Texas cooks up new rules for food trucks

TEXAS — Beginning this summer, food trucks across Texas will no longer be bound to city limits. The state Legislature passed House Bill 2844 last year, and it strikes away the city-by-city permit structure and introduces a statewide approach instead.

For example, before the law passed, food truck operators wanting to work in the city of Austin one week then travel and cook in the city of Georgetown the next would have to apply and pay for each city’s approval.

“Every single city in Texas, and sometimes county as well, gets to currently regulate how food trucks work,” said Samuel Hooper from Institute for Justice, a legislative counsel. “They get to issue their own health permits. They get to run their own inspections. So as you can imagine, that gets really expensive really fast.”

But starting July 1, mobile vendors can operate from Lubbock to Austin using the same permit.

“Just one health inspection, one permit,” said Hooper. “You maintain public safety, but you get rid of all this bureaucracy.”

Hooper has lobbied for this type of food-business policy for years, including with his support of a similar bill introduced last year under HB 2683. The new HB 2844 was a parallel bill and took over as main legislation. A food truck enthusiast himself, Hooper said he is happy to see the policy come into full effect.

“Let food trucks focus on what they actually do best, which is cooking food and not doing paperwork,” Hooper said.

One Austin-based food truck owner, Suresh Mogili, carries the same philosophy while cooking burgers in his truck, Eat Love Repeat.

“I’ve been doing this business since 2019,” he said. “I’m from a different country; I’m from New Zealand, so last year I came to introduce the concept in the USA, so it’s a fusion style burger.”

Hooper said food trucks should have a less rigid structure to help aspiring operators like Mogili cook and serve instead of dealing with paperwork. Part of the roadblock is due to fears that brick-and-mortar businesses will suffer, he said, and pointed to a 2022 study that shows the opposite.

“It’s meant to be a way for people with less capital, less access to capital, maybe who are new to the country or state, to get up and running and start a business quickly,” Hooper said.

Texas joins the list of other states that have implemented similar structures for their food trucks, including Utah and Maryland.

Despite the growing trend nationwide, Hooper advises it might be best to max out control at the state level.

“You kind of have to strike that balance between wanting it to be local enough to respond genuinely to local and regional issues, and not so broad that it kind of erases those,” Hooper said.