People in Raleigh know what it’s like to have a red-tape-loving local government that stifles the urban culinary innovation of the decade, the food truck.
While “backward” and “unenlightened” Durham is considered one of the country’s most vibrant food-truck scenes, in Raleigh, food truck chefs have been kicked to the curb. Durham’s scene is vibrant enough to have spurred one blogger to create a food-truck mapper.
It’s bad in Raleigh, but maybe not as bad as it is in Detroit:
While other food truck operators in downtown Detroit have set up shop without permits, Anthony Curis and Doug Runyon, co-owners of El Guapo, made dozens of trips to City Hall to find a path to legality. Curis said he visited City Hall about 60 times over the past six months, working closely with Kim James, director of the Buildings, Safety, Engineering and Environmental Department, to secure a locale to operate legally.”
