Atlanta missing out on gourmet street food and a hot new trend

By Hayley Richardson and Greg Smith


We are Atlanta Street Food Coalition, and our mission is simple: to bring the wondrously delectable world of food trucks to our fair city.

Disregard the “roach coaches” of yesteryear — we’re talking the new generation of trucks that are currently taking the country by storm. They’re serving high-end fare such as grass-fed beef hamburgers, Kogi barbecue and homemade ice cream sandwiches, often highlighting locally grown and farm fresh produce.

Roving the cities of Los Angeles, New York and Seattle, they alert customers to their whereabouts using social media and draw incredible crowds wherever they go.

Their owners include gourmet chefs and superstar restaurateurs, but also aspiring entrepreneurs who wouldn’t be able to afford the startup costs associated with a restaurant.

They’re innovative and affordable, injecting vitality and playfulness into a city’s street life. Not to mention those tantalizing aromas.

But where does Atlanta stand in all of this? Due to an obsolete and draconian permitting process, our city is missing out on a major food trend.

The argument is elegant in its simplicity: Changing the rules to allow food trucks to operate here would activate the myriad “dead spaces” throughout Atlanta, generate revenue for our city’s dwindling coffers and provide just the type of small business opportunity that our new mayor is promoting. The supply is here: Many food truck operators are fired up and ready to go, just waiting for the green light from the health department.

As the Atlanta Street Food Coalition, we are advocating for three straightforward changes in the food permitting bureaucracy: 1) Liberalize the state health regulations so that food trucks can move freely throughout the city, 2) Modernize Fulton County food service regulations that prevent the preparation of food in mobile kitchens, and 3) Re-energize Atlanta by adjusting ordinances that prevent food trucks and carts from stopping for more than 30 minutes on any public street.

Street food can often serve as the magic bullet to invigorate drab urban spaces. In Los Angeles, a city quite similar to ours in its heavy reliance upon the automobile, food trucks are facilitating a lively street culture. According to Kogi’s head chef, Roy Choi, a food truck pioneer: “You have all these neighborhoods now where people come out, when in the past they got in their car and went to a mini-mall. Now they’re flocking to the streets, talking to their neighbors.”

We want this kind of delicious democracy here, too.

Council member Kwanza Hall has already expressed his support for food trucks, but we need more advocates in City Hall, as well as in the mayor’s office. Attend the food truck advocacy day on March 26 at the Sweet Auburn Curb Market, where you’ll be able to sample a variety of street food and learn how to bring it to Atlanta.

Just imagine what it would be like to inhale the flavors of Thai noodle bowls, fish tacos and dessert crepes on a summer day on the streets of Atlanta. We shouldn’t have to go elsewhere to have this experience.

Hayley Richardson and Greg Smith are founders of the Atlanta Street Food Coalition.