Florida Food Trucks May No Longer Need to Have a Commissary
Photo | Jim Carchidi
The state of Florida may no longer require mobile food trucks to have a “commissary,” or home-base restaurant, if they’re fully self-sufficient.
Currently, the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulations Division of Hotels and Restaurants requires food trucks and theme park food carts to have a commissary, even when they’re fully self-sufficient. The food trucks go to the commissary daily to get rid of garbage, prep and store food, etc.
The department is accepting comments until Aug. 10. To weigh in on the proposed rule, contact:
Michelle Comingore, Operations Review Specialist, Division of Hotels and Restaurants, Department of Business and Professional Regulation, 1940 North Monroe Street, Tallahassee, Florida 32399, (850)488-1133, Michelle.Comingore@dbpr.state.fl.us
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This is horrible! Worst mistake they would ever make. Not only will this hurt the commissary owners, but it will DESTROY the mobile food industry. People will no longer know if a food truck is clean or not & won’t eat there. I wouldn’t eat at a food truck if this law passes, & many other wouldn’t. This will hurt the mobile food industry. Why do we keep eliminating jobs instead of creating them. This law was enforced by the restaurants of Orlando Florida because they’re losing money to the mobile food trucks. Wait, a restaurant in Orlando can’t make business in the city of Disney? That’s Bullsh*t. This law is terrible. People will be getting food poisoning left & right if this passes. Yuck. People will be dumping their waste everywhere! Bad move Florida, let’s not let this get passed. I’m gathering people to protest this in Tallahassee if it passes. Imagine ordering from a food truck & then getting food poisoning because the mobile food owner dodged the inspector. That’s what will be happening. This is the worst idea ever, thousands will be out of work
Tim,
I’m not sure this law would be nearly as disastrous as you are implying. A truck owner not working out of a commissary does not mean a drop in food quality. Trucks in Los Angeles are not allowed to prepare food anywhere outside of their truck and their food quality is as good as anywhere. A truck owner who gets people sick will shortly find themselves closing their service window for good.
After saying that, I do believe that many trucks will still use commissaries to prep many of their food products due to the lack of room inside their trucks, so I wouldn’t think you will see a bunch of commissaries or commercial kitchens shutting down or dropping staff members. In regards to getting rid of waste, I would hope that the state maintains a requirement for proper dumping…this is definitely a public safety concern.
Tim… what is the name of your restaurant/commissary?
Health inspectors can walk on a food truck at any time to perform an inspection. Visiting a commissary does not guarantee that a food truck is serving healthy food. If you aren’t holding the food at the correct temperature, someone can get sick. How would the commissary keep the food truck’s holding temps in check? They can’t and they don’t. Also, the commissary doesn’t guarantee a clean truck. It is up to the manager of the truck to insure a clean environment in the kitchen.
On another note, the general public has no idea about a commissary or what they are they used for. So, if this law passes, the consumer will go on about his business getting his lunch from the street vendors. Also, who’s guarantees that a restaurant is clean and healthy? The same person how inspects the food trucks.
Tim…The Commissary does NOTHING to ensure a truck is clean/healthy. Tim, you are just lost. Have you ever heard of a commissary inspecting a restaurant? ah…NO. “it will DESTROY the mobile food industry” lol.. “People will be getting food poisoning left & right if this passes.” hahaha “I’m gathering people to protest this in Tallahassee if it passes.” lolhahalolhaha… ” thousands will be out of work” – thousands of? Names the thousands of jobs, by positions Tim! You can’t hahahahahaha Stop drinking while posting!
Tim lay off the crack