Food Trucks Should be Banned
PRO (4 arguments)
Definitions:
Banned: Not allow the business of managing/running a food truck
Food trucks: a mobile venue that sells food
Weighing:
Restaurant vs. food truck. Judge, this debate is a black and white issue- food trucks (CON) vs. restaurants (PRO). Why? Because you can have one or the other. We’re trying to eliminate food trucks, whereas by supporting food trucks the CON inadvertently eliminates restaurants because food trucks put restaurants out of business. So now that I’ve cleared that up judge, you’re basically casting your vote for restaurants, us, or food trucks, them. Which would you rather go to for a business meeting? Which is more comfortable, provides you sit down service, and lets you actually go inside the food joint? Restaurants. Restaurants also pay rent, utility fees, adhere to strict health standards and protocols, fire safety rules, and employ more people because they have more space. They are also cleaner because they have room to install sinks and sanitation areas whereas food trucks are cramped and allow for easy transmission of viruses. Restaurants allow for reservations and comfortable sit-down meals, whereas with a food truck, you never know where it will be, either at a street corner you didn’t know about or polluting the atmosphere chugging gas while congesting ours streets with traffic. Clearly, restaurants over food trucks any day, and if you need any evidence why you should cast your vote for restaurants, just look at the past couple centuries in American history- restaurants haven’t caused any starvations- they’ve always been there, like a stable rock, serving food, employing people, paying their taxes, and obliging to safety and health regulations. They’ve been good for two hundred years, and they’re just as good now.
Every year, millions of people become ill from foodborne illnesses. To help reduce the risk of foodborne illness, many county health departments are requiring that mobile food trucks be required to operate under the same food safety standards as restaurants, including food facility inspections.
Bare hand contact with food is one of the most common causes of foodborne illnesses and a common violation on food trucks. Other common violations include inadequate food temperatures, cross contamination of food preparation surfaces, equipment failures, using food from unapproved food sources, and inadequate hand washing and restroom facilities.
Near Talin Market in Albuquerque, Central Louisiana, Inspector Tami Hastings with the City Environmental Health Department checked a variety of parked food trucks for health concerns. In the food truck ‘Make My Lunch,’ a bleach test showed water used for rinsing knives had chlorine levels that were too high. Hastings also suggested that food truck ‘Roxy's’ should check in with the fire marshal to make sure its fire suppression system is up to code. In Los Angeles, 27% of food trucks earned a health rating of lower than an A, compared to 5% of restaurants earning lower than an A in 2016. Over 4% of food trucks earn C grades, compared to 1% of restaurants. Over 70 food trucks were forced to close in 2016 due to health related issues.
KOB Eyewitness News 4; The book: “The Food Cop”; Los Angeles Times
Cities should not encourage jobs that don’t create money. The food truck business will only starve citizens of their left-over cash and ruin their revenue. Working out of a truck significantly limits the volume of food you can serve every day, and it’s not just because you have less storage. The limited space of a food truck means fewer employees to make the food. And fewer employees during peak services (like lunchtime) means less volume. And franchising food tuck concepts is notoriously difficult, and in some ways takes away from what makes food trucks seem so special to begin with. Every minute you spend picking up the truck, driving from spot to spot, and taking the truck back to the commissary at night, is time you are working (or paying employees) but not selling anything. The little bit of money that brick and mortar businesses bring in during off peak times makes a difference in the bottom line. With very few exceptions, the only gourmet foods trucks that are making money are the ones that are using the truck as a marketing tool to build their brand for private events, lucrative corporate sponsorships, catering, or the eventual transition into a brick and mortar business. If your food doesn’t lend itself well to those kinds of things, or you don’t have plans to do more than just sell your food on the streets from a truck, you will not make money.
MSNBC Business; Midtown Lunch
Some food trucks park themselves right in front of stationary restaurants, even if they are selling the same product. Food vendors can park outside a restaurant, put it out of business by drawing away customers, and then the restaurant will not have sufficient funds to pay the landowner for the space that they own.
Food trucks constantly drive around, adding harmful gases to the environment. Furthermore, food trucks serve take-out food, food that can be carried in things like paper baskets, paper bags, and paper cups. Not only do many trees have to be consumed for this, but also these objects are just more things to be littered. Food trucks don’t always park right next to a trash can, and often, many people will litter the paper wastes or spill some food, contributing to an even dirtier community. Also, they further congest traffic.
CON (4 arguments)
The Plan:
Regulate, not annihilate food trucks all together.
Key Phrase: Regulate, not annihilate. (It rhymes)
Weighing:
Regulate vs. prohibit. Judge, one is reversible and one isn’t. One is a moderate approach to things and the other an extreme measure. Judge, you should look to the negation side of this debate because we are moderate. By banning food trucks, you are completely annihilating it. Judge, look to the common ground in this debate- the CON side. Why? Because by voting for regulating food trucks, not prohibiting them completely, judge, you acknowledge both the faults in food trucks and get rid of them through new regulations and protocols, while still keeping the many goods of food trucks we’ve proved throughout this debate. With the PRO side, you get none of the good stuff from food trucks. So judge, don’t look to the extreme measure of completely prohibiting food trucks entirely because this is unnecessary- what we need are new regulations and rules, not extremist measures.
Judge, we don’t have to prohibit food trucks completely. Just like any business, there are faults in food trucks- we acknowledge that. But there are also a lot of good qualities in them, as we’ll prove. That’s why, judge, to get the best of both worlds, you should look towards the CON, because we support a policy wherein food trucks will be regulated, to eliminate most of the negatives that the PRO has pointed out, while still keeping all the positives we’ve pointed out. It’s a win-win for everyone. Just like there are tons of regulations on the restaurant industry, like health inspections, nutrition labels, occupancy limits, and more, food trucks could have similar regulation. Do you honestly believe that all the regulation we have on things like restaurants and our stock market were created in a day. No. It takes time, and after we have food trucks for a while we will have sufficient knowledge about them to successfully regulate them, just like we do for all other businesses. Judge, just because the first try had a few minor faults doesn’t mean we should scrap the whole idea. Remember: Regulate, not annihilate food trucks.
In 2007, the Southern California Mobile Food Vendors Association adopted the California Retail Food Code, and much of what restaurants are obligated to do, they mirror that for the food trucks. When the county of Los Angeles was trying to figure out a way to pass a grading ordinance, the association supported it completely. Trucks are inspected twice a year and even more if brought out for special events. Because the food trucks are mobile, they are inspected more, not less. The Health Department has told the group that since it started grading trucks, the trucks have had a higher percentage of A’s than restaurants did when they first started grading restaurants.
Why not allow something that just makes money? Food trucks don’t harm anyone, and they’re just a form of making money and business for a family. There is nothing wrong with running a food truck, and cities should allow all appropriate business enterprises to exist.
People rely on these food trucks for food. This can be for several reasons. Due to the food truck’s mobility, a makeshift restaurant can be set up almost anywhere, providing a convenient and easy way to find food. Furthermore, these trucks serve quick, easy-to-carry food that is necessary for the fast-paced walking businessman or athlete.