We wanted to share the good news. You may have already heard, but—It’s official, the City of Toronto will finally be allowing food trucks in public spaces. A number of food trucks will be rotating through five parks in different parts of the City!
Since early 2013, Councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon and Councillor Josh Colle have been urging the City of Toronto to start a pilot project that would see food trucks operating in more locations in the City.
Until today, food trucks were restricted to operating in private parking lots and at events, often facing large rental or participant fees, in addition to their City of Toronto permit, which does not allow them to sell on City property.
Around the world, cities are embracing the power of street food to make their public spaces and urban culture more vibrant. Toronto is taking a step forward, but it is still far behind other cities such as Portland, New York, Dallas, Vancouver, and Hamilton–home to some of the OCTA teams favorite food on wheels.
“It is exciting that the City is taking these long overdue steps to support small businesses and entrepreneurs and to give residents the diverse food options that they clearly want,” said Councillor Colle.
For the rest of the summer and part of the fall, food trucks can be found in five park locations: Woodbine Park, Sherbourne Commons, Roundhouse Park, Canoe Landing, and Allen Gardens.
Some participating truck vendors include the following:
The Feisty Jack, Urban Smoke BBQ, Stuft Gourmet Sausages, Caplansky’s, Gourmet Gringos, Beach Boys, The Food Dudes, Pretty Sweet Bakery, Gourmet B1tches, Bestia, Crossroads Diner, Hogtown Smoke, Choco Churros, Tiny Tom Donuts, and Localista.
“Animating our public spaces and bringing diversity to our culinary options will only add to the vibrancy of our terrific city! This has been a long time coming and we are very hopeful that this will evolve into a permanent program” said Councillor McMahon.
Councillors McMahon and Colle are continuing push ML&S staff to broaden the program to include more locations around the city and more food truck participants.
