If You Can't Take the Heat, Stay Out of the Kitchen

In the last year, Columbia restaurants have seen competition from food-trucks. To be specific, there are currently four (4) licensed food-trucks serving the Columbia area: Pawley's; Bone-In; 2-Fat-2-Fly; and Alfreso Mobilista.

You would think that four little ol' food trucks wouldn't really cause too much concern to the established "brick and mortar" restaurants since the Columbia metropolitan area is a pretty well-populated place. Not so fast my friend.

I have previously documented the City of Columbia's attempt to regulate the food trucks at the behest of the Columbia restaurants. Now, the Columbia Restaurant Association is lobbying the City of Columbia to push even tougher regulations on food trucks.

The association for Columbia’s brick-and-mortar restaurants is asking City Council to place more restrictions on mobile food trucks that are becoming increasingly popular around the city.

Food trucks should remain half a block from stationary restaurants — 200 feet to be exact — and about four blocks (1,500 feet) from a restaurant that serves the same kinds of meals as food truck vendors, the Columbia Restaurant Association recommended in a Nov. 2 email to council members.

Further, the association wants food trucks to meet fire safety standards and other permits that immobile restaurants must meet.

This is a microcosm of the crony-capitalism we see at the Federal level. Columbia restaurants are trying to use the power of government, under the guise of "regulation" to construct barriers and increase costs to competitors in the marketplace. Rather than simply compete with the food-trucks on a level playing field, the restaurants are trying to use their lobbying power to drive their competitors out of business.

Also, the City Council doesn't need to be wasting time on restaurants vs. food-trucks unless they have every other more important issue already squared away. On the list of priorities for the City Council, regulating food trucks should be about #5,482,389. We have much more serious problems than whether the Bone-In BBQ food truck sets up "too close" to Harper's.

The restaurants don't want the market entirely free - they want assistance from the local government to help them. You know what: Fend for yourselves, you babies. Don't come in and ask the local government run your competitors off and have my tax dollars pay for the enforcement, because that's what they want to happen.

It is time for a substantial part of the government (at every level) to start saying: "Hey, it's not my job to do this." The problem is human nature intervenes and politicians at every level love grabbing more and more power over every aspect of daily life. Whenever you ask them to, they're usually happy to oblige.

I love restaurants in buildings, but that's not the point here. It's not the job of the Columbia City Council to take on the job of where food trucks can and cannot be. Everyone comes to the government with their hands out looking for a favor. Whether it is for subsidies, regulations on competitors, or whatever, it needs to stop.

Fend for yourselves, Columbia restaurants.