J Magazine Spring 2018

“They are really hurting the
restaurant industry Downtown
right now — and what’s even
worse, [food trucks] will keep
new restaurants from deciding
to come into Downtown.”
Jeriees Ewais,
co-owner of the Zodiac
Bar & Grill
THE LAW
Currently, food trucks operate in
Downtown Jacksonville under city
ordinance 2014-472, which was
championed by City Councilman
Reggie Brown and approved
in 2014.
Among other things, the
ordinance requires food
trucks to be more than 50
feet away from a traditional
brick and mortar restaurant.
The aim, according to the
ordinance’s language, was
“to allow both the Mobile
Food Dispensing Vendor and
the established restaurant industry
to co-exist without negative
financial impact to the other.”
Obviously, not everyone thinks
that has been the result.
Ewais and other members of the
Downtown Restaurant Association of Jacksonville
— an evolving group of local restaurants
that seeks a greater voice for local eateries in shaping
Downtown’s future — contend the 2014 ordinance is outdated
because it neither foresaw nor reflects the explosion in food
trucks that has happened since it originally took effect.
The group is pushing for revised legislation that would significantly
increase the distance that food trucks
must stay clear from traditional restaurants
— “50 feet is nothing, really,”
Ewais says — and require the food
trucks to be spread out across a
wider area rather than heavily
concentrated in the heart of
Downtown.
“There’s just too many
of them Downtown,” Ewais
says.
“There’s just too many
of them too close to all of us
(traditional restaurants).”
But Shad suggests the
current ordinance is largely
working well by encouraging
entrepreneurship and making
Downtown a more vibrant place
in general.
“I think in reality we have become
an established element of Downtown
— and the city is benefiting from that as
much as the individual patrons,” Shad says of
food trucks.
“The food truck operators are true entrepreneurs. They
have to buy trucks. They have to buy fuel. They have to buy supplies.
They have to pay rent. They have to be innovative to stand
out from everyone. So there is a real sense of energy and boldness
in what they do. And it’s really valuable to have that kind of energy
HOW TOMORROW SUPPLIES
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SPRING 2018 | J MAGAZINE 85