08/20/2026
Please Share this Update!!
I talked to a really sweet lady yesterday that is very high up in Commerce. A person that saw one of our posts reached out to my cousin and sent me this lady's personal number. She gathered all the information and she's going to try her best to help me out. In the meantime, we are still waiting on the business license, but it will come with some stipulations. City ordinances state that a food truck cannot operate between the hours of 10pm - 7am. You can see where that would be a problem for someone trying to sell breakfast. Another is that a food truck cannot operate within 150 ft of a residential property line. My entire C-1 zoned lot is barely 150 ft across. The other big problem (I'm not 100% sure this is even accurate. More like a bad interpretation of the code) is that my food trailer cannot sell to the general public from the location of my homebase. My homebase (commissary) is located inside the warehouse.
For the time being and after we get the business license, we will not be able to sell from the food trailer inside the city limits of Commerce. I'm going to see if it's ok to go set up at large plants where none of that should be an issue but it still may. If it is, we will be looking for locations to sit and sell outside of Commerce. I love the idea of going to large plants where they don't have a cafeteria and they don't have but a short break in the morning to grab some breakfast. Feel free to reach out if you have any leads on a place. We can also set at other locations, but it would have to be no charge to sit there. Catering we can also do. We can either bring the food to you which will be cheaper or we can bring the trailer. There will be a minimum charge so I can't bring you and your co-worker a biscuit lol If we bring the trailer, then it would have to be after 7am if inside the city limits. Doesn't matter the time if it's outside the city limits. You can reach out to me and I can give you a quote.
A lot of people have said "Well how does so and so food truck do it?', or "How do all of the farm stands do it?'. Here's my answer.
1. If you see a food truck out and about and they don't have a Permit and a score posted on their window for the public to see, they are illegally operating that food truck meaning they don't have a homebase. If they are illegally operating that food truck, they could care less about a few ordinances. I'll be honest. I had thought about doing it that way. I could have saved a lot of money! Like $70,000! That is how much I've spent on this building getting everything in order to get this permit. That's not including what I've got in the food trailer! If I did that though, someone would get sick off of something that I sold them (always a chance), and they would turn around and sue me for everything that I have. Operating illegally, they would win. I've had inspectors in surrounding counties to tell me they don't have the time to pursue those illegal food trucks or people selling food from their home. They say their is only one of them. They spend their time focused on all of us that are trying to do it the right way. It's incredibly sad but that is how the system is working. It's against the honest man.
2. The farm stands operate under what's called the Cottage Law. They are able to sell from home their non-hazardous goods. They cannot sell anything that is perishable. Things like canned foods, pickled stuff, salsas, dehydrated items.....none of that is legal. Almost everything that I have on the food trailer is perishable. So I cannot operate the food truck under the Cottage Law 😜
