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.