Food carts can setup near Redskin Training camp for $2,500

Key word being ‘near’ and NOT ‘in’. Also, no drinks will be sold outside the camp.

June 5, 2014; 10:19 AM • by Richard Hayes

Yesterday afternoon the city announced that the Redskins and City have agreed to allow food truck vendors to set up along West Leigh Street. The other caveats in the deal are that no food truck vendor will be allowed to sell beverages, must be setup from 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM, and you must pay the city $2,500 before June 15th to be allowed to set up.

The fee certainly isn’t going unnoticed and it’ll be interesting to see how many vendors pay the fee and set up on Leigh.

RTD

The Redskins have exclusive contracts with Famous Dave’s, Papa John’s and Johnny Rockets to provide on-site food and drinks, an arrangement that caused grumbling last year from local food vendors who felt they were being shut out of an event pitched as an economic jolt for the city.

Tammy D. Hawley, press secretary to Mayor Dwight C. Jones, said the city wanted to offer a mobile food court last year, and “worked to make it happen this year.”

“This is an opportunity that we wanted to provide, and we are glad we are able to provide it,” Hawley said.

In interviews Wednesday, several vendors were somewhat appreciative, but worried that the fee could prove too steep.

Style Weekly

In contrast, it costs between zero and $25 to participate in most food truck courts, the vendors say. The cost to set up at one-day festivals can be more expensive. For example, it cost $250 to set up at Broad Appetit, part of which was a charitable donation to FeedMore. But those festivals tend to be more food-oriented, the vendors say.

“It’s not like the food trucks are getting the opportunity to be the vendors inside the event,” says Patrick Harris, who operates the Boka Tako trucks. “They’re just bringing food trucks out there on the street and they’re charging the food trucks to be out there.”

Food truck vendors say that between the fee and the cost of staffing their trucks for the duration of the camp, the event represents a huge risk for small, local businesses.