Tarpon Springs Food Truck Owners Sue City Over New Ordinance

TARPON SPRINGS, FL — The owners of a Tarpon Springs food truck filed suit in the Circuit Court of the 6th Judicial Circuit of Pinellas County Tuesday morning to protect their right to earn a living in the Tampa Bay.

When Elijah Durham lost his job as a chef during the pandemic, he decided to become his own boss. He and his wife Ashley purchased a food truck and opened SOL Burger, intending to serve customers in their community with locally sourced ingredients.

The couple, the parents of two young children, thought it was good timing, since Florida had just prohibited cities from having blanket bans against food trucks.

But soon after SOL Burger opened and began serving customers at Brighter Days Brewery, the city moved to ban food trucks from downtown Tarpon Springs.

The city provided an exception to the ban that allowed local restaurants to operate food trucks on their properties. All food trucks that weren't associated with local restaurants were directed to operate their food trucks at a designated property, which the Durhams said was far from the customers they'd been serving.

The Durhams said they were forced to move SOL Burger to a location outside Tarpon Springs to make ends meet although private property owners, like the brewery, had given the couple permission to operate in their parking lots in the city.

In response to the city's actions, the Durhams have teamed up with the nonprofit Institute for Justice to sue Tarpon Springs over what the institute is calling its "anti-competitive food truck ordinance."

"Tarpon Springs’ ordinance may comply with Florida’s food truck law, but it violates the Florida Constitution, which prohibits using government power to benefit a favored economic group at the expense of others," Institute of Justice Florida office managing attorney Justin Pearson said.

“Tarpon Springs embraces food trucks, but only if they are owned by local restaurants,” said Pearson. “Not only is Tarpon Springs’ protectionism unconstitutional, but it misunderstands the relationship between food trucks and restaurants. Cities in other parts of the state have seen that food trucks increase foot traffic and help downtown areas, including restaurants, but Tarpon Springs’ government failed to do its homework.”

Patch has contacted the city of Tarpon Springs for comment but hasn't heard back yet.

Pearson said the Occupational Freedom and Opportunity Act of 2020 stopped Florida cities from banning food trucks or requiring local licenses. However, local restaurant owners, frustrated that the state had opened the door to new competition, pressed the Tarpon Springs Board of Commissioners and mayor to pass the new ordinance that would exclusively grant them the right to operate food trucks downtown.

Pearson said there is evidence that the city is acting against the greater good of the community. He said small-scale culinary businesses like SOL Burger provide customers with more food options, bring increased foot traffic, benefitting all surrounding businesses, and they improve the overall local economy.

Additionally, food truck operators often use their profits to open brick-and-mortar restaurants in the community.

“We live in Tarpon Springs, but the city made it nearly impossible for us to serve customers near our home just because we don’t own a restaurant,” said Elijah Durham. “When I lost my job during the pandemic, buying a restaurant wasn’t an option. We just want to serve while parked on private property, not city streets. We’re fighting this protectionism not just for us, but for food truck owners across Florida.”

“The government isn’t allowed to pick winners and losers in the marketplace. That choice is up to consumers,” said Institute for Justice attorney Adam Griffin. “Tarpon Springs has said that only the politically connected insiders can have food trucks in downtown Tarpon Springs. That’s not just wrong; it’s unconstitutional. Elijah and Ashley are suing not just for themselves but to protect everyone’s rights.”

The Institute for Justice has successfully challenged restrictions on the economic liberty of food trucks to operate across the nation through its National Street Vending Initiative including in Fort Pierce; Carolina Beach, North Carolina; and South Padre Island, Texas.