Following a link from Ezra Klein on the problems of street food and regulation led to an interesting article from the post. It turns out that while street food is taking off in popularity as gourme trucks bring quality to streets of metropolitan areas, the law and regulatory state has failed to keep up. Its an interesting problem. How do you deal with mobile food?
On the surface it really doesnt appear to be much of a problem. Roach-Coaches and hot dog street carts have been around forever. You would think that there is a standardized infrastructure built up to regulate such things. Apparently not.
Los Angeles, however, is a jumble of independent towns and neighborhoods, each with its own rules. On Kogi's first night out, the truck headed for West Hollywood and was immediately stopped by the police, who said the operation needed additional business and catering licenses from West Hollywood, said Caroline Shin-Manguera, 29, one of Kogi's three founders. Rather than fight, the driver moved on to Hollywood, where no additional paperwork was required.
...
Expanding proved difficult, said Shin-Manguera. In Pasadena, trucks are not permitted to park for more than 30 minutes, after which time they must move to a spot at least 500 feet away -- a rule not easy to comply with when customers have lined up for an hour for pork tacos with sesame-chili salsa roja. Beverly Hills has the same rule and also requires any vendor to have a Beverly Hills vending license. There is also a law requiring that all employees working on the truck have fingerprints on file. On the Kogi truck's first day in Beverly Hills, it racked up $800 in fines.
In total, Kogi has spent $1,360 for business and vending licenses and paid $3,132 in tickets and fines. "There are a million rules on the books. Some are enforced, and some are enforced sometimes," said Shin-Manguera. "Mobile vending is still cheaper than a restaurant. But the costs are a lot higher than we thought."
The hodgepodge of regulations is a nuisance to city vendors. But it is a real threat to food entrepreneurs such as the Luhowiaks. Unlike Los Angeles, Fauquier County has no tradition of street vendors; if anything, a few funnel cake trucks might show up for the county fair. Local SixFortySeven has to persuade local regulators to create rules to define street food and protect it. "Derek and Amanda are absolutely right that their food cart concept is different than what we're used to seeing from a regulatory perspective," said Peter Schwartz, a member of the Fauquier County Board of Supervisors. "They don't fit into any appropriate box."
The problem is clear. Its jurisdictional. The increased mobility of food trucks allows them to travel from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. By passing from city to city they encounter the different rules and standards from different municipalities. How to fix this? There are several different avenues that may solve the problem.
First is providing jurisdiction over mobile food trucks like those in the article to the state. By removing power from the smaller municipalities it eliminates the problem of communication failure. One set of rules, regulators etc will be in force. Those who want to set up mobile food trucks that want to travel between counties, cities etc will know who they have to deal with. The agency in charge will conduct the health examinations, employee screenings etc required for operation. In a similar vain the authority may be placed county wide. County wide regulations would remove the problems with the myriad number of different laws that the mobile food vendors have to deal with.
The downside with this approach is that the larger the jurisdiction the more man power and resources are required to conduct a job effectively. Enforcement is more difficult the larger the entity. Also, having the regulation done at the higher level reduces local imput. It removes the ability for local people to impact the way the street food is sold or where it is sold. Maybe a city really doesnt want to have the mobile food trucks. Passing local laws that conflict with state laws would result in the same discrepancies that exist now with regulation changing from place to place.
The alternative, and most likely, resolution to the issue is the education and activism geared towards the places where the food is to be sold. There are always growing pains with innovation as the old system struggles to adapt. If the regulations in each place are impossible to deal with then it may be a logical decision for the different vendors to organize a lobbying arm to get the laws changed for their benefit.
As the regulators in the article talk about this is new to them. The street food does not fit into one neat and tidy box. It is a development that should be aided. It will simply take time for the municipalities to adjust and to understand the increase in mobile food. As the trend becomes more popular the regulations will change. Until that point those who want to venture into the world of mobile food vending will have to be aware that these problems of jurisdiction exist.