Matthias Herkert, president of the Hampton Roads Food Truck Association, sees opportunity for food trucks to expand operations throughout Hampton Roads, and some new rules in Newport News may open up more opportunities.
“There are a lot of big businesses, like Liebherr,” said Herkert, who lives in Virginia Beach and serves German fare out of the Deutscher Imbiss food truck. “There’s more for food trucks than just breweries.”
Tuesday, the Newport News City Council approved new rules for food trucks geared toward making it easier for businesses to invite the mobile eateries onto their property.
Food trucks now will be able to operate on private property with permission of the property owner.
Previously, the city required a property owner to get a temporary use permit, which came with a $200 application fee, required approval by a committee and could take a while to obtain. The city also allows trucks to operate in specific locations downtown and in Oakland Industrial Park.
John Harris, owner and operator of JG’s BBQ food truck and a Newport News resident, told the council about five months ago that the rules in the city made it hard for him to operate. He said businesses and retailers asked him to come out and serve from their parking lots on busy shopping days, and he had to turn them down because of the previous rules.
While food trucks have existed in some form for decades, often serving in industrial areas that don’t have many brick and mortar restaurants, their popularity has increased in recent years, and local governments have had to figure out ways to accommodate the growing industry.
Herkert said he was glad to see a locality make a change to help food trucks do business because they get invited to all types of locations — breweries, office parks, shopping centers, churches and various festivals and events. There are 30 members of the food truck alliance and many other operators in the area. From Herkert’s perspective, there is still plenty of space in Hampton Roads for trucks to do business.
As the City Council discussed changing food truck rules, City Manager Cindy Rohlf noted that in past discussions about food trucks, restaurants expressed concerns about trucks taking business. Since Harris asked the City Council to make a change, no one has opposed the idea at either the Planning Commission’s or the City Council’s public hearings.
City Council members noted the popularity of food trucks in other cities and said they’d like to keep up with the increasing demand for them.
Williamsburg recently designated zones in commercial centers for food trucks to operate, a result of a years-long effort to find common ground between food truck operators and restaurants, according to the Virginia Gazette.
Herkert said other localities in Hampton Roads have had issues reconciling between food trucks and restaurants, particularly Virginia Beach. He called the current situation there tricky, saying restaurant owners were concerned with some new proposed rules and the potential proximity of two similar businesses.
But Herkert said food trucks and restaurants can coexist because they provide different experiences — some people want to sit down for a meal, maybe buy drinks, and food truck customers usually want to get something quickly and move along.
Newport News Councilwoman Sharon Scott said the new rules are a win for the city and hoped they would help fully integrate the trucks into the restaurant landscape and show off the diversity of foods available in Newport News.
Rohlf said the city would do a public information campaign to let businesses and people in the city know of the new rules and processes for inviting in a food truck.
Additionally, new rules don’t necessarily lead to an influx of trucks, Herkert said. Moving costs money, and operators have to be sure locations will have the right conditions and amount of people for a truck to be successful.
Along with making it easier to operate in the city, the new rules in Newport News specify regulations for food trucks, including various permits, licenses, inspections and rules focused on not being a nuisance for neighboring properties.
The zones listed for food truck operation are locations that are accustomed to gatherings and noise, according to city staff. Vendors have to purchase a $150 permit fee and cannot operate at unimproved or vacant properties.
5 p.m. April 24, 2019: This article was updated with additional details.
