There was a time when eating food out of a truck meant you were likely laboring at a construction site or playing carnival games with your family. Today, food trucks are almost everywhere, from city blocks at lunchtime to busy days at the park. Getting food to people has become mobile to match the rest of our lives, and most people are happy to have options so close by. In fact, food trucks are the fastest-growing channel in the foodservice industry.
The Bonita Springs City Council had a second hearing of the ordinance that allowed the removal of the five permit cap on food trucks in Bonita Springs. This change will, however, come with new restrictions on where they can set up. Restricted zones are proposed to include the Old US 41 corridor and Little Hickory Island.
This vote comes after food truck owners in Bonita Springs submitted complaints to the City Council about facing too many restrictions with how many permits they allow at one time. Food trucks have always been around on a limited basis, like the ice cream man who drove through your neighborhood, to the funnel cake truck at the state fair. But when food trucks started to become mainstream mobile restaurants in 2012, it turned into a $650 million industry.
With a rise in adolescent spending, middle-class expenditure, mobile lifestyle, and popularity of food on the go, the Food Truck Industry has become an asset to communities. Food trucks play a huge role in economic development in communities because they encompass local commerce drivers and encourage new pursuits, encourage the formation of new undertakings, and they generate jobs.