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Forgive me Arlnow members as I's sure this topic has been discussed before on the forums, but after looking at the food truck vendor laws in Arlington I want to know why they (food trucks) are not allowed to serve food after 8pm. It seems to me that putting a food truck, or five in clarendon, when the bars are letting out would be a huge money maker.
Is it because the bars and restaurants have too much pull in the country ranks that they wont allow it? Is anyone trying to do anything about this? What would it take to overturn this nonsensical law?
I'm not a food truck vendor but I hope those that are are making moves to correct this to make some serious cash with the late night, and often inhibriated, crowds in Arlington.
Long live the dear leader.
In all seriousness, I didn't know this law existed and am also curious about this.
The Clarendon area is definitely lacking in good late night options. Goody's pizza just never used to cut it for me.
Thai street food would be great to have at night, but of course that won't happen. Many bars have their kitchens close early, the places become meat markets at night, so there isn't even room to eat in these places. I don't see why they would object to food trucks after certain hours since they aren't selling food themselves at those hours.
Perhaps it's a security/safety issue? I mean, bars have bouncers, but food trucks do not. I would not want to be working late night with drunk people out on the street/sidewalk. I wouldn't feel very safe, considering what one, if not many, drunk people together can do to a food truck.
Perhaps the county actually wants to restrict the food trucks because they ask so much of the brick and mortar businesses. There are a ton of late night options.
novasteve said:
Thai street food would be great to have at night, but of course that won’t happen. Many bars have their kitchens close early, the places become meat markets at night, so there isn’t even room to eat in these places. I don’t see why they would object to food trucks after certain hours since they aren’t selling food themselves at those hours.
Which bars are these? One of the few unabashed paeans I will sing for the DC/NoVA scene is that most if not all kitchens remain open until close. If there's any place around here that's got you down, you will be sorely disappointed when you travel out of this area where it's rather common for a kitchen to close before 9pm while alcohol continues to be guzzled until 2am.
Not a good combination imho.
Aaron said:
novasteve said:
Thai street food would be great to have at night, but of course that won't happen. Many bars have their kitchens close early, the places become meat markets at night, so there isn't even room to eat in these places. I don't see why they would object to food trucks after certain hours since they aren't selling food themselves at those hours.
Which bars are these? One of the few unabashed paeans I will sing for the DC/NoVA scene is that most if not all kitchens remain open until close. If there’s any place around here that’s got you down, you will be sorely disappointed when you travel out of this area where it’s rather common for a kitchen to close before 9pm while alcohol continues to be guzzled until 2am.
Not a good combination imho.
Well, if you are at O'Sullivans and it's after say 10PM, they aren't going to be serving food anymore. Some places MIGHT have a late night menu. i'm refererring to place sthat are primarily bars, not a restaurant, despite them being the same here in VA. If it's low volume food and people are there to drink, they dont' think it's worth it to keep a cook around if only a few people are going to be eating. If you went to PF Changs and it were open till 1AM, it's going to serve food because it's really a restaurant despite having a “bar”
bobco85 said:
Perhaps it's a security/safety issue? I mean, bars have bouncers, but food trucks do not. I would not want to be working late night with drunk people out on the street/sidewalk. I wouldn't feel very safe, considering what one, if not many, drunk people together can do to a food truck.
I'd much rather give drunk people a few extra minutes to sober up and eat something before hitting the roads.
bobco85 said:
Perhaps it's a security/safety issue? I mean, bars have bouncers, but food trucks do not. I would not want to be working late night with drunk people out on the street/sidewalk. I wouldn't feel very safe, considering what one, if not many, drunk people together can do to a food truck.
CVS doesn’t have bouncers, yet drunks can walk into it. Should CVS be closed at night or be forced to get bouncers?
Probably my number one complaint about living in Arlington: can’t eat past 10pm. I usually don’t even think about *dinner* until 10pm, but by then, most restaurants have already closed their kitchens and bars have switched to their bar menu. No, I don’t want to see your crappy bar menu with sliders and buffalo wings. I want real food. My girl and I want to have a real sit down dinner past 10pm.
It crazy to me that food trucks aren’t allowed to serve food past 8pm, a time when they are, IMO, most needed if you want to promote a vibrant night life scene! Kitchen staff at restaurants don’t want to work 12+ hr days just to serve food till 2am. Nor do restaurant owners want the cost of staying open late to serve a demographic that might not exist. That’s where food trucks fill the void.
GoodOmens said:I'd much rather give drunk people a few extra minutes to sober up and eat something before hitting the roads.
In my opinion, drunk people are more likely to cause mischief if they hang around outside. I'd rather have them taxi/metro out of the area as soon as possible. Also, the process of sobering up takes a long time (average of about 1 beer/drink per hour recovery), so it would have a minimal effect for someone who's had more than a few drinks (disclaimer: in any case, they still shouldn't be driving).
novasteve said:CVS doesn't have bouncers, yet drunks can walk into it. Should CVS be closed at night or be forced to get bouncers?
The CVS in the Buckingham area sometimes has an officer stationed near the front door at night. I don't know the times/schedules, but I would say that it is necessary. There are some shady people who make their way to that store at night (or day, sometimes), and I imagine it would be similar in Clarendon.
All that said, I still do not know the exact reason for banning night food trucks in that area, but have offered my hypothesis. Does anybody know?
bobco85 said:
GoodOmens said:I'd much rather give drunk people a few extra minutes to sober up and eat something before hitting the roads.
In my opinion, drunk people are more likely to cause mischief if they hang around outside. I'd rather have them taxi/metro out of the area as soon as possible. Also, the process of sobering up takes a long time (average of about 1 beer/drink per hour recovery), so it would have a minimal effect for someone who's had more than a few drinks (disclaimer: in any case, they still shouldn't be driving).
novasteve said:CVS doesn't have bouncers, yet drunks can walk into it. Should CVS be closed at night or be forced to get bouncers?
The CVS in the Buckingham area sometimes has an officer stationed near the front door at night. I don't know the times/schedules, but I would say that it is necessary. There are some shady people who make their way to that store at night (or day, sometimes), and I imagine it would be similar in Clarendon.
All that said, I still do not know the exact reason for banning night food trucks in that area, but have offered my hypothesis. Does anybody know?
Given there are no bars by that CVS, I have a feeling that they are not there due to people leaving bars and going there. I was thinking for like the CVS as Clarendon and Courthouse that have lots of bars around them. They don’t have police at them, ever. The Courthouse CVS sometimes has homeless people hanging out outside of it, but I don't think they've ever caused problems. I've been to the buckingham one and there as some dude outside screaming at people to give him money.
bobco85 said:
I would not want to be working late night with drunk people out on the street/sidewalk. I wouldn't feel very safe…
Could this be the reason those-who-know-best have removed the option to eat anything late night?
Gosh, I'm so happy that they're around to make those decisions for me.
(so is the Rosslyn McDonald's)
KalashniKEV said:
bobco85 said:
I would not want to be working late night with drunk people out on the street/sidewalk. I wouldn’t feel very safe…
Could this be the reason those-who-know-best have removed the option to eat anything late night?
Gosh, I’m so happy that they’re around to make those decisions for me.
(so is the Rosslyn McDonald’s)
I learned just two weeks ago that the Rosslyn McDonald's doesn't sell items from the Dollar Menu after midnight!! I don't know about other 24-hr McDonald's, but that's a deterrent from ever popping in there again for a quick late night fix.
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