[W. K. Lis]

CTV orders MasterChef Canada See this link.

I've seen the U.S. version. Some of the "team" events in the past included competitions on the beach, parks, and sometimes included food trucks. Hopefully, to avoid trouble, they will avoid Toronto. Don't want Toronto's public health department coming down on them, in case they break their "rules". Definitely, there cannot be food carts, else they will be very limited with what they can do with hot dogs.

 

[Johnny Au]

CTV orders MasterChef Canada See this link.

I've seen the U.S. version. Some of the "team" events in the past included competitions on the beach, parks, and sometimes included food trucks. Hopefully, to avoid trouble, they will avoid Toronto. Don't want Toronto's public health department coming down on them, in case they break their "rules". Definitely, there cannot be food carts, else they will be very limited with what they can do with hot dogs.

No wonder why Gordon Ramsay did not set up his branded restaurant in Toronto.

 

[ChesterCopperpot]

Here's the food trucks that are out and about in the city today

Happy Friday! We've got a busy food truck day ahead in the city, here's where you can go to find them:

Crossroads Diner, Gorilla Cheese, Hogtown Smoke, Gourmet Gringos, Hank Daddy's BBQ, Let's Be Frank and Frankie Fettuccine's will be at Hondy Indy until 6PM

Rome'n Chariot will be at Outer Harbour Marina at 475 Unwin Ave until 5PM

Buster's Sea Cove, Beach Boys Truck and Pretty Sweet are back for lunch at Sony Centre from 11AM-3PM

Stuft Gourmet Sausages truck is back at 460 King St W by Global Village Backpackers until 5PM then serving late night eats at Ossington Tire from 11PM-3AM

Gourmet Bitches is back in Liberty Village at 54 Fraser Ave behind Uma Cafe for lunch starting at 11:30AM

Fidel Gastro's will be at the LCBO on Queens Quay for the Alsace Wine Event from 4PM-8PM

Beaver Tails Mobile and Busters Sea Cove will be up in Markham at Markham Civic Centre for Night It Up! from 7PM-12AM

Blue Donkey Streatery and Caplansky's Truck will be at the Molson Amphitheatre tonight for the Marianas Trench concert

 

[Peepers]

Here's the food trucks that are out and about in the city today

From the list you can see that the food trucks are pretty much restricted to special events e.g. Honda Indy , Wine Events, Molson Amphitheater, etc. where they jack up their prices. Food trucks are not able to set up shop in downtown parking lots after the city threatened them last year with massive fines. As a consequence the food trucks in this city are not really a viable alternative to brick and mortar restaurants - instead they are a pricey novelty at special events.

 

[ChesterCopperpot]

From the list you can see that the food trucks are pretty much restricted to special events e.g. Honda Indy , Wine Events, Molson Amphitheater, etc. where they jack up their prices.

There are food trucks downtown every day of the week

I work by the Sony Centre and there's trucks there every day. And that's not the only place.

Take a look here - https://www.facebook.com/torontofoodtrucks

 

[ChesterCopperpot]

http://torontofoodtrucks.ca/at-last-toronto-gets-its-food-truck-pilot-project

Toronto is about to take a huge step forward toward allowing food trucks the serve their gourmet truck fare on the city streets. It was just announced on Wednesday July 24, that as of August 1st the city will be rolling out a pilot project to allow food trucks to serve in five parks around Toronto.

As shared in an article by CityNews Toronto, this pilot was spearheaded by a passionate collection of people in the city including local councillors, Josh Colle and Mary-Margaret McMahon. The councillors expressed their excitement about this long awaited opportunity to loosen the chains on Toronto food truck scene with this new pilot program.

Until now, local food trucks in Toronto were not allowed to operate on public streets and were restricted to serving on private property like the Sony Centre and Roy Thomson Hall. With this food truck pilot program in motion, trucks will now be able to set up and serve at five city parks which include Woodbine Park, Sherbourne Commons, Roundhouse Park, Canoe Landing and Allan Gardens.

 

[Torontovibe]

Those park locations are pretty much out of the way for most people, especially at lunch time. How many people are around Sherbourne Common right now? Until the waterfront is more developed, I can't see that location being very successful. There are so few people around there now, besides GEORGE brown students and you don't even see many of them. Canoe Landing Park is pretty dead from 9 to 5, so I can't see that one being very busy either. I hope I'm wrong and these are all successful but I just don't see that happening right now.

 

[W. K. Lis]

The five parks in the list are: Woodbine Park, Sherbourne Commons, Roundhouse Park, Canoe Landing and Allan Gardens.

Odd that left off James Gardens. Its next door to Rob Ford's house, where there could have been a good source of income. Especially during wedding photo shoots. What did you think I meant?

 

[gabe]

Toronto is just too expensive and restrictive to have food trucks like other cities. http://www.thestar.com/business/2014/06/27/food_truck_restrictions_tough_for_owners.html

Food truck restrictions "tough" for owners
Toronto food truck owners are having a tough time finding places to sling their street food, thanks to the restrictions that came with the city’s contentious new food vending permits.

“It’s really, really tough right now. We’ve been opposed by restaurants, we’ve been opposed by hot dog vendors, we’ve been opposed by a lot of people on the streets,” said Randy Kangal, owner of Randy’s Roti, a Caribbean food truck. “But we believe in putting it out there because we believe in food diversity.”

Kangal was one of a handful of food truck owners who lined up at City Hall before dawn on May 15 to buy one of the much-anticipated new permits for $5,067. The permits allow food trucks to park on the street and sell food, instead of only operating on private property. There were only 125 up for grabs, including 27 which pre-dated the much-debated new bylaws, so Kangal and others lined up before 5 a.m. to avoid disappointment.

To date, however, only nine new permits have been sold.

Many veteran food truck owners opted not to buy them, saying the new rules are too restrictive and the $5,000 fee won’t be worth the expense. Some of those concerns appear to be coming to fruition.

Under the new rules, food trucks are prohibited from setting up shop less than 50 metres from any open and operating restaurant, meaning much of the downtown core is a no-go zone for Randy’s Roti and other food trucks.

“Where we are is not at the flow of traffic, not where we want to be,” said Kangal, who tries to do curbside service on University Avenue when he’s not booked to sell on private property. “Sometimes I get a spot, sometimes I don’t and I have to drive around. It’s really restricted where I can be.”

The rules also restrict the amount of time a truck can vend for each day to three hours, and limit the number of trucks per city block to two.

 

[diminutive]

Under the new rules, food trucks are prohibited from setting up shop less than 50 metres from any open and operating restaurant, meaning much of the downtown core is a no-go zone for Randy’s Roti and other food trucks....

The rules also restrict the amount of time a truck can vend for each day to three hours, and limit the number of trucks per city block to two.

Wow, that's just idiotic. Way to protect incumbent businesses, Toronto.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Wow, that's just idiotic. Way to protect incumbent businesses, Toronto.

Maybe there should be a 50 metre separation between restaurants, by that thinking. Maybe expand that to other businesses as well, so stores of the same type cannot be 50 metres between each other (IE. one shoe store must be 50 metres away from another shoe store).

 

[rbt]

Wow, that's just idiotic. Way to protect incumbent businesses, Toronto.

It's not unreasonable. A tiny downtown restaurant in a good location might be paying $30,000 in property taxes per year, and that doesn't include rent. That tiny NY Fries in the PATH will be paying closer to $400K/year in rent and taxes.

The food truck license is only $5k. That's one heck of a built in benefit to the food truck.


The city could sell a second license without the restrictions but set the fee at a competitive rate for where food trucks want to be located. Competitive pricing could probably be achieved through auction and would likely bump the unrestricted truck license fee closer to $100k/year if not double or triple that amount. We might make the number of licenses variable as well with the rate set relative to the top bid (70%?)

 

[rbt]

Maybe there should be a 50 metre separation between restaurants, by that thinking. Maybe expand that to other businesses as well, so stores of the same type cannot be 50 metres between each other (IE. one shoe store must be 50 metres away from another shoe store).

That's actually pretty normal and something landlords deal with in nearly every lease negotiation for things like food courts or units at a mall. Nearly every restaurant lease will include a non-compete of some kind which restricts who the landlord can lease nearby units to.

It's not by accident that a food court has either a McDonald's or a Burger King; never both.

 

[gabe]

The food truck license is only $5k. That's one heck of a built in benefit to the food truck.

Only 5k In Philly a food truck license is only $150, in NYC it's only $200, in DC it's only $480, L.A it's $695, and over in expensive Vancouver a food truck license is $1,000!

 

[nfitz]

The food truck license is only $5k. That's one heck of a built in benefit to the food truck.

It's such a huge benefit, that most of Toronto's very limited supply of licences were not taken.

Clearly they need to lighten up somewhat on the costs/rules.