So should a city be able to ban — or effective ban by severe restrictions — food trucks in a town (as Atlanta has done with street vendors)? What do you think?
Here’s a poll, for those who’d like to participate by voting, and below is a comment forum for opinions expressed that way.
My view:
Additional food vendors help consumers, and won’t hurt restaurants who — by virtue of their storefronts — can sell on service, value for price, etc. Many patronize merchants in town, as I do, for their expertise and value-added guidance. I look for good customer service, and return to those shops. A nice restaurant, for example, is a nice restaurant for both its food and its atmosphere. (I’ve yet to start restaurant reviews, but I will!)
In fact, there’s probably an untapped clientele in Whitewater that will patronize merchants who show potential customers the benefits of good guidance and expertise.
Where merchants of this high-quality need a break is from excessive municipal fees, taxes, and regulations.
An appealing restaurant has no reason to fear a food truck. Any restaurant has reason to worry about being over-taxed, required to pay all sorts of fees that are simply additional taxes, and waste time with busy-work regulatory compliance.)
There’s a powerful difference between being sympathetic to small businesses (of course) and endorsing concerns that use government to prop themselves up at the expense of competition (a bad bet for ‘disfavored’ businesses, and for all taxpaying consumers).
Comments will be moderated against profanity and trolls; otherwise have at it. This post will be open until Sunday morning, and stay at the top of the page. Other posts may appear during that time, but they’ll be below this one until Sunday.
Go lunch trucks 100%
peopel should decide what they want to eat without being told they can’t
I have patronized and will continue to patronize the food trucks and stands that appear in Whitewater. It is personal, private enterprises like this that make a community exciting, LOCAL, and vibrant. I can’t believe that any Councilperson, or fellow LOCAL merchants or restaurant owners would feel threatened by a fellow LOCAL food truck. Isn’t this what their whole BUY LOCAL campaign is all about?…Buy LOCAL at your LOCAL Food Truck. Buy LOCAL at your LOCAL fruit, vegetable, and sweet corn stand. Is the Saturday Farmers Market a threat? Hmmm…
It’s all about choice and diverse options, isn’t it? I’m pro- lunch trucks.
Well said. Local should mean LOCAL, and that should include food trucks or ice cream trucks. Why would any consumer want to live in a world with less options? Vegetable stands really are just the same. Thank you for pointing that out.