Orlando Florida. – The Orlando City Council is set to approve a pilot program that would allow food trucks in the Downtown Entertainment Area (DEA) to operate from 6 p.m. to 2:30 a.m.
The draft would also establish that the cart leaves the area at 3 a.m., accepting the last food order at 2:30 a.m.
Additionally, it would allow food carts to run an additional hour on New Years Eve, at 3:30 a.m. for last order and 4:00 a.m. cart pickup, to be consistent with the approved business overtime.
In April 2019, the Orlando City Council authorized a mobile food vending program that specified location criteria for food trucks, food carts, and meal trucks through a temporary use permit (TUP) throughout the city. .
The rules allowed staff to experiment with different options for locating these uses in certain areas of the city while enforcing existing zoning laws that prohibited the sale.
The recommendations suggested the city look for new ways to bolster the downtown food and beverage offering while supporting “food entrepreneurs” to improve the downtown street food experience to attract a larger population.
current program for street vendors
Staff is not proposing changes to the current mobile food program for food carts that are permitted through a Conditional Use Process (CUP) in downtown enhanced private plazas seven (7) days a week.
The food cart must be set back 5 feet from the City right-of-way to allow for adequate foot traffic and lineups for customers. The food cart must also have a business tax receipt and appropriate state licenses.
Under the current schedule, food carts are prohibited from operating on city streets and sidewalks, due to grease, litter, blockage of pedestrian rights-of-way, sidewalk jumps, tree damage from street and other nuisances.
Over the past year, city staff have become aware that mobile food carts have been operating after hours in DEA ROW for many years and have been part of the downtown night economy without the approvals. appropriate.
To better regulate mobile food cart locations and hours of operation, city staff recommends creating a DEA mobile food cart pilot program that would allow these vendors to operate legally.