Operating a food truck requires more than cooking up a burrito or a plate of pad thai and handing it out the window to a customer.
But a recent Columbian article about a proposed complex at the Camas-Vancouver border got us thinking about the benefits of food truck culture. As demonstrated in Portland, a boom in small vendors who often specialize in a particular ethnicity of food can transform the dining-out experience and add vitality to an urban area.
Whether that can happen in Vancouver remains to be seen. But there are benefits that derive from the entrepreneurial spirit and the variety of epicurean food offerings that accompany food trucks.
As a website that covers small businesses wrote last year: “Food trucks historically have been associated with quick and easy-to-prepare foods such as hot dogs or ethnic street food that can be found in busy urban centers. As menus have expanded and the popularity of such trucks has grown, it has become more common to find food trucks in more locations than just busy street corners in densely populated cities.”
But there is more to it than fancying yourself as an excellent chef.
According to a matrix on the city of Vancouver website, food truck operators must have a city business license, a food vendor special license and a license from Clark County Public Health, and they must undergo inspection by the Washington Department of Labor & Industries. Depending on location and the nature of the business, they might also need a home occupation permit or a street use permit or mobile vending parking approval.
Regulations are necessary for protecting public health, particularly when it comes to restaurants. But they also play a behind-the-scenes role in how businesses develop in a community.
As pdx.eater.com, which covers Portland’s food scene, wrote this week: “The flexibility of the city’s regulatory structure for small-scale food businesses makes it easier for chefs to test new ideas and respond quickly to the unexpected, like a pandemic.” Multnomah County has more than 1,000 licensed mobile food businesses, and food-truck pods have added flavor to nearly every neighborhood of the city.
Portland is ranked by MapQuest Travel as having the second-best food-truck scene of any U.S. city, behind Orlando, Fla. Seattle is at No. 11 on their list.
All of which lends intrigue to a proposal for the eastern edge of Vancouver. An expansive food-truck development is in the works for a vacant lot across from Union High School, along Northwest Lake Road.
“We really want it to be family friendly,” co-owner Rob Kyne said of plans targeting a spring 2023 opening. “Everybody can get what they want, and then you can find a seat together. Kids can play. Parents can eat.”
The idea is ambitious, breaking from the typical food-cart structure of vendors jumbled into a parking lot in a dense urban area. But one of the hallmarks of food trucks is that there is no single formula for success.
VisitVancouverWa.com lists 26 food trucks in the area, some inhabiting set locations and others rotating from day to day. Ridgefield has a pod dubbed Carts by the Park, and other cities in Clark County have a handful of outlets.
The food truck industry, which truly found its footing in the United States following the Great Recession, has added variety to dining out and has spawned a new type of small-business owner. In the process, it has added vibrancy to our communities.
