Food truck vendors in KCK awaiting mayor’s response for later hours

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — “Support small businesses!” That is the cry from food truck vendors as Kansas City, Kansas, officials try to shut them down early.

But this past weekend, KCK’s mayor gave them a break.

Food trucks at 18th and Central gather on weekends, and they sell hot food late into the night.
It can get really busy, and these food truck owners make a lot of money. But the law says they need to stop selling food at 8 p.m. on weekends and 7 p.m. during the week.

But if they followed the law, the food truck owners would lose a lot of money because they get a lot of business after the bars close.

Back in April, KCK police and city officials went around and forced food trucks to close by seven and eight o’clock. They didn’t issue any citations but warned that they would in the future.

In response, food truck owners came together and complained, arguing that the more money they make, the more the city makes in tax dollars.

KCK Mayor Tyrone Garner is now proposing a change in the law that would allow food trucks to stay open in KCK until 2 a.m. And late last week, he told food truck owners they could stay open late for now—until this issue is resolved.

Not everyone is happy with this. Some residents have complained about the noises of people and music from the food trucks keeping them awake.

They said food trucks are taking away business from brick-and-mortar stores. And they argue that a lot of trash is being left behind. The city has had problems with some food trucks illegally dumping cooking oil in the sewer.

In response, the mayor is proposing stiffer fines for illegal dumping and keeping food trucks at least 100 feet away from other restaurants.

What’s interesting is that food trucks were illegal in KCK until the pandemic. The county loosened the laws to help restaurants sell food outside.

Will they let food trucks continue to sell late into the night? We’ll see.

The Unified Government is expected to continue discussing this issue in the days and weeks ahead, and we’ll let you know what they decide.

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