Illinois Supreme Court sides with the aged, not with fans of “food trucks”

I have a cousin, some 20 or so years younger than I, who considers himself something of a “foodie.” Quick to check out exotic cuisines and always on the lookout for an interesting place to eat.

Dining under the "L" tracks. Photos by Gregory Tejeda

Yet I know he’s also a big fan of the “scene” that has developed in Chicago to have “food trucks,” rolling restaurants of sorts that are capable of bringing unusual food items to the neighborhood.

THOSE TRUCKS RECEIVED a legal blow from the Illinois Supreme Court, which on Thursday ruled previous rulings by the Cook County and Illinois Appellate courts that have sided with Chicago city government’s restrictions on food trucks.

Such as the one preventing a food truck from parking itself within 200 feet of a more conventional restaurant. Or the rules requiring the food trucks to contain GPS devices to make it easier for city officials to track their movements.

The food truck operators filed their original lawsuit back in 2012, contending that such restrictions harmed their ability to do business. And as for the GPS, they say it’s a violation of their right to privacy to have someone being able to track their movements throughout the city.

Yet the Illinois Restaurant Association contends they’re willing to work with the food truck operators to reach some sort of compromise to allow them to operate in partnership with more conventional restaurants.

ALTHOUGH I DO suspect that for the restaurants, the “compromise” resembles something along the lines of “withering away and dying.” They don’t really want more competition when it comes to the concept of preparing and serving food.

Particularly from a food truck, which is an operation that has far lower overhead costs than maintaining a conventional restaurant in a physical building and having to maintain the kind of staff required to operate a restaurant.

I don’t doubt the restaurants think these food operators are thinking the food trucks are playing unfair. Probably the more we hear the phrase “roach coach” used to refer to them, the worse business is becoming.

 

Can this Pilsen neighborhood restaurant compete?

 I do have to admit to a bias, and it’s probably one because of age. I personally have little interest in searching out the food truck that serves the best Korean-inspired tacos, or even the best conventional (ie, ketchup-less) hot dog.

FOR ME, PART of the appeal of “eating out” is to check out the physical ambiance of a restaurant, while also having someone serve me.

Which are aspects that a food truck tries to eliminate from the process.

Although I don’t doubt my cousin probably thinks I’m being overly ridiculous, as do, I’m sure, the other many fans of food trucks, who probably think it’s cool when a particularly unique one decides to pull up and operate right by where they work.

A quickie lunch that, I’ll admit, is probably much more interesting than the servings of a Subway sandwich franchise (I don’t mean that as an insult, my first job ever was working a late shift at a Subway – and my own standard order on those occasions when I eat there is a “Spicy Italian” sandwich).

WHICH MAKES ME think this is a matter of age. There is a younger crowd, I don’t doubt, that will take this issue much more seriously than I.

For all I know, the day may come when the state Supreme Court will find some sort of case that gives them the opportunity to reverse themselves on Thursday’s ruling.

BAULER: Ain't ready for food trucks either?

That is, assuming the concept survives the amount of regulation they would now face – as the Institute of Justice has its own studies showing the number of food truck operators is now 40 percent smaller than it was some six years ago.

It could be that food trucks in Chicago are a similar concept to how legendary Alderman Paddy Bauler once described political "reform” – we just “ain’t ready for it” yet.

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Food truck operators benefit from partisan desire to dump on Rahm

At first glance, it doesn’t make much sense that the conservative millionaire brothers who operate Koch Industries and fund many ideologue causes would care about the fate of food trucks – those mobile restaurants of sorts that have been the target of city regulatory efforts.

Those lines are what bothers restaurant owners, who see them as lost customers

Then again, it makes total sense. Not because the Koch brothers care about the notion of encouraging mini-businesses of sorts or about supporting the desire to eat anything from them.
 

Kochs want to aggravate Dem Emanuel

BUT THE FACT is that Chicago city government has been involved in an intense effort to impose so many regulations against food truck operators. The Chicago Sun-Times reported on Monday about the significant fines imposed on operators to the point where some are being driven out of the mobile food-serving business.

Which I’m sure, to the Koch perspective, probably puts the concept of regulations on these food servers as some sort of cause they should fight against. Or more likely, something they should support because any effort to overturn the regulations would come across as a defeat for a “liberal-leaning” city like Chicago.

Food trucks these days can extend from high-end edibles...

In short, the Koch brothers would like to be able to tell a prominent-Democratic city like Chicago how it should operate. The same motivation held by the foundation controlled by Gov. Bruce Rauner, who also has contributed money to the cause of fighting for food trucks in Chicago.

Which, to me, falls in the category of someone who should be told to mind their own business. But that’s just me ranting. And this is also an example of partisan politics bringing together interests that normally wouldn’t give a second-glance at each other.

... to something resembling a basic sandwich

CAN ANYONE SERIOUSLY envision a Koch eating anything from a food truck? I can’t! How vehemently would they fight if similar food trucks tried operating in their hometown of Wichita, Kan.?

To be specific, the Koch brothers are providing financial support to the Institute for Justice. Based in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. (the Republican-leaning part of the D.C. metro area), the group is behind the lawsuit that seeks to challenge Chicago’s regulatory efforts against food trucks.

Some restaurants are in the food truck business

Particularly the rule that says the trucks cannot operate within 200 feet of an established restaurant. And also rules limiting the amount of time that a truck can stay parked at any one location.

Let’s be honest. These rules were passed by local politicos who were motivated by the political influence of the restaurant industry, which hates the idea of these food trucks because they’re mobile and cutting into their business.

JUST ENVISION HOW a restaurant owner feels when he sees people lined up at a food truck waiting to get something to eat, rather than coming into his restaurant and spending time at one of his tables.

It’s a loss of money. I know some people are more than willing to support the food truck operators just based on the premise that the city’s rules are an example of hard-core politicking by the restaurant lobby.

Although is it really any better for public policy to be influenced by the desires of a special interest (which is certainly the way I view the Koch brothers who use their millions to fund any ideological cause they agree with) whose only motivation is to wreck havoc with the city’s regulatory efforts.

Food trucks have come a long way since the last century

Personally, I don’t see any problem with the idea of regulatory efforts against food truck operators. There certainly are enough rules that restaurants themselves have to comply with. And when it comes to the idea of food service, you can’t be too cautious.

BUT IT DOES create an odd setting to see Kochs aligned with food trucks, since much of the reason those types of businesses are thriving is that they’re making efforts to appeal to a certain young, urban type who view the idea of ordering a taco with Korean-influenced stuffings (or whatever unique edible offering they have in stock) as further evidence of their sophistication.

Certainly not the kind of people who’d be inclined to back the Kochs on any of their preferred causes. But then again, if we were just talking about a truck with a grill with a fry cook slapping together a quickie egg or two, I doubt there’d be any appeal.

My own thoughts about these food trucks is that I don’t seek them out, largely because the ones that are supposedly “hip” and trendy charge way too much (consider $7 for a taco, like I saw at one truck on Sunday) for their food.

Which is why I expect this political fight is one that eventually will end on its own as the fad fades away. Those young people will get older, quit eating such stuff, and the new generation of young people will wonder how the old geezer-types ever thought it was fun to consume such stuff.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: A website devoted to the concept of letting people know where, at any given moment, they can find a food truck offering up something to eat.