since 2009.){kind=link}
It is true Toronto do not want food trucks at all, mostly Toronto only wants your money, Toronto is money hungry and politicians are good con artistes is all.
Of course it was designed to fail. So many councillors are in the CAFP/Toronto resto industry’s back pocket that food trucks in Toronto were never going to fly.
If you were paying over $50,000 a year in muncipal taxes you wouldn’t want food trucks either…
True, however if you sold a quality product you wouldn’t fear some healthy competition
What I hate about Toronto….the potential and missed opportunity
It seems like everyday their is some new story about how “city council” or “ontario government” finding new ways to make Toronto suck just a little bit more
And what why exactly wouldn’t you want food trucks there rdglider? Is it because you fear innovation? Is your fare so terrible that you would lose ALL of your business to the food trucks? Can your business not handle competition? Can you only thrive in a protectionist market?
$50K in municipal taxes should not buy you the right to be the sole purveyor of whatever your product is.
Go fry some chicken……chicken.
True, but I would not look down on the low income pedestrians wanting to enjoy a comfort snack while standing up among the commoners.
The $50k is the price for the backdoor Key to City Hall and the clique’s we all know for their profession……but we just don’t know their price.
It’s a joke. Toronto remains in the dark ages and pales in comparison to almost any other major North American city with respect to food trucks, among other things