Food trucks coming to Regina

REGINA—Mobile food trucks will soon have their place on city streets this summer.
A pilot program approved by city council has expanded its street food options to roving trucks in downtown Regina.

Previously, only food carts were allowed to operate on sidewalks, selling mostly hot dogs and french fries. For the next two years, the mobile food trucks will operate on Victoria Avenue between Rose and Smith Streets between 9 a.m. and 2 a.m., either seasonally or year-round.

“We opened up a new festival plaza in our downtown last fall and up until then had not had enquires about mobile vending. Then we received over 20 unsolicited calls from those who had mobile vending units, asking what the regulations were,” said Chris Sale, senior city planner for downtown Regina.

The interested applicants sell everything from smoked meats and gourmet burgers to crepes and ice cream, and there is no limit on how many mobile trucks could dot the downtown as early as the end of April. A lottery will determine who gets the initial licenses.

“One of key things about the policy is to increase the number of people in the downtown. The way we have designed our system is that vendors can park at meters in the downtown.”

An annual fee for the mobile trucks remains at $500, the amount that food cart vendors pay to operate. Trucks set up in parking spots around the downtown must pay the meter for as long as they are there.

Sale said the city studied mobile food truck programs in place in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Saskatoon, and it was decided to try and limit the red tape as much as possible. 

Restaurants were consulted on the plan through the downtown business association, and there were no major objections, but buffer zones around bricks and mortar restaurants are in place. 

The pilot project runs through the end of 2013, at which time the city will determine whether it will continue, Sale said.