CINCINNATI — Cincinnati food truck operators are expressing mixed reactions to the city's recent decision to extend weekend operating hours, calling the partial rollback of a controversial curfew insufficient after months of lost revenue.
The city announced Dec. 12 that food trucks can now operate until 1 a.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in downtown and Over-the-Rhine, extending the previous 11 p.m. curfew implemented in September. But food truck owners say the timing and limited scope of the change feel like an insult.
"It's a slap in the face to all of us," said Ty Velez, owner of AJ's Cheesesteaks. "You affected a lot of people's lives based on hyperbole and speculation."
Velez said he and other operators in the Cincinnati Food Truck Association were blindsided by the original restrictions, which he said the city implemented without consulting the CFTA.
"I was shocked, surprised, bewildered," Velez said. "We were all kind of surprised and shocked by this whole thing, because it just kind of hit us without us even knowing anything about it."
WATCH: Food truck operators and city leaders respond to the food truck curfew rollback
The curfew came at the end of the peak earning season for the dozens of trucks in the association, hitting operators when they needed revenue most amid rising costs for fuel, utilities and goods. For many operators, food trucking serves as a second job or primary income source during an economically challenging time, Velez said.
"(Those late hours are) when you're going to make the most of your money," said Herman Brunis III, owner of We Do Barbecue food trucks, when we spoke with him in September. "The food trucks aren't the reason why people are being lawless."
Even council member Mark Jeffreys acknowledged that the original restrictions felt rushed.
"A little surprised. It felt a little knee-jerk," Jeffreys said about his initial reaction to the September curfew. "I was asking at the time just for the data behind it. These are decisions that need to be made on balance. We have public safety, which obviously has to be primary concern, but it needs to be balanced against these other factors, including the need for these small business owners to operate."
The City Manager said the decision to inch back the curfew followed conversations with the CFTA. In November, a presentation before city council showed inconclusive data supporting a correlation between food trucks and crime.
You can view the data in the viewer below.
"What I was looking for was what it was September to September and October to October ... because you're always going to have a little slowdown as the temperatures get a little cooler, or a little spike as the temperature gets warmer. So we have to compare month-to-month versus the previous year. And really, what we saw in the three zones was no change," Jeffreys said. "In fact, in the Over-the-Rhine zone, it actually increased ... the other two were flat. So that doesn't tell you that actually it's working, right? So if anything, it's not having any effect."
Jeffreys noted that food trucks may actually serve a public safety purpose.
"People are coming out of these bars, and frankly, it's probably better to have some food in the stomach than hit the road completely without food in the stomach generally," Jeffreys said.
Velez said he worries whether the city will change course again when warmer weather returns and more people venture downtown.
"We want to work with the city. We want to work with the people," Velez said. "We just want to sell food. All these truckers want to do is sell food."
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