A lawsuit filed last week by the Institute for Justice, one of the nation’s leading legal advocates for entrepreneurs, and three Chicago-area business owners alleges that city officials have been discriminating against food truck vendors in order to protect restaurants from competition.
The big point of contention: A law that bans food vendors from coming within 200 feet of brick-and-mortar restaurants.
“The fines for violating the 200-foot rule are up to $2,000 — ten times higher than for parking in front of a fire hydrant. Further, the city is forcing food trucks to install GPS tracking devices that broadcast the trucks’ every move,” the Institute for Justice claims.
Wait, wait, wait – the trucks must be outfitted with GPS tracking devices? Doesn’t that seem a little over the top?
Here’s a video from the Institute summarizing the battle between the food vendors and city officials [Full disclosure: We've never actually seen "Game of Thrones," but we get where they're going with this. 1000+ points for creativity]:
Bottom Line: As the Chicago Tribune put it, “the ordinance doesn’t serve the needs of the lunch-seeking public. It benefits the brick-and-mortar eateries, whose owners don’t want the competition.”
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Comments (56)
AmericanStrega
Nov. 20, 2012 at 12:12pmIf everyone just packed a bag lunch from home the problems would solve themselves.
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bsgram
Nov. 20, 2012 at 3:41pmYou can pack your lunch. But some of might want to pay and have some prepare it for us.
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kim8998
Nov. 20, 2012 at 10:04pmlike Annie responded I am in shock that you can profit $8501 in a few weeks on the internet. have you read this site link, http://xurl.es/gxyw8
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racer1488
Nov. 20, 2012 at 10:47amAnother example of a lack of common sense. First off my Grandfather decades ago started his business with a hot dog “push cart” on the south side. Like like the ones that are still being used to this day. Walk down State St during Christmas and count the vendors selling food. Oh but go to a Bears game and the price of a beer is $8.75 which I guess is okay.
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smokie
Nov. 20, 2012 at 12:42pmAnd some people that started with pushcarts go on to own nice restaurants. I worked for a fellow who started with a pushcart and then went on to own one of the nicest places in the city.
I’ve noticed that people most afraid of competition are those that graduated in the lower fifty of their class. Think of the doctors that want Obamacare. It’s because they couldn’t cut it in the real world.
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dont_drive_slow_in_the_left_lane_obliviot
Nov. 20, 2012 at 10:34amthey didn’t build that.
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rhumbaterro
Nov. 20, 2012 at 10:09amNimrods who have never run a business, paid city taxes based upon floor space, water usage and projected sales. Installed fire systems, handicapped access at $18,000 per ramp, maintained refrigeration walk ins at 4 required temperature zones, installed super heated industrial water systems to support dishwashing, special chemicals to make sure glassware in the bar is hygienic, heated and cooled the buildings, maintained the common area of the building, pay more taxes for the common area, cleaned the parking area, walkways particularly the Cities walkways, hired window washers, janitors, printers, offered free meeting space to the local Chamber of Commerce, donate sportswear to the local sports teams, high school theater group, homeless shelter…………I think I’ll buy a food truck, what do my taxes buy?
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brtmchl30
Nov. 20, 2012 at 9:30amthis is rediculous. Food trucks aren’t shuting down restaurants. Restaurants have full menues, full bars and atmosphere. Food trucks sell a small range of specific item foods. I think they are great, especially for someone who has to eat on the run or in a hurry. Its not like there are a lot of drive thru windows in downtown chicago. They are mobile and cater to a lot of different neighborhoods on different days. They have always been around, maybe not in a gourmet sense like they are becoming, but there has always been the hot dog cart or the roach coach near construction sites. If restaurants are complaining about a food trucks, then it is only a matter of time before the restaurants that are tied in with beaurocrats start eliminating their neighboring brick and mortar competition. Its all about who you kick back to in chicago. Winners and losers
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americansfightingforcommonsense
Nov. 20, 2012 at 8:03amThis is the problem: If Food Trucks pay only sales taxes and no real-estate taxes the restaurants will have to pay more for the same customer base. It costs money to make money. If the Food Trucks want to set up far enough away from competing businesses, then I don’t have a problem with them. If they want to pickoff the customer base that the restaurants have built up, then I do have a problem with that. Otherwise, Food Trucks will end up being the only way to eat out, and I would rather not be forced into that option.
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Vickie Dhaene
Nov. 20, 2012 at 9:14amIt’s called free Enterprise.
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Zipit
Nov. 20, 2012 at 9:24amThat was stupid! And definitely lacking in COMMONSENSE…..
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mastice
Nov. 20, 2012 at 10:01amI am going to have to second the others – it’s called free market practices. As others have said, competition is what makes the system work. (not just in the food industry but the whole industry)
Have you ever stopped to think that maybe one reason, of many, why people are turning to food trucks is to bypass constrictive property taxes and zoning rules? Have you ever stopped to think that maybe the problem isn’t food trucks at all but government regulations?
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esv
Nov. 20, 2012 at 10:02amfood trucks have to pay for gas, new tires, tune ups to their trucks, etc. it’s not as though they have no costs to run their business. they have no consistent location so if someone likes their food they can’t always get it. honestly, i’ve wondered how it’s a viable business model. but if it works, more power to ‘em.
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mastice
Nov. 20, 2012 at 10:19am@esv
Too true – every business has expenses. But look at it this way…
Maybe you have to put $600 in new tires every six months, $200 in general upkeep, and pay $2000 a month in gasoline costs. (all tax deductible) That’s better than having to pay the equivalent $2000 in property taxes or fees… each month …which is not tax deductible.
And those figures are not accurate – they are merely examples.
I run my own business and I can say that, in some places, I would never do business because of the local tax policies. (because that is about how it breaks down – you pay about the same in property taxes as you would in some upkeep, but since one is tax deductible versus the other you can make more money paying the ‘upkeep’ than taxes – that is all minus sales taxes of course)
It’s all mathematics. I’m sure these mobile food vendors have crunched the numbers, like any business owner, and found it is more profitable to remain mobile than to solely run a fixed establishment.
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Moment of Clarity
Nov. 20, 2012 at 6:41amso, according to the law, the cupcake gal cannot park her cupcake van withing 200 ft of her cupcake shop – gawd please stop the insanity that has gripped our nation! – whatever happened to good old healthy competition??? the gov’t at any level has no business diddling with business – the gov’t's role is to protect the people – that means if I want a food truck I can have it as long as it complies with reasonable health and safety standards set and managed by gov’t but that is the only role gov’t should have
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Bardic
Nov. 20, 2012 at 7:18amExactly, let the consumer decide. If there are two restaurants built next to each other, I can decide what I want based on the type of food, the cost, the atmosphere, and if there is a food truck I know I have to give up chairs/tables, air conditioning/heat, music, deal with wind blowing my food around, no refills on drinks, and other comforts that a restaurant provides. If the culture of an area starts favoring food trucks, then that is proof that brick and mortar stores are a less viable business. The government shouldn’t restrict the choices to appease one group, regulation is for safety, not to steer public habits
.
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yougottabekidding
Nov. 20, 2012 at 7:42amI serve garbage. but I’m going to insure you have to eat my garbage if you want to eat!
Why would I compete?
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yougottabekidding
Nov. 20, 2012 at 7:45amRahm knows how to pick them!
Democrats and their food war! They just keep getting better!
http://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/ward-room/Rahm-Cracks-Down-on-Chicago-Vending-Machines-179282661.html
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truthsurfer
Nov. 20, 2012 at 6:34amWho cares its illinoising. I couldnt care less about that toilet.
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Winedude
Dec. 1, 2012 at 9:20pmMy exact feelings about the deep South and Texas. Disgusting places filled with people still complaining about a war they started and didn’t win. And why didn’t they win a war that, for them was so very winnable? They bitched and moaned about taxes and wouldn’t tax themselves to pay for the war until 1863. By then they were so depleted that there was no way to win. A collection of idiots & fools then; a collection of fool descendants now. I’m glad my family told old Jeff Davis to stick it where the sun don’t shine and got the hell out.
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Brad_D80
Nov. 20, 2012 at 5:14amDo the food truck vendors and the Brick & mortars share a similar tax burden in Chicago. Or are the Store fronts having to pay more overhead vs a Truck that can just up and drive away when things get bad? Some devils advocate to think about here.
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Brad_D80
Nov. 20, 2012 at 5:13amDo the food truck vendors and the Brick & mortars share a similar tax burden in Chicago? Or are the Store fronts having to pay more overhead vs a Truck that can just up and drive away when things get bad? Some devils advocate to think about here. This video only casts one side of the argument. Imagine you have all the liabilities of a having a property and then a hotdog truck pulls up in front of your place. I think I would be kind of pissed at that.
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tajloc
Nov. 20, 2012 at 8:41amYou just don’t get it. These are different kind of businesses. The customers rule. If I were going to go to an eatery and a vendor was obnoxiously in my way I would “SAY” something to him. It aint nice to try to scoop up business by sticking your bumper into his area. But when you bring the force of GOV into the situation then we have to go to Obama to solve it.
People (including you,Brad_D80 have lost the right and the will to just say to a vendor “ya know I object to your being here in the actual waiting area for a restaurant…why don’t you go down the street and set up in front of the dry cleaners.”
I have made this idea as simple as possible. We don’t need the law. We do need reasonable people.
Grow up America
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SGT Rock
Nov. 20, 2012 at 5:09amThis i s a prime example of a DEMOCRATICALLY controlled city/town. They want more rules, regulations and taxes so they can line the coffers. Look at Detroit, we will be like Detroit nationwide with all this entitlement mentality. Elections have consequences, embrace it, do as we have been told to. Then again you could just say, “I will not comply”.
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nzkiwi
Nov. 20, 2012 at 4:30am“an ankle bracelet for small businesses” pretty much sums it up. It is an ideological assault from governments grown far too big.
Sad times for the American Dream…
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Small_Al
Nov. 20, 2012 at 5:03amAnyone thinking about starting a small business won’t and many smal businesses will be gone inside a year. It really is sad. Read fresh political commentary at: http://smallcraftadvisorychronicles.blogspot.com
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nzkiwi
Nov. 20, 2012 at 5:18amIt is amusingly ironic that “smallcraft advisorychronicals” keeps pulling its cart up to this site.
I admire and applaud the Blaze’s tolerance.
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Bardic
Nov. 20, 2012 at 7:06amI agree, one line describing an article to get us to go to his blog is not a valid effort to me. If I wasn’t seeing it on every page I wouldn’t think anything of it, I just ignored it before, now I think I will purposely refuse to click the link.
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ru12
Nov. 20, 2012 at 1:35amSince we are moving to third world status, we will soon be seeing third world food vendors on all the street corners. Homes will become crowded with multi generational families, the kitchen will be overwhelmed and it will just be easier to go to the local food vendor who need only make minimal profit as they don’t need to pay rent, employees, taxes, city utility bills, worker’s comp or any other business insurance, the alarm co., the pest control co., the ASCAP fee for music, and the list goes on! As a brick and mortar cafe owner, I just can’t imagine how those outlets keep to the same cleanliness standards Americans have come to expect, but the dirt cheap overhead is sooo appealing!
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KyleD
Nov. 20, 2012 at 1:56amTake a deep look at your logic and tell me you’re not extremely biased.
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phillycornerboy
Nov. 20, 2012 at 2:22am@kyleed…logic cannot be biased. the “competition” angle is misdirection. a fair “competion” would burden the cart vendor with equal taxes and fees associated with a standing restaurant. it looks to me, “kyleed”, you are reacting to the use of the phrase “third world”. is that “home” for you, perhaps?
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ricckky
Nov. 20, 2012 at 1:03amWho cares-the LIAR-N-CHIEF has ruined any positive news about Chicago–to breed the devil’s spawn from that mired slop of a city says myriads of what it must be really like–fight among yourselves and keep the rest of what’s left of good America out of it!!!!
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RepubliCorp
Nov. 20, 2012 at 12:30amSay you open a bakery and every day you have two or three doughnut trucks parked at the front door everyday. Okay with that?
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PaxInVeritate
Nov. 20, 2012 at 12:43amIf my food is great, sure… bring on the competition.
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KyleD
Nov. 20, 2012 at 1:58amHow is that any different than opening a restaurant next door? Maybe there should be rule that you can’t park in front of the restaurant but 200 feet is outrageous when you can open a restaurant that shares the same wall as another.
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USA-Ron
Nov. 20, 2012 at 12:15amI think that the brick and mortar businesses should have 1st authority
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asybot12
Nov. 19, 2012 at 11:33pmGo to the UN’s web site and follow to the Agenda 21 info. you will be scared shitless .
It is from the bottom up and not from Washington’s govnment down.
The rot starts in your own towns and villages!
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Psychosis
Nov. 19, 2012 at 11:24pmonly one bit of info i would have liked seen asked of these food truckies
are you dem or rep?????
betcha they are all dem……………………not a single tear shed for them …..they voted for this cr@p now deal with it losers
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Cavallo
Nov. 19, 2012 at 11:23pmThe State is your master, and it has its favorite slaves. Obviously you are not among the favorite slaves.
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Impenitent
Nov. 19, 2012 at 11:17pmas long as they don’t work more than 28 hours a week…
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thegreatcarnac
Nov. 19, 2012 at 11:04pmWho cares what Chicago does. The city is worse than New York City if that is possible. It is as corrupt and more than NYC. Chicago needs to be surrounded by bulldozers and scraped clean.
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The_212_Dad
Nov. 19, 2012 at 11:01pmIn these cases (When they are picking winners and losers based on lobbying efforts) they always fall back “public health” or “public safety” or “for the children”. We must restore liberty as a superior principle in our public life. We can’t let them change the argument.
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Cavallo
Nov. 19, 2012 at 11:14pmIts called Fascism.
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love the kids
Nov. 19, 2012 at 11:23pmSince these legislatures work for US, can we require that THEY have a GPS on them at all times? Think about it, bosses all over the country monitor their employees, so why can’t “we the people”, monitor them??? This may sound crazy, but so does the GPS on food trucks.
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rickc34
Nov. 19, 2012 at 10:40pmI just cannot understand why any sane person would want to live in Chicago in the first place?
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endthemindlessspending
Nov. 19, 2012 at 10:49pmI agree, why the hell would you want to torture yourself by living in such a corrupt city.
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mercenary4freedom
Nov. 19, 2012 at 11:09pmThey & their small business counterparts best keep up the good fight. The next 4 years with oblowhole’s designed plan to de-industrialize & regulate is going to bankrupt us all.
400 layoffs announced last week @ FL hospitals. I wonder how many of them voted for the commie n chief?
http://discussions.orlandosentinel.com/20/orlnews/os-orlando-health-layoffs-20121116/10
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eek
Nov. 20, 2012 at 1:33amHi I am incredibly sane and live in Chicago, in fact I was born and bred here. My husband moved here when he was 19, loves it here. I will never disagree over the corruption that takes place here, it has been going on for a very long time. It is a beautiful city and for the most part the citizens really are great people. There’s always something to do or somewhere to go, it’s very lively here no matter what time of day. We own our own home, have jobs, everything is easily accessible via public transit or walking. I could go on and on. Much like anywhere else there is a rich history and there are pros and cons of living here. Just don’t get tangled up in politics or with police, venture into the hoods at night or send your kids to a public school and you are pretty much good to go.
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denkat56
Nov. 19, 2012 at 10:36pmIsn’t their mayor an king Obama co-hort. These guys are worse than roaches.
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eek
Nov. 20, 2012 at 1:20amThey are more than co-horts they are lovers!
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marine249
Nov. 19, 2012 at 10:35pmThe GPS’s should be
on the bureavcRATS
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