Austin Food Trucks Must Travel to Get Inspected. Soon Inspectors May Come to Them

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A Call for More Convenience for Austin’s Food Trucks

In Austin, over 1,500 food trucks must currently travel to a city facility located in North Austin for their annual city health inspection. This obligatory journey has been described by many food truck owners as a complicated, expensive, and time-consuming process that results in significant profit loss. A resolution approved recently by the Austin City Council gives the local food truck industry hope as it aims to revise this process for the better.

Resolution to Change the Health Inspection Process

According to Council Member José Velásquez, the objective is to modernize, equalize and streamline the permitting process with information being made available in multiple languages. Council believes, the “small and micro businesses are the lifeblood of the Austin economy” and steps must be taken to ease these hurdles. Velásquez further added that “This is to clear numerous outdated and tedious procedures for small and micro-business owners where time and monetary resources are frequently spread thin.”

Benefits of the Proposed Changes

The food truck owners are excited about the proposed changes that include on-site health inspections. Sergio Trujillo, owner of Desnudo, a popular food truck in Austin, expressed his opinion on the new proposal. He said: “It is important for the city to value mobile food vendors because it gives business owners an opportunity to try new things, if it doesn’t work, that’s OK. It’s a very lean way to start your business and it helps business owners to test the market.”

Anticipated Challenges: Staffing and Increased Permit Costs

Even though the new resolution is being warmly welcomed, it does not come without its challenges. On-site inspections would require more city inspectors, meaning an increase in staffing and equipment costs. This could imply a possible rise in permit costs, a matter that the City Staff would need to further investigate.

Speaking on this, Trujillo said, “Many of us would be willing to pay the extra money for them to come to us”. He also expressed his hopes for the city to extend a permit for longer than a year.

Conclusion

The City Staff plans to research the best ways to implement the proposed changes. They are expected to return with recommendations by May. Velásquez emphasizes, “We just want to provide the option for more flexibility. The goal is to ensure Austin is a place that fosters the growth of small businesses.” As Austin becomes less affordable, it is deemed necessary to do everything possible to support small and micro businesses. This is seen as the first step to addressing this issue and modernizing processes to be more efficient and equitable.