Town council looks to be salvaging the fiasco that has been made of Cochrane’s food truck pilot program.
When the pilot was first initiated, food trucks were allowed to park in certain areas of the community – such as the skatepark and dog parks – but not on public streets.
Understandably, the vendors argued that system wasn’t ideal to truly test how successful food trucks could be because most of the sites were off the beaten path. After some back and forth with town administration, the food truck vendors were given verbal authorization to park on in commercial areas, with certain stipulations.
It makes sense that the pilot project would allow food trucks to operate in commercial areas. That is the only way to fairly test the vendors’ ability to operate and integrate into the business community.
Unfortunately the town blundered when it decided to alter the rules without changing the development permits. That oversight led to the recent reversal of the rules after a few restaurants complained about the trucks parking near their businesses.
Since the flip-flop on where food trucks can park, there has been a lot of backlash on social media. Most of the comments have come to the defense of the mobile vendors, some going so far as to suggest boycotting the eight businesses – all anonymous – that are alleged to have initiated the complaints.
Since the food truck trend began some years ago, it has faced resistance across North America from conventional businesses. Many restraurateurs see them as unfair competition. Conventional restaurants pay property taxes either because they own the building or as an extension of their leases, which in turn goes toward the upkeep of the community. Food trucks on the other hand only have to pay a development permit.
While this is a fair argument, it is does not necessarily reflect how much mobile vendors might or might not effect the bottom line of brick and mortar establishments.
For the most part, with a few exceptions, mobile vendors provide a much different type of cuisine and experience than a sit-down restaurant. It is unlikely patrons heading to a restaurant will change their lunch or dinner plans if they see a food truck.
It can also be argued that food trucks drive traffic to the areas where they park because anyone who wants that type of fare will go to them. That means they might actually be good for businesses around them, by bringing them increased exposure. So is it better to have 100 people heading to the dog park or the skatepark for lunch or milling around downtown?
Granted the above is merely hypothesis, but the point of a pilot project should be to gather information to demonstrate the affects the mobile vendors have on the business community.
Council’s decision on Monday will put the pilot project back on track to properly accomplish that goal and gather sufficient information.
