Food trucks may drive future of S.F. restaurants
In a restaurant landscape constantly being reshaped by the coronavirus pandemic, San Francisco’s dining scene could soon look very much as it did in the 2010s during the peak of the Bay Area food truck craze.
The potential shift can be attributed to joint efforts involving the Golden Gate Restaurant Association; Tony Marcell, a business partner of celebrity chef Tyler Florence at San Francisco’s Wayfare Tavern restaurant; and members of the city’s Chamber of Commerce, as the group pushes for local legislation that would make it easier for restaurants to open food trucks during the pandemic.
The permitting process for a restaurant to open a food truck now takes about six months, according to Marie Trimble Holvick, who is on the board of directors of the restaurant association. Holvick said the process should be much shorter for the growing number of small restaurants in desperate need of revenue to stay open.
“This could help the city, too. Right now restaurants want to bring people back to work,” she said. “I also think we need to prepare ourselves to a new way of life. The idea we are going to be packed into the cute 20seat restaurant isn’t going to be something that happens for a while.”
Holvick also said that when it comes to health and safety practices required to open a food truck, restaurant owners are ahead of the curve, because they are familiar with the rigorous permitting process and training related to food safety. Group members are also talking about how to ensure food truck workers have proper space to work together while adhering to social distancing protocols.
The possible legislation is in its early stages but already has
support from Rodney Fong, president of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce.
“If they can’t come to the food, bring the food to them, seems like the current need,” Fong said via email.
Tony Marcell of Wayfare Tavern recently jumpstarted the conversation when his restaurant opened its first truck a few weeks ago. It gained a following in cities including San Francisco and Orinda, but Marcell said San Francisco quickly ordered him shut down over a variety of technicalities. Chief among them was the fact that Wayfare Tavern’s food truck was not under the company’s DBA license, because the company leased it from a restaurant in San Jose. The truck, which was profitable for a short time, is no longer in use.
“It was magic and hope and all those beautiful things in the beginning,” he said. “We were following the threads of what people needed. We’ve been pivoting every week, and it’s almost like opening a new restaurant each time we have to reinvent ourselves. For these communities where young families don’t want to go out, we knew this could be a good thing.”
Opening a food truck in the city was a laborious process long before COVID19. A food truck needs at least 11 permits to operate in the city, according to the San Francisco Business Portal, including a mobile food facility permit and a weighing and measuring device permit, among many others. San Francisco food trucks also aren’t allowed to park within 75 feet of a brickandmortar restaurant, a rule that Holvick and Marcell said should remain part of any new food truck legislation.
In a recent report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, San Francisco was said to be one of the hardest cities in the country in which to open a food truck. The report surveyed 20 major cities based on the difficulty food truck operators face in obtaining permits and licenses.
Since the Bay Area shelterinplace order, which was recently extended until the end of May, restaurants in San Francisco have been able to provide only takeout and delivery service. The industry has experienced a rash of mass layoffs and closures as profits have all but disappeared. Even when restaurants are finally allowed to reopen their dining rooms, they may have to reduce their capacity by half, according to Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The food truck idea comes on the heels of industry leaders recently asking the city to allow restaurants to use parking spaces, alleyways and public plaza as dining spaces. This move could increase business at restaurants in the coming months and thus increase profits.
In a similar vein, Mayor London Breed announced in April a temporary cap of 15% on commissions charged by the makers of apps such as Uber Eats, Grubhub, DoorDash, Caviar and Postmates. These companies typically charge commissions that range from 10% to 30% of an order, and chefs said the costs were crushing the industry. The cap will remain in effect until restaurants are able to open again for dinein service.
All of the efforts highlight the dire financial straits many restaurants find themselves in during the pandemic.
“The food truck for us, even though it didn’t last long, was a breath of fresh air,” Marcell said. “If the city means what it says about helping small restaurants, making it easier to open a food truck seems like a nobrainer.”