June 16, 2016
Food trucks from outside of Evanston can now peddle their gourmet sandwiches, pastries, coffee and other foods within the city’s borders, thanks to an ordinance change approved by the Evanston City Council on Monday, lifting a restriction that had been place since 2010.
Evanston City Council members approved a change in the ordinance that overturns the original language that stated a mobile food vendor “must be owned and operated by the owner or agent of a licensed food establishment in the city of Evanston.” Now food truck operators that don’t own a brick-and-mortar shop within city limits can apply for eligibility to operate in the city.
Aldermen suspended their rules of introducing an item and then waiting two weeks before acting on an issue, hoping to clear the way for outside food trucks to obtain licensing and begin operating here as soon as this summer.
At Monday night’s City Council meeting, [Jacob] Huebert, an attorney for Beavers Coffee and Donuts, a popular food truck operation in Chicago, praised the move. The company filed suit against the city in 2012 over the original ordinance.
“It’s going to be a great benefit, not only for start-up entrepreneurial businesses like Beavers Coffee and Donuts, but also for the people of Evanston as they have more food choices,” he said, speaking during the citizen comment portion of the meeting.
Officials announced last month they were considering recommending changes to the city’s food truck ordinance, acknowledging the lawsuit as a factor in the change.
In the suit, two young Rogers Park entrepreneurs, James Nuccio and Gabriel Wiesen, maintained the city’s ordinance was “arbitrary and restrictive” and “serves to protect one group of established business owners from creative competition.”
