Chicago's Food Truck Food Fight
As an enterpreneur, I can see the food truck owners' side: "We're providing a needed service; the restaurants are trying to keep us out because they don't want any competition!"
As the owner of a bricks-and-mortar business who has fought to keep his neighborhood clean, safe and quiet, I can see the restaurant owners' point: "We came into neighborhoods that were, in some cases, going down a rathole, and we helped bring them back. We have a stake in the locations we are in, whether renting with a long-term lease or owning property outright. And now, here come these food trucks, poaching our customers at our busiest times of day, and if the neighborhood starts to go downhill, all they have to do is start their trucks and drive somewhere else! And by the way, who pays beaucoup property taxes? Not the food trucks!"
And the great debate rages on.
Chicago's Food Truck Food Fight
As an enterpreneur, I can see the food truck owners' side: "We're providing a needed service; the restaurants are trying to keep us out because they don't want any competition!"
As the owner of a bricks-and-mortar business who has fought to keep his neighborhood clean, safe and quiet, I can see the restaurant owners' point: "We came into neighborhoods that were, in some cases, going down a rathole, and we helped bring them back. We have a stake in the locations we are in, whether renting with a long-term lease or owning property outright. And now, here come these food trucks, poaching our customers at our busiest times of day, and if the neighborhood starts to go downhill, all they have to do is start their trucks and drive somewhere else! And by the way, who pays beaucoup property taxes? Not the food trucks!"
And the great debate rages on.