Puyallup simplifies rules on food trucks, meaning Food Truck Fridays can start June 5
Puyallup is getting more food trucks with a new, efficient permitting process.
The city has approved six food-truck permits in the past two weeks, bringing the total to 10 approved vendors, economic development manager Meredith Neal said.
Crystal Casey, who started Munch Munch Waffles & More with her husband Bakaffa last November, looks forward to setting up shop outside City Hall throughout the summer.
“Food Truck Friday is gonna be so beneficial for all of us because it’s going to open us up to a different audience,” Casey said. “People in Puyallup were driving to find us. Now they can go to City Hall on a Friday from 11 to 2 and get some food.”
Recurring events — where customers know they can find you at the same place and the same time — are a boon for food trucks.
Boss Mama’s Kitchen’s Jen Gustin said during the coronavirus pandemic she decided to go where the people are: neighborhoods. She has spent her days across Puyallup’s neighborhoods, and business has been good.
“We go to where the business requests are, and we are getting a lot of Puyallup these days,” she said. “When COVID happened, it turned my world around. Everything disappeared. So I thought, ‘If we can’t go to the people in events and stuff like that, we need to go to where the people are at.’”
Her food truck travels around Pierce and King counties, but it’s taken a while to get permitted in Puyallup. Gustin worked with the city for more than two years to streamline the permitting process. She was in conversations with Puyallup when the city started a pilot program to encourage mobile vendors by loosening restrictions in 2018. Her first Puyallup event was in October.
Permit changes
The city created a committee last fall to get feedback on the pilot food-truck program, city planner Katie Baker said.
According to Lori Johnson, executive director of the Washington Food Truck Association, council members reached out to her to understand how policy changes could help food trucks park in Puyallup.
They learned they could remove redundant requests for information, offer a generalized application and allow for more robust permit conditions before issuing a permit.
Now there are two permits required for food trucks in Puyallup: one to operate on private property like a parking lot, and another giving the truck the ability to park anywhere within city limits. There are a few restrictions, like no parking on the busy Pioneer Avenue and in city parks.
It took three years, said Johnson, but the city “has finally given more equal opportunity for food trucks to access street vending via permit, just like the trucks have been able to do in Seattle since 2011.”
Residents had experienced food trucks at seasonal events in town but never on a regular basis.
Food trucks for summer
The City partnered with the Food Truck Association for the inaugural season of Food Truck Fridays in Puyallup. Starting Friday June 5, one truck will park across from City Hall during lunch, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., thanks to a special permit.
The vendor will adhere to social distancing guidelines and other safety measures, like cashless payment systems, Neal said.
Trucks have been operating throughout Pierce County during the pandemic, parking in the lots of apartment buildings and private businesses. Johnson reiterated that in Puyallup, they will use cones or other markers placed six feet apart.
The Street Food Finder app also allows customers to order online and pre-pay, allowing for no-contact pickup from the truck. Pre-ordering also gives the trucks flexibility in how much food to prepare.
Walk-up customers will be directed to the app to order and pay. As members of the Washington Food Truck Association, businesses receive 100 percent of the digital sale, with no commission paid for the service — unlike other third-party delivery apps, which take as much as 30 percent of each transaction.
Gustin said one of the best parts of working in Puyallup has been the collaboration with other businesses. On Mondays, she parks across the street from Anthem Coffee, where milkshakes are now available to pair with Gustin’s burgers.
“We sold out of our food,” Gustin said. “It offsets each other really well when we are promoting each other.”
Casey is also eager to have a regular home in Puyallup.
“I think it will be great for the community to come out, for Puyallup residents to not have to go elsewhere,” said Casey of Munch Munch Waffles.
Just last week, a woman was disappointed to arrive as the couple was about to leave. She had driven there from Puyallup, where she works, specifically to try Munch Munch’s waffles.
“People definitely want us there,” she said.
For Food Truck Fridays, the Food Truck Association will also collect donations for the Puyallup Food Bank.
FOOD TRUCK FRIDAYS IN PUYALLUP
▪ Details: most Fridays from June to August, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., outside City Hall (no truck on June 19 or July 4)
▪ Order online and view the schedule on Street Food Finder
▪ Munch Munch Waffles: June 5, July 10, Aug. 7 and 21; handmade yeasted Belgian waffles in sweet and savory form, including sandwiches
▪ Cascadia Pizza Co.: June 12, Aug. 14; wood-fired pizzas in 16 flavors, including white pies with garlic butter sauce and classic reds
▪ Boss Mama’s Kitchen: June 26, July 24; classic hamburgers in quarter- and half-pound versions, grilled cheese and deep-fried hot dogs
▪ Starvin’ Marvin Pizza: July 17, Aug. 28; personal thin-crust pizzas inspired by Buffalo, New York, plus Buffalo chicken tenders and fries
▪ Stacks Burgers: July 31; burgers with creative toppings, including The King with peanut butter and pickles
This story was originally published May 22, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
