SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Food trucks now have the green light to operate at rest areas in California, creating a boon for truckers needing a warm meal during the coronavirus pandemic.
Truck driver Christopher Usher works overtime to make sure grocery stores are stocked up during the pandemic. But, while he’s helping feed California, he’s having a hard time feeding himself while on the road.
“Most of the restaurants are closed inside and, as you can see, I drive a big rig. So, it’s kind of hard to pull up in the drive-thru,” said Usher.
Because of situations like this, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order on April 16 giving food trucks the ability to operate at California’s 86 statewide rest stops.
Jon McCausland, owner of the NorCal Kitchen food truck, said he's hoping to jump on this opportunity as soon as possible, but, first, he has to get a permit from Caltrans.
“If we can get that up and going and get trucks on rotation, it’s going to help the truckers, and it’s going to help the food trucks,” said McCausland.
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Paul Somerhausen helps run more than 200 local food trucks, and, he says, while the new opportunity may sound promising, he’s not sure it’s worth it.
“They made the process very complicated. There are five pages of requirements that they have, and they want every truck to have a permit in the county that the rest stop is in. So, they would have to pull a new county permit which typically cost between $400 to $600,” said Somerhausen.
Chris Clark with Caltrans says the point of the order to provide economic relief to food trucks while helping feed essential workers.
“He [Somerhausen] was probably looking at that process over the weekend. We have since streamlined that process to make it more convenient for somebody who wants to get a permit,” says Clark.
Clark says the permits will be good through June 15th. Click HERE for a link to the application.
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