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Help — don’t hurt — food trucks

By Catherine Toth Fox • January 4, 2012 • Food, Musings, The Daily Dish

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Fifteen minutes?

When I heard that’s the amount of time, by an outdated city ordinance, a food truck can park in one place, that just didn’t make sense.

I mean, why even bother? It’s not like a food truck can generate any income, really, in 15 minutes. They can’t even make enough to pay the citation of $500.

The Honolulu City Council will look at upping that time limit to two hours. But is that even worth it, either? And why the time limit?

I’m sure this has something to do with mobile businesses not paying as much — rent, overhead, taxes — as brick-and-mortar shops. And I’m sure they’re seen as threats, especially when these lunch trunks pop up at lunchtime and take away business from nearby restaurants.

I remember talking with a lunch wagon owner who paid a fee to operate on city property. He was upset because other wagons would pull up in parking stalls and sell food — taking away his customers — and without paying the fee he was paying. So he stopped paying it, too, and now drives around, finds an open spot and sets up his business. It’s easier and cheaper.

But what the city should do is help these small, mobile businesses — not hurt them or pit them against each other. Talk to the owners. Find out what they need. Make it work. It will only benefit everyone involved.

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8 Comments

  • Reply zzzzzz January 4, 2012 at 9:45 am

    From the news reports I’ve heard and read, it’s not a 15 limit on parking, it’s 15 minutes “to carry on or solicit business.” One might reasonably infer that a truck could park for longer than 15 minutes.

    The reports also said the police crackdown was in response to complaints about the parking the trucks were using. I didn’t see any mention of complaints from other lunch trucks or restaurants about unfair competition.

    However, enforcing this law does seem to have the effect of leveling the playing field for the owner who did pay the fee, and others like him.

    Perhaps the truck owners should try to work with other business owners to form symbiotic relationships. E.g., a business lets the truck use its parking lot during certain hours, and hopefully benefits when some of the lunch customers also patronize that business.

    • Reply Catherine Toth January 5, 2012 at 6:52 pm

      I wonder who was complaining… It can’t be residents.

  • Reply ragavibe January 4, 2012 at 2:06 pm

    Longing for the old Kewalo Basin lunch wagon days!

    • Reply Catherine Toth January 5, 2012 at 6:52 pm

      YES. I know. I miss the Kanda sisters SO much. (OK, I miss their teriyaki beef… but still…)

  • Reply dopy January 4, 2012 at 2:57 pm

    The city should sell permits that allow the permit holder to occupy a metered parking stall for 3 hours but the permit should cost more than whatever these food trucks allegedly pay at the meters. That way the city earns some revenue in return for allowing the food vendors to conduct business on city property.

    • Reply Catherine Toth January 5, 2012 at 6:53 pm

      I’m guessing these trucks would need to reserve more than just on parking stall, huh?

  • Reply oldshoes January 4, 2012 at 3:28 pm

    yep. And yet protesters and homeless stuffs( that are truely safety & health concerns) arent getting this kind of scrutiny. Unless some foreign dignitaries come to town and officials feel the need to hide the dirty laundry…as it were.

    • Reply Catherine Toth January 5, 2012 at 6:53 pm

      I know what you mean. I’m curious about who’s complaining… Finding that out would be interesting.

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About Me

About Me
Born and raised on O‘ahu, Hawaiʻi, Catherine Toth Fox has been chronicling her adventures in her blog, The Cat Dish, for more than a decade. She worked as a newspaper reporter in Hawai‘i for 10 years and continues to freelance—in between teaching journalism, hitting the surf and eating everything in sight—for national and local print and online publications. She’s currently the editor of HAWAIʻI Magazine.

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