Vendors to set up shop in SF parks
By: Will Reisman
Examiner Staff Writer
July 15, 2009
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| Forget the picnic: Travis Tam, above and below, serves up hot dogs and beverages Tuesday at the Happy Belly food cart on John F. Kennedy Drive in Golden Gate Park. (cindy chew/the examiner) |
SAN FRANCISCO — Street vendors selling items like sandwiches and ice cream could soon legally set up shop in city parks.
As a way to generate revenue, the cash-strapped Recreation and Park Department is considering asking for bids from local food businesses interested in setting up stands in parks, according to agency spokeswoman Lisa Seitz Gruwell, and the plan could be approved by the Recreation and Park Commission on Thursday.
“We think this would be a good way to attract neighborhood restaurants interested in displaying some healthy food,” Seitz Gruwell said. “It would also be an outlet to bring in extra revenue to the department.”
Each vendor would have to pay the department a minimum of $1,000 per month, and there would likely be provisions in the contract that healthy food is served, she said.
Golden Gate Park would not be included in the proposal. The department allows a handful of vendors in Golden Gate Park and one in the Civic Center, although they are not subject to healthy-food provisions. Seitz Gruwell did not know how much revenue those businesses generate annually for the department.
Kevin Westlye, president of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, thinks some local restaurateurs would be interested in setting up vending carts in parks, particularly because street food is so popular right now, but said they are wary that city regulations would be too costly.
“The hump to get over would be all the mandates that come with setting up a lease on public property,” Westlye said. “I think a lot of people will be asking if there is enough volume to support the overhead.”
The Crème Brûlée Guy, a local food vendor who operates outside city regulations and declined to give his name, said it’s admirable that the department is trying to encourage more street vending, but the $1,000 monthly cost is “pretty steep.”
“It would be hard for an independent vendor to make that monthly payment,” said the Crème Brûlée Guy, who has operated in Dolores Park in the Mission district, adding that he intends to investigate purchasing a permit. “It would be a lot easier for a restaurant owner to just send out an employee to sit there for eight hours.”
Although Seitz Gruwell said legitimate street vendors would be encouraged to report unlicensed food carts, the Crème Brûlée Guy said the new system probably would not threaten food vendors already operating in public places like Dolores Park.
“I don’t really think the people selling things now are in competition with healthy-food vendors,” he said.
Recipe to raise funds
Street vendors may be allowed in parks.
What: Street food carts serving healthy fare
Where: All city parks except Golden Gate Park
Cost to vendors: $1,000 minimum proposed monthly cost of permit
Why: To raise revenue for the Recreation and Park Department
Source: Recreation and Park Department
wreisman@sfexaminer.com
