FeastTO food truck owners Cameron Pounder, left, and Ada Mok have long been frustrated by Toronto's legacy permitting system.Sammy Kogan/The Globe and Mail
Toronto City Hall’s plans to extend permits that reserve prime real estate for long-standing food trucks would prevent newcomers from breaking into the market, some entrepreneurs say.
Legacy permits, which entitle about 15 trucks to key tourist spots and pedestrian thoroughfares, were issued prior to 2014 and are set to expire at the end of the year. Last week, Toronto’s economic and community development committee voted to extend the expiration date by another two years.
The proposed change is expected to come before council for final approval later this month, alongside other revisions to the city’s street vendor and busker bylaws, including extending vendor operating hours from five to 12 hours daily, slashing permit application fees and allowing buskers to use amps.
The legacy permitting system has long frustrated Cameron Pounder and Ada Mok, who have been fighting for a prime spot since they started FeastTO, a food truck selling handmade dumplings, over 12 years ago. They have a regular vendor permit, which allows them to sell food from their truck, but not reserve a parking spot.
Regular permit-holders can park in public parking spaces, but Ms. Mok and Mr. Pounder say new bike lanes and a scarcity of downtown street parking in high-foot traffic areas make securing a spot increasingly difficult. Food trucks are also required to operate at least 30 metres away from restaurants, which can further complicate the matter.
“Having the competition shift from access to quality would be a great thing for the city,” Ms. Mok said. “Everyone would try harder with their branding, with their menu innovation, with giving a good customer experience, because now it’s an actual competition, instead of a group having a guaranteed advantage and location certainty.”
If council approves the committee’s decision, it will be the third time it has put off the expiration of legacy permits, which were initially set to expire in 2020.
“It makes me lose faith in city council and the commitments that they make to small business owners in the city,” Ms. Mok said.
The city said extending legacy permits provides stability for a small number of long-standing businesses, which are expected to naturally dwindle over time as vendors retire or close since they are not transferable.
“We did not feel that this was the time to require such a substantial change in their operations, given that they’ve been operating under this licensing regime for a long period of time,” said Gadi Katz, the executive director of the city’s licensing department, during the April 9 committee meeting.
The two-tiered permitting system isn’t unique to Toronto. Vancouver also has two licences: one guaranteeing vendors a designated spot, and another “roaming” permit allowing them to sell anywhere but downtown.
Food truck owner Mark Kearney has been trying to secure a permanent spot for his sandwich truck, Crack On, for years. “Most of the food trucks that operate in Vancouver only have the roaming permits because it’s so difficult ... to get a downtown permit,” he said. “They just won’t give them to us.”
In Toronto, most of the legacy permits are located in Councillor Dianne Saxe’s downtown ward of University-Rosedale. She said legacy permits discriminate against young entrepreneurs.
“This small group of businesses has had priority treatment for a very long time,” Coun. Saxe said. “I think a level playing field, fair competition is the way we should go.”
Daniel Busse, who owns Chill Delights Ice Cream, expressed a similar sentiment in an April 1 letter to the municipal committee.
“If access is not opened to all, then these permits should not be extended indefinitely,” Mr. Busse wrote. “Public curb space must be managed in a way that reflects equality and open access.”