At last week’s Planning and Zoning Commission (PZC) meeting, an informal discussion about food trucks ensued. Precipitated by a food cart setting up shop in town without any permits, the conversation ranged from concern for local establishments that pay taxes food trucks do not to how to treat them under the regulations. Is it a restaurant? Is it a roadside stand? That conversation will continue, but it reminded me of a story I often thought about while on the Economic Development Commission.
In 2018, I moved to Brattleboro, Vermont, for a year. Generally, my advice for eating in Vermont is to eat the hippiest food you can find (think vegan Buddha bowls) or the cheese. Pretty much everything else they serve is questionable at best. The pizza is downright cursed. However, my husband and I became big fans of two food trucks in town. One was The Biscuit Shed. We first discovered them at the Brattleboro Farmer’s Market, but they eventually set up a more permanent truck in the parking lot of a local store. We would take our guests there for breakfast, and my husband mourned when the owners decided to move back to one of the Carolinas.
The other was Tito’s Taqueria, and this is the story I really want to share with you. Before we moved to town, Tito set up a cooler on the sidewalk and sold his tacos on the street. By the time we got there, he had upgraded to a hotdog cart-style setup. Most of the time we lived there, though, Tito operated out of a full-fledged food truck. He found a spot on the grass around Hannaford’s parking lot next to a defunct bank. He set up a few picnic tables and did a booming business.
Then, a couple of years ago, we stopped in Brattleboro to get tacos on our way to Burlington. Tito’s Taqueria had taken over the defunct bank, and there are two other locations – one in Keene, NH, and one in Greenfield, MA.
This is the dream, right? Tito went from a cooler to three brick-and-mortar locations in about a decade. Still, I often wonder how he got away with selling food out of a cooler. I may never know the answer, but Brattleboro is pretty food truck-friendly. Retreat Farm hosts a regular Food Truck Roundup in the summer, complete with music and entertainment. The Brattleboro Farmer’s Market – often filled with shoeless children – has many great food vendors. I did a Google search and quickly found the form people must fill out to apply for a food truck permit on private property.
If the concern is that food trucks—at least those owned by non-Stafford residents—do not offer anything in return to the town through taxes while competing with local businesses, I get it. The restaurant business is hard enough without mobile interlopers coming in to steal your business. But food trucks are also a stepping stone to bigger things, and there are plenty of ways the town can profit from them.
Let's assume no one in town wants to put a cooler in front of Town Hall and start selling food. If there is a process to permit food trucks, there can also be an application fee. Fees are an easy, passive way to fill town coffers in lieu of taxes. And when deployed strategically, food trucks are a good way to lure people into town without adding permanent infrastructure to support them. Food trucks have every reason in the world to promote where they will be and pull their fans to town, where visitors can stop by the record shop, grab a growler at the Cidery or the brewery, or buy a gift at one of the other stores. There’s a reason Aubuchon and Tractor Supply invite Chick-fil-A to park its truck in their parking lots: it’s advantageous for both businesses.
And, let’s face it, Stafford’s food options are limited. If you want a pizza, we’ve got you covered. A sandwich or a burger? We can do that. You're out of luck if you want a good burrito or a falafel. And I get it; there may not be enough people in town to support a full-time falafel spot or burrito hut, but I’m sure we can make it worthwhile for food trucks that offer a wider variety to visit once in a while.
So, what say you, Staffordites?
Should the town adopt a process to permit food trucks in town?
Yes
No