What Kind of Regulations Should Food Trucks Have?

I was reading about street vendors and food truck vendors in the AJC article “Food truck owners seek room to grow” by Leon Stafford. 

It mentions how Atlanta street food could grow five to 10 times its size with “the capacity for 100 trucks and to create 300 to 400 jobs,” said Greg Smith, the president of the Atlanta Street Food Coalition — a great way to create jobs during this Global Recession and high unemployment in Georgia.

This article made me think about a friend that works with one of the street food vendors and helps with the Atlanta Street Food Coalition.  He mentioned the problems that street food vendors had with some of the Atlanta brick restaurant businesses.

This article and conversation with my friend made me think more about the ideology of the so-called free market, and how some in Washington, Wall Street and the Georgia Capitol building want to expand deregulation by taking advantage of this economic crisis to remove all laws for businesses. 

The Atlanta street vendors are having to deal with the many issues of surviving economically in the Global Recession; such as not getting loans from banks to small businesses or dealing with laws that help street vendors to prosper. 

But, the idea of deregulation or getting rid of laws so all businesses can do anything, seems premature. 

The idea that businesses would act as a self-determined creators of rules and how their business acts is much like children creating their own morality.  That is why laws were created in the first place — because someone in the past messed it up for everyone else. 

This mentality of not have rules or laws is why the U.S. has had recalls in products, such as the salmonella in cucumbers from U.S. companies, to having lead in red painted toys from China.  Limits, rules and laws are created because those before us and their actions, made it harder for the rest of us later. 

Street food vendors, like any sized business, want to survive economically and make a profit, but also want to make their own rules. 

If you talk to any micro or small business owner, some used to work for another company and noticed something that their other company was not doing.  The micro or small business owner creates their own business to practice that advantage. 

This is why street food vendors are expanding in Atlanta. 

The street vendors have found an advantage that few brick businesses are willing to do.  To bring food to their customers at public events and to a business community is a great advantage.  Imagine, if more businesses were to become as mobile.

Today's street food vendors are no different than any other past street vendors or peddlers, where the micro business of street vendors have to compete with the small brick businesses. 

Competition will always happen with any human endeavor, no matter if it is playing a board game, playing sports or running a business. 

The idea of any competition or business environment with no laws is mad.  All businesses play by some rules or laws, if they are written or unwritten.  

Humans will always create rules or laws. Even if they are local or global, they have to protect one group over another because businesses are human inventions and have to play by the rules of the game.