Park Ridge City Council members will soon evaluate possible ways for food trucks to operate in the city without threatening existing local restaurants.
The city has fielded a number of inquiries about whether it allows mobile dining options, Community Preservation and Development Director Drew Awsumb told aldermen at a May 1 Committee of the Whole meeting. Awsumb said those questions seem to be tied to Park Ridge’s burgeoning reputation as a dining and entertainment destination for the region.
Additionally, he said, restaurants that operate in other locations are looking to food trucks as a way to find business at off-peak times and days — perhaps coming to customers where they live during the week instead of waiting for them to visit the main location in a place like Chicago’s West Loop over a weekend.
Currently, the city allows food trucks for special events like church socials or other permitted community gatherings and allows itinerant operations like ice cream trucks to drive through town and sell to residents, per a report from city staff.
The city currently prohibits trucks that return to specific places on a regular schedule and multiple trucks co-locating in a designated area on a regular basis, the memo states.
Council members were leery of how permitting food trucks to operate in the city would impact existing businesses, particularly in already bustling food and drink corridors like Uptown or the South Park commercial area.
“What I don’t want to do is get in a situation where we’re allowing a mobile food truck that doesn’t rent a storefront [to] harmfully impact someone who does,” Mayor Marty Maloney said.
Awsumb told aldermen that one option is to regulate where and when trucks can come to town. For example, the city could permit food trucks to operate in areas that don’t have significant restaurant or food and beverage service, he said.
“Finding a district that isn’t really served by restaurants, maybe conditioned by particular days and times, rather than saying ‘well, let’s get 10 food trucks in Uptown where we already have a ton of great restaurants,'” he said.
Maloney was receptive to that idea, pointing out Lutheran General Hospital as a possible candidate.
“If we can do it by our biggest employer in town and stop people from going to Portillo’s, in Niles, then that’s a win,” he said. “If we can get food trucks to the hospital… let’s save people from crossing Dempster Street.”
First Ward Alderman John Moran agreed.
“I like the concept of going to areas that don’t necessarily see a lot of diners — we’re not cannibalizing our own,” he said.
Fifth Ward Alderman Joseph Steinfels offered the Dee Road Metra station and the area by Higgins Road as two possible places for the city to experiment with permitting food trucks, though he said he wouldn’t want to see mobile operations interfere with establishing more permanent options in those areas.
Park Ridge Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jackie Mathews told council members she’d like to see permanent food and beverage businesses prioritized if the city moves ahead with permitting trucks.
“It would be something that would have to be very regulated in order to give respect to those who have put in the time and the resources to create brick and mortar restaurants and built this growing, vibrant entertainment district,” she said.
Maloney said he had initially been opposed to the idea, but was “intrigued” by the possibilities such a setup could offer after hearing from staff about options to regulate food trucks in the city.
Aldermen had a number of other questions for city staff, including how trucks’ liquor licensing would work if applicable, whether the trucks would pay sales tax to Park Ridge and Sixth Ward Alderman Rick Biagi’s inquiry as to whether the city could inspect the trucks to ensure they are not “roach coaches.”
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Awsumb said he will bring a formal proposal back to the council outlining a possible framework for regulating food trucks in the city.