By Clay Andersen
Food trucks have become a vibrant part of our culinary landscape, offering diverse cuisines and unique dining experiences. However, faced with the threat of healthy competition and losing their customer base, brick-and-mortar businesses- along with greedy governments- will push for regulations that ultimately deter the food trucks from operating in city limits. We saw the same thing in 2020: small businesses- deemed “unessential”- were forced to shut down while large corporations could stay open. The City of Chadron is considering requiring food trucks to have a permit to operate within city limits. City staff claim the regulation is to protect the public’s health and level the playing field with brick-and-mortar restaurants. As good as the intentions of this proposal is, it will ultimately only end up hurting everyone.
Firstly, there is no public health concern with food trucks. The Nebraska Dept. of Agriculture, on its website, lays out all of the requirements for food trucks to be able to operate in the State of Nebraska. Just like a brick-and-mortar, food trucks must have initial & annual inspections, use the same sanitation and disposal practices, and have all employees pass a Food Handler certification test. I expect this fear-mongering at the State and Federal government levels, but seeing it at the local level is disappointing.
Secondly, the issue of ‘leveling the playing field’ for brick-and-mortar establishments. Currently, food trucks, along with all other similar temporary businesses, are burdened with a solicitor fee of $20 daily, $50 weekly, or $200 annually, and are only permitted to operate between the hours of 9 am. – 5 pm. In stark contrast, local brick-and-mortar restaurants do not require a permit to operate and are open for 10-12 hours a day. If the goal is truly to create an equal playing field, then it would be more equitable to allow food trucks to operate as late as the local restaurants, without any additional cost. This disparity in regulations places an unnecessary burden on food trucks, making it difficult for them to thrive.
Within the list of grievances that our Founding Fathers laid out in the Declaration of Independence was that of the King obstructing the free trade of the Colonies with other nations. They thought exchanging goods and services between people and nations should be voluntary and free from government interference. When Calvin Coolidge became President in 1923, he strongly advocated for a laissez-faire economy. With this, America came out of the recession brought on by World War I and gave birth to the “Roaring 20s”. Food trucks and the businesses that allow them to operate are a prime example of a laissez-faire system: a pure voluntary exchange between two consenting parties. They bolster the economy by bringing people into town– and to the business they are located in. Those people then will be more apt to stay a little longer and patronize other businesses, and the owners of the food trucks, in turn, patronize the businesses in town for their needs. In the end, if Chadron wants more economic development, then we need to promote more economic freedom, and that can start right here with making Chadron more food truck friendly by saying no to a permit and expanding the hours in which they can operate. The City of Broken Bow has recently passed similar regulations and lost all subsequent food truck business. Smaller rural communities like Chadron and Broken Bow do not have the economic development to incentivize these small businesses to pay the proposed fees.
Ultimately, we must ask ourselves, “Will a food truck permit benefit Chadron?” The answer is NO. Only a handful of food trucks come to Chadron regularly, so the revenue received from the proposed fee will not be enough to change the City’s budget. So let’s call a spade a spade and call this proposed fee what it actually is: an extortion fee on small businesses.
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The views and opinions expressed in the preceding article are those of the author and do
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