New Food Truck Rules to Take Effect in October

With food trucks' popularity soaring in the Sacramento region, the City of Elk Grove has just made it much easier for the mobile eateries to operate.

A new city ordinance that takes effect October 12 will allow food truck operators to stop for up to three hours in one on-street location, and sell their snacks anytime between 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m.

Previous rules limited stops to 15 minutes at a time, and required trucks to shut down by 2:00 p.m.

“Elk Grove needs a thriving restaurant and food truck industry to support our growing workforce and meet increasing lunchtime demands,” Elk Grove Mayor Jim Cooper said in a press release. “The new ordinance incorporates fair, win-win changes that support small business development and the growing mobile food truck industry in Elk Grove.”

The ordinance also includes a concession to local restaurants worried about competition: Trucks can't stop within 350 feet of a brick-and-mortar restaurant without written permission from the owner.

The change puts Elk Grove ahead of Sacramento in loosening food truck rules. That city has been discussing a change to its ordinances for months, but a recent compromise proposal by food truck owners and restaurants was delayed after the city attorney raised legal concerns, according to The Sacramento Bee.

What do you think of Elk Grove's new food truck rules? Are they fair?