Evaluating Mobile Food Vendor Proximity Restrictions in the City of Chicago
This paper was written for my graduate food policy course. I am revising this research for editorial formats in the coming weeks.
Evaluating Mobile Food Vendor Proximity Restrictions in the City of Chicago
Summary
I am pleased to contribute to Chicago's Re-opening and Recovery plans by conducting this policy analysis related to mobile food vending. This analysis of Section 7-38-115(f) of the Municipal Code of Chicago will briefly explore the historical context of the proximity policy currently regulating the operating capacity of food trucks, introduce considerations for relevant stakeholders, and ultimately provide recommendations for the Mayor's office next steps. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, both Chicago and the state of Illinois were facing concerns of economic and population decline. While the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are ongoing and devastating, there is a unique opportunity to revisit an existing policy related to the hospitality industry for a more equitable and prosperous future for constituents and the City of Chicago.
Scope
Chicago's proximity restrictions for mobile food vendors prohibit food trucks from operating within 200 feet of a brick and mortar food business. The Municipal Code defines a brick and mortar food business as any "place where food and drink is prepared and served for the public for consumption on or off the premises."[1] This definition is expansive in its coverage, including businesses such as convenience stores with hot rollers for sausages within its scope. In addition to proximity regulations, the code requires any mobile food vendor to install a GPS device that shares location data with the city. With this policy in place, just 3% of the loop's downtown area is available for food truck operations[2]. According to the Food Truck Nation Report, if a mobile food vendor were to violate the proximity restrictions, the fine could be upwards of $2000, "or ten times the fine for parking in front of a fire hydrant."[3] The Institute for Justice estimates Chicago's food truck industry has decreased by approximately 40% since 2015[4]. This is a problem for the city as the policy, combined with other procedural roadblocks, deter entrepreneurs from choosing the city of Chicago for their business endeavors.
Economic Impact
The Food Truck Nation Report, funded by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, found that measured "friendliness" of cities towards their food truck industries strongly correlated with economic development. As an example, Portland ranked 1st across the 20 cities studied in the report and experienced over 8% business sector growth and 9% population growth between 2010 and 2016. Chicago, by comparison, ranked 13th amongst 20 cities surveyed, business sector growth was up 4.7%, and population growth was only 0.4% during the same period[5].
Population growth across Illinois is of serious issue as the state has seen a concerning population decline for the last decade.[6] Chicago is in the bottom five cities for population growth compared to the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the United States. [7] Breaking down barriers to new opportunities to stabilize and ultimately grow the local economy are a priority to city officials. While seemingly narrow in scope, mobile food vendor operations both lead to and represent vibrant entertainment districts and act as a catalyst for new business development.
LMP Services, INC vs. City of Chicago
It is imperative to address that challenges to the current policy have been brought before the Illinois Supreme Court as recently as 2019. In LMP Services, INC vs. the City of Chicago, Laura Perik, the Cupcakes for Courage food truck owner, initially brought the case to court in 2012. She argued that the proximity policy reflected the cities' inclination to favor brick and mortar business. Additionally, the requirements of GPS tracking devices on food trucks violated privacy laws as warrantless search.[8] The Illinois Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of the City of Chicago in 2019 with the opinion citing the code encouraged "the long-term stability and economic growth of its neighborhoods" and that the controversial 200-foot rule accomplishes this by supporting "brick-and-mortar restaurants and, thus, neighborhood stability."[9]
Re-Evaluation in Light of COVID-19
The re-evaluation of this proximity policy is worthy of resources considering the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the industry. The idea that brick and mortar businesses are a primary source of "long-term stability and economic growth" has been challenged by the reality of the last two years. The leisure and hospitality industry had the highest rate of job loss in Illinois in 2020, recording a total of approx. 220,000 lost jobs.[10] As of March 2021, 361 businesses recorded closures in the city of Chicago.[11] In a study conducted by Illinois Policy, data reflected the U.S. leisure and hospitality industry employment rose 43.4% between 1999 through 2019. Comparatively, there was an increase of only 29% during the same time frame in Illinois.[12] City of Chicago officials, particularly the Mayor’s office, are fulfilling their duty to constituents by examining all avenues to foster new jobs across the city.
Connecting to Mayor Lightfoot's Platform Pillars
There are opportunities to align this policy revision with several of Mayor Lightfoot's platforms. Mayor Lightfoot has stated her commitment to making Chicago "the most welcoming city in the nation for undocumented immigrants and refugees."[13] and has frequently pushed for BIPOC business equity throughout Chicago's neighborhoods. The pandemic has exasperated effects on BIPOC business owners. The Chicago metro area has the highest rate of black unemployment compared to the 25 largest metro areas in the United States[14]. Across the U.S., mobile food operations are owned and operated by immigrants and people of color. The Food Truck Nation report estimates that 80% of food trucks in Chicago are BIPOC owned businesses[15].
Furthermore, the Mayor's Re-Opening and Recovery Task Force, in partnership with Choose Chicago's Tourism and Hospitality Forward, have proposed "Unparalleled Chicago Advocacy" as one of the critical pillars of the program. "Unparalleled Chicago Advocacy" is defined on the program's website as acting "as engaged advocates for all that Chicago has to offer by cross-promoting one another's offerings and collaborating on shared offers to create a mutually beneficial environment for the industry."[16] This advocacy position opens the doors for support and healthy competition between mobile and brick-and-mortar hospitality businesses.
Additional Stakeholder Consideration
Brick and Mortar Business Owners
As previously outlined, the hospitality industry continues to face the tremendous impact of the pandemic. It is crucial to consider the perspectives of brick and mortar business owners during any consideration of mobile food vendor operations. While there will undoubtedly be many brick and mortar business owners that advocate for the proximity restrictions to hold out of fear of competition, I anticipate support for the policy to grow, marginally, amongst this group. Before and throughout the pandemic, restaurant owners have looked to mobile, more agile business operations as the traditional model poses particular insurmountable challenges. Food trucks require less staff and less capital and can react to the ever-evolving indoor/outdoor service guidelines more quickly than their brick and mortar counterparts.
Aldermen
Chicago Aldermen are responsible for driving quality of life and economic development opportunities for the wards they serve and are vital stakeholders in this policy assessment. Alderman Tom Tunney, the owner of Ann Sather's restaurants and former chair of the Illinois Restaurant Association, championed the proximity restrictions for mobile food vendors from the beginning. Alderman Tunney has recently come under scrutiny for opening his restaurants for indoor dining despite city-wide bans[17]. Addressing conflict of interest between Alderman their individual business interests and those of their communities is particularly challenging in this policy workstream.
Mobile food vendors can serve as agile solutions to shifting work cultures. With approximately 45% of full-time working Americans working remotely at least part of the time[18], downtown areas no longer serve as the same hospitality hubs as they did prior to the pandemic. Expanding mobile food vendors operating capacity throughout Chicago neighborhoods allows the hospitality industry to meet consumers where they work and potentially create new entertainment districts throughout Chicago's diverse wards.
Recommendation
I will be frank in this recommendation that this is a sensitive time to revisit this policy given it is perceived impact on brick and mortar restaurants amidst the ongoing pandemic. However, for the broader priorities of the city, this is the time to revisit policies that restrict entrepreneurial opportunities to citizens of Chicago, especially those that directly affect minority-owned businesses in hospitality.
After considering relevant stakeholder interest and the policy's historical context, I would first recommend the removal of the requirement that all mobile food vendors install a GPS tracking device. This particular element of the proximity restrictions has been presented for conflicting purposes over the years (mapping food trucks for consumer choice, planning for health inspections, and finally, monitoring locations for proximity violations) but the city has yet to pull any data from the GPS platform for any reason to date[19].
As for the 200 ft. proximity restriction, I am recommending the city consider a temporary lift of the policy through 2025. This would allow for a three-year trial period to measure a number of benchmarks for further consideration including, but not limited to the number of new mobile food businesses, job trends, population trends, and ward by ward economic impact studies. I would suggest a committee of key stake holder groups to determine the benchmarks for the trial period to measure against before the proximity restriction is lifted.
I look forward to the Mayor’s continued efforts to support Chicago’s Re-Opening and Recovery plan and hope this policy recommendation will be taken into consideration in an effort to revitalize equitable new business opportunities throughout Chicago.
[1] https://www.chicago.gov/content/dam/city/depts/bacp/ordinances/Mobile_Food_FINAL_Sub_7.19.12.pdf
[2] https://www.foodtrucknation.us/wp-content/themes/food-truck-nation/Food-Truck-Nation-Full-Report.pdf pg. 46
[3] https://www.foodtrucknation.us/wp-content/themes/food-truck-nation/Food-Truck-Nation-Full-Report.pdf pg. 46
[4] https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-chicago-food-truck-lawsuit-supreme-court-decision-20190523-story.html
[5] https://www.foodtrucknation.us/
[6] https://www.wbez.org/stories/planning-official-cites-lagging-economy-and-immigration-for-illinois-population-loss/fc4a5192-1946-4a74-973e-c8e5fac9bc34
[7] https://www.wbez.org/stories/planning-official-cites-lagging-economy-and-immigration-for-illinois-population-loss/fc4a5192-1946-4a74-973e-c8e5fac9bc34
[8] https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/403383-the-fourth-amendment-has-no-culinary-convenience-exception
[9] https://www.illinoispolicy.org/illinois-supreme-court-upholds-controversial-chicago-food-truck-restrictions/
[10] https://www2.illinois.gov/ides/News%20%20Announcements%20Doc%20Library/Jan2021_Statewide.pdf
[11] https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/ct-biz-chicago-covid-pandemic-business-closures-20210317-luxqwnxfyrabzbcvl3o4g2hrum-htmlstory.html
[12] https://www.illinoispolicy.org/illinois-leisure-and-hospitality-industry-among-hardest-hit-in-midwest/
[13] https://lightfootforchicago.com/immigration/
[14] https://www.wbez.org/stories/planning-official-cites-lagging-economy-and-immigration-for-illinois-population-loss/fc4a5192-1946-4a74-973e-c8e5fac9bc34
[15] https://www.foodtrucknation.us/wp-content/themes/food-truck-nation/Food-Truck-Nation-Full-Report.pdf pg. 6
[16] https://www.choosechicago.com/partners/covid-19-resources-for-partners/tourism-hospitality-forward/#partnering
[17] https://chicago.eater.com/2021/2/25/22301437/alderman-tom-tunney-fined-2k-indoor-dining-ann-sathers-chicago-covid-19
[18] https://news.gallup.com/poll/355907/remote-work-persisting-trending-permanent.aspx
[19] https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicksibilla/2019/06/13/illinois-supreme-court-upholds-warrantless-gps-tracking-for-chicago-food-trucks/?sh=686fc1c83f98