Restaurant & Catering Australia (R&CA) has expressed its disappointment with the South Australian Government’s reforms to the state’s food truck industry allowing an unrestricted number of food trucks to operate in close proximity to existing café and restaurant businesses.
The legislation passed in the South Australian Parliament on Tuesday of this week will remove all capacity for local councils to restrict the number, operating hours or food type sold by mobile food trucks operating within their municipalities.
R&CA deputy CEO Sally Neville criticised the decision, saying that the reforms will have an adverse impact on existing bricks and mortar café and restaurant businesses throughout Council municipalities in South Australia.
“The South Australian Government’s food trucks reforms will create an uneven playing field between food trucks and the state’s café and restaurant sector.
“These reforms have failed to consider the economic impact on cafés and restaurants who are now expected to compete against an unfettered number of adjacent food trucks who have no fixed overheads and don’t have to pay the same Council rates.
“Under this system, the state government has removed any ability for local Councils to determine the most appropriate number of vendors to operate based on the population, concentration of food businesses, as well as economic development strategies of the municipality,” says Neville.
