Could we be about to have food trucks which can actually cook on board? Could it be a trojan horse ordinance which will doom them rather than legitimize them? Your guess is as good as ours, but Chicago Business reports that after seeming months of gridlock, the department of Business and Consumer Protection will meet shortly with aldermen and food truck representatives to consider two ordinances, both rooted in an original ordinance by Alderpersons Scott Waguespack and Vi Daley. (One is a revised version from Waguespack, the other is from the mayor’s office and based on the earlier version.) Both would legitimize food truck cooking and parking, but at the price of higher fees and significant restrictions on proximity to existing restaurants which could make it next to impossible to serve from a truck in the areas (like the Loop) where there seems to be the most demand. There will also be a limit on the total number of truck licenses (200). Is this the beginning of a food truck renaissance— or the beginning of the end as the licenses are snapped up by the well-connected and small businesses get shunted off to nowheresville to sell their wares? We may soon find out. [Crain’s]
