James Mastrangel, owner of Jacques’ Tacos said the food truck industry is exploding in metro Detroit.

FERNDALE – Food truck vendors will rally for the second monthly Metro Detroit Street Eats event here Thursday, but city officials are still working out what limits to put on the vendors outside of such special events.

The City Council over the past several weeks has tried to set specific days, locations and fees for mobile food vendors, but is still trying to balance the competing interests of food truck owners and downtown restaurant owners who fear the trucks will eat into their bottom line.

“Both groups have legitimate reasons to be interested in the ordinance,” said Mayor Dave Coulter. “We have tabled the issue until our next meeting because we want to get this right.”

Coulter and Councilman Dan Martin will work with the Downtown Development Authority and food vendors to come up with a workable ordinance, Coulter said.

“The DDA has made recommendations but some on the council thought the DDA suggestions might be too restrictive,” Coulter said.

James Mastrangel, owner of Jacques’ Tacos food truck and vice president of the Michigan Mobile Food Vendors Association, will be working city officials as they draft an ordinance for mobile food vendors.

The DDA suggested limiting food trucks, outside of monthly special events, to one day a week in the City Hall parking lot and certain loading zones in the downtown from 12 a.m. to 3 a.m. for the late-night bar crowd.

Mastrangel, however, believes allowing food trucks to operate just one day is too restrictive.

“I don’t think one day a week is going to be the answer,” he said, adding that there are only about 14 food trucks operating in the metro Detroit area. “I don’t think we are competing with the bricks-and-mortar restaurants, we’re more like an alternative to fast-food restaurants. When someone stops they want a quick taco from us, they are not going to be sitting in a restaurant for 45 minutes or an hour.”

Mastrangel has been operating his food truck on property owned by Ferndale Auto Radiator Repair on Woodward from noon to 4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. He is also taking part in Thursday’s Street Eats..

Over the last several years food trucks have become a phenomenon in larger cities from New York to San Francisco. Many of the vendors offer a variety of gourmet and ethnic foods, with customers tracking the locations on websites and Twitter.

The trend is relatively new to the Midwest, Mastrangel said.

“Food vending on the streets out of a truck is such a new thing in Michigan,” he said. “We’re still trying to figure it out here. I can see legislation coming where they will standardize the rules for food trucks.”

Meantime, about eight food trucks are set to show up from 4-9 p.m. Thursday for the Street Eats event that is expected to draw several thousand people at the Rust Belt Market, at the northwest corner of Nine Mile and Woodward. The monthly event includes live entertainment and artist vendors inside the market.

http://www.dailytribune.com/article/20120425/NEWS01/120429762/food-trucks-rally-for-ferndale-event-as-city-mulls-vendor-rules&pager=full_story

Customers wait to buy tacos from a food truck vendor last month at the monthly Street Eats event at the Royal Oak Farmers Market organized by the Michigan Mobile Food Vendors Association. Food truck operators are also putting on once-a-month events in Ferndale, as well as visiting the downtown on weekdays.

FERNDALE – A new ordinance is in the works to turn down the heat on a simmering disagreement between downtown Ferndale restaurants owners and food truck operators.

City Council members are again taking up the issue Monday after a number of downtown business owners objected to a food vendor ordinance officials were set to enact last month.

Food trucks with specialty and ethnic menus are an increasingly popular trend in cities throughout the nation and southeast Michigan. The Michigan Mobile Food Vendors Association in the past couple of months has organized monthly events in Royal Oak and Ferndale with multiple trucks. Individual food trucks wheel into downtowns throughout the region on week days and weekends, depending on local ordinances.

In Ferndale, officials have reviewed how other cities from Ann Arbor to Seattle are dealing with food trucks — which are like restaurant kitchens on wheels — to come up with a policy.

“There was some pushback from our restaurant owners,” Mayor Dave Coulter said. “They have some legitimate concerns about how food truck operators and pushcart vendors will impact their bricks-and-mortar businesses.”

Restaurant owners wanted more involvement in how the final vendor ordinance in Ferndale is drafted, Coulter added.

“On the other hand, the food vendors want any new rules to be flexible enough for them to make a profit,” he said.

Ferndale’s newest food truck, Taco Mama, debuted this week with a menu that features Mexican flavors in fusion forms.

“I’m really trying to branch out and do something different than the average taco truck,” says owner Kerry Hubbard, a caterer who lives in Pleasant Ridge. The lineup changes weekly and runs from Mexican jambalaya and slider burgers to tacos, quesadillas and empanadas. Nothing costs more than $5.

Her yellow truck usually parks at Woodward and Withington, near Boogie Fever, on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday from 11:30 a.m. until 2 p.m., but she took today off to prepare for Saturday, when she will be in the Hertz rental lot on Woodward, next to Vogue Vintage, 11 a.m.-9 p.m..

Hubbard uses Twitter to announce her menu and schedule. She tweets at @tacomamadetroit. Her Web site is www.tacomamadetroit.com

http://www.freep.com/article/20110819/ENT08/110819052/Taco-Mama-food-truck-hits-street-Ferndale?odyssey=nav%7Chead

Detroit Underdog operates Monday through Sunday around downtown Ferndale. Credit Terry Parris Jr.

Two hot dog carts, two taco trucks and an ice cream man: Meet Ferndale’s new street food vendors.

“Since I’ve been here, in four years, this is the most we’ve seen,” City Clerk Cherilynn Tallman said.

At the July 11 City Council meeting, three concessionaire licenses were approved for Jacques Tacos, Detroit Underdog and Motor City Franks. At the next meeting on July 25, one was approved for Treat Dreams, and another, for Taco Mama, was tabled to further discuss its suggested location.

Taco Mama wanted to park in the first street parking spot going west on West Nine Mile, in front of Organic Food.

Council members felt that designating that spot to the food vendor, and the size of the truck itself, would block the facade of Organic Food. Tallman said the city has already discussed an alternative spot for Taco Mama in the Withington parking lot.

However, with the growth of these businesses in Ferndale, the City Council is sensitive to the effect they might have on downtown and on downtown businesses.

“We never had any, and now we’re getting them, and it’s kind of cool,” Ferndale Mayor Dave Coulter said at the July 25 council meeting. “But we’re going reach a point where it’s not as cool. We’re not there yet, I don’t think — but at some point, we’re going to want to manage it.”

Tallman said there are always potential issues when introducing something new to a city, such as street vendors, but so far, there have been none.

“We want to avoid issue with clear pedestrian access as well as not blocking the view and the access to brick-and-mortar business on Nine Mile Road,” Tallman said.

Detroit Underdog serves hot dogs from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Friday, then from 10 p.m.-3 p.m. Friday-Sunday for the bar crowd.

Demian Mendoza, owner of Detroit Underdog, sets up at 306 W. Nine Mile, near Huntington Bank; 195 W. Nine Mile by the Ferndale Arts Building; and 251-253 E. Nine Mile Rd. at Greenleaf Bodywork, the business of his wife, Charity Mendoza.

“I never seen a hot dog vendor here, and this is something I’ve always wanted to do,” Mendoza said. “It’s a perfect time.”

Mendoza said he started his business plan in “late April, early May.”

“If I knew how long it would take, I would have started sooner,” he said. However, he added, working with Ferndale has been great.

“I’ve lived here for nine years now,” he said. “I like the way they do business here.”

Mendoza offers hot dogs, Italian sausages and veggie dogs. He hopes to increase offerings to chili and pulled pork for what he calls “The Underdog.”

“Pulled pork on a dog with barbecue sauce and garlic sauce … that’s an Underdog,” he said.

Check out the list below for a schedule of when and where the other vendors will set up.

Tallman said Ferndale will finish out this season and will assess the situation for next summer. “We’re going to watch this season and see what we can improve on for next season,” she said.

“Having street vendors adds to the excitement of downtown. This is the most interest we’ve ever had,” Tallman said.