At Monday’s Chapel Hill Town Council meeting, council members brainstormed ways to encourage more food trucks to set up shop in Chapel Hill.
Baguettaboutit is the only food truck in Chapel Hill with vendor permits.
Chapel Hill Town Council members said the cost of vendor fees has discouraged food trucks from coming to Chapel Hill. Council members said they wanted to hear from food truck owners who decided not to apply for a permit in Chapel Hill.
Both Paul Inserra, director of American Meltdown, and Brian Bottger, owner of Only Burger, spoke on behalf of their companies.
Inserra and Bottger said the fees for a vendor permit were the biggest obstacle. Total fees to operate in Chapel Hill add up to $861 annually.
“I’m a start up. I’m only nine months old, so it was the kind of thing that it was much cheaper to work in Raleigh and Durham initially,” Inserra said.
Some of the council members including, Matt Czajkowski, said the town should reduce the fees and look to Carrboro as a model to encourage more food trucks to come to Chapel Hill.
“Somehow Carrboro is making it work,” he said. “I think what we need to do is look at how Carrboro is making it work and make it work in the same way.”
Though a few council members agreed that the fees were keeping more food trucks from coming to Chapel Hill, Councilwoman Donna Bell said she thought the fees were reasonable.
Councilman Lee Storrow said he spoke with the owners of Baguettaboutit, who said they became vendors in Chapel Hill only so they would be able to serve friends and family in the community.
“They told me it didn’t make economic sense to apply in Chapel Hill,” he said.
Storrow agreed that it doesn’t makes financial sense for food trucks to come to Chapel Hill if they are successful in other places.
Some council members said the only way to encourage more food trucks in town is by reducing the vendor fees.
“I say we should be looking real hard at reducing them,” Czajkowski said.
Notable:
Monday marked Councilwoman Penny Rich’s last meeting on the Town Council. She will take her seat on the Orange County Board of Commissioners on Dec. 3.
The council also approved a master plan modification and a special use permit to allow the construction for Arc of Orange Apartments — a six-unit multi-family development in Meadowmont that will serve people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Quotable:
“I’ve really enjoyed being on the council. It’s probably one of the best jobs I’ve ever had,” Rich said about leaving her position on the council.
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