San Francisco Food Fights

At a recent Potrero Dogpatch Merchants Association meeting, San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener came to talk with us about his proposed mobile food truck legislation, which he introduced at a Board of Supervisors meeting last November. His goal with the new legislation is to make it easier for mobile food businesses to operate in the city, while also protecting the interests of brick-and-mortar restaurants who are negatively affected when food trucks (that don’t pay rent) park nearby.

People enjoying the Liba Falafel food truck in San Francisco

The current food truck regulations haven’t been working well for either side. If Supervisor Weiner’s new legislation is passed, it would prohibit food trucks from doing business within 50 feet of a restaurant but would also allow food trucks to operate in parts of the city where they’ve been previously banned.

At the PDMA meeting, Supervisor Weiner explained to us that that current rules have made whole areas of the city, including a large portion of the Mission, off-limits to food trucks. He wants to encourage more trucks to congregate in areas like SOMA and the Financial District. The bill would legalize food trucks on all hospital and college campuses and allow trucks to park closer to schools, decreasing the buffer from 1,500 feet down to 500 feet for middle schools and between 750 and 1,000 feet for high schools.

PTA has worked with and taught restaurant owners and food truck owners and we understand the challenges on both sides—the costs, the competition, finding the right location, scalability and market demand. Running a small food business—whether it is attached to one spot or mobile—is very hard work and it is important that our local legislators are listening to business owners’ concerns and supporting small business issues. I appreciate Supervisor Weiner’s efforts to move the conversation forward.