ROYAL OAK, MI – The sizzling popularity of food trucks has many metro communities giving them a green light, but they’re leaving a bad taste in the mouths of some restaurant owners.

El Guapo

Dan Gearig, who owns the El Guapo food truck, said he hopes to be part of Ye Olde Saloon’s event in Royal Oak.

Novi had its first food truck rally last week, Mt. Clemens plans to debut them Wednesday and the Royal Oak Farmers Market plans its 10th monthly rally called Motor City Street Eats, also for Wednesday.

At the Royal Oak City Commission meeting at 7:30 tonight, the bar Ye Olde Saloon hopes to win approval for inviting a batch of food trucks on a Saturday night, either Oct. 13 or Oct. 20, manager Donna Giles said.

But those are times when the city’s restaurants count on doing big business. The prospect of food trucks has owners up in arms, Giles said Friday.

“They say they don’t want more competition. I’m having the fight of my life over this,” she said.

Food trucks are cafés on wheels. Some offer tacos or burgers, and others Asian cuisine or American fare. They are becoming popular because they can set up show almost anywhere there is a space to accommodate a vehicle roughly the size of a short school bus.

A strong opponent of having them in Royal Oak is Keith Wadle, owner of O’Tooles Irish American Bar & Grill.

“It’s unfair for somebody to bring a bunch of food trucks in here,” Wadle said Friday.

“We already have 18 or 19 restaurants in our downtown and we’re paying our property taxes” — unlike mobile eateries that drive off after closing up, Wadle said.

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