Toronto Food Truck Bylaws – Are Vendors Getting Their Just Desserts?

Food truck operators across Toronto will be serving from downtown curbsides (in theory) for the first time this summer, but restrictions are souring the otherwise sweet occasion. The final city council vote on the new food truck bylaws took place on April 3rd. The results largely fell short of operator’s expectations.

Red dots show restricted areas for food trucks in Toronto given the 50m rule (image courtesy of Metro News)

“We didn’t get exactly what we were lobbying for,” says Krystian Catala, owner of the Gourmet Gringos food truck and an expanding list of bricks and mortar locations. “The fact that we can use parking lots is a great advantage, but the 50m thing is a way of cancelling out the chance of doing any vending downtown.”

The approved bylaws will allow food trucks to park in pay-and-display parking spaces for a maximum of three hours, with a cap of two trucks per block. No trucks will be allowed to park within 50m of any existing restaurant, however.

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Toronto Food Trucks – Roaming Hunger Coming North

Toronto food trucks are major business in the city these days. The food truck business in Toronto has experienced a boom over the past couple years as chits line mobile passes and cash is exchanged for curbside delights across the downtown core. Following the city’s failed A La Cart program in 2010, the street truck movement has been revolutionized as of late. Though the culture and curiosity surrounding these mobile eateries has taken off, street truck operators are still met with a considerable amount of red tape. Yet, while finicky permitting and geographic constraints remain, there will soon be a new way for consumers, operators, and even prospective food truckers to get in on the action.

Roaming Hunger began in 2009 by serial entrepreneur, Ross Resnick. A food fanatic to the core, Resnick became more involved in the “new foodie revolution” while attending USC in Los Angeles. He noticed there was no central location to find out about food trucks, thus inspiring him to found Roaming Hunger...

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