Top US Cities To Open A Food Truck #19 Champaign

Coming in at number nineteen in our Top US Cities to Open a Food Truck is Champaign, IL.

Since the initial release of our list, we have received a number of emails asking how a small town (population of just over 82,00 in 2012) could break into the top 20…the answer is easy. While Champaign’s population doesn’t come close to being Illinois’ largest city (Chicago), the local government’s acceptance of food trucks takes it leaps and bounds beyond what Chicago can offer a start up food truck business.

City Hall has created a food truck atmosphere that can be considered the most friendly of any city in the country. They have bent over backward to create a pilot program that food trucks can and do succeed in. Their willingness to include food truck owners in the crafting of the pilot program has given truck owners plenty room to operate from including the University campus and downtown areas.

Not only did this small Midwest town make our list but they were rated fifth best place in the United States for a healthy work-life balance. In April 2011, the Christian Science Monitor named Champaign-Urbana one of the five cities leading the economic turnaround based on jobs.

In addition to the University of Illinois, Champaign also features a large technology and software industry that focuses on research and development of new technologies. So those people that will end up as a new food truck’s customer base is filled with college students and members of the technology industry who tend to frequently track down food trucks.

Find the city’s documentation for Starting a Food Truck <here>

Find the entire list of Top US cities to Open a Food Truck <here>

By Richard Myrick|2017-03-31T08:41:29-04:00Nov 21, 2013|Features|

About the Author: Richard Myrick

Richard Myrick is an architect by degree (Lawrence Technological University, Southfield, Michigan) who began his career in real estate development and architectural planning. In September of 2010 he created Mobile Cuisine Magazine to fill an information void he found when he began researching how to start a mobile hotdog cart in Chicago. Richard found that there was no central repository of mobile street food information anywhere on the internet, and with that, the idea for MCM was born. Richard also wrote the "Running a Food Truck for Dummies" available in bookstores everywhere and Amazon. You can reach out to Richard by email at: [email protected].