Federal Lawsuit given to Mt. Juliet Over Food Truck Permit Fees

[Shortie]

Food truck operators, especially those who are based outside of Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, there is a significant development that you should be aware of. A federal lawsuit has been filed by the Beacon Centre which The City of Mt. Juliet is now facing over an ordinance that imposes different permit fees for out-of-town and local food trucks.

If you are operating a food truck in Mt. Juliet but are not from the area and are based elsewhere, you will now be required to pay $100 per day as opposed to $100 per year if you were local to the area and had a food truck.

The city had previously relaxed its restrictions on food truck operations, especially after the 2020 tornado and during the COVID-19 pandemic which allowed more flexibility for food trucks, so this is a notable change.

Reinstated in July 2023, this new ordinance creates a system that has two tiers that significantly affect the feasibility and cost of operating a food truck in Mt. Juliet if you are not based in the city.

You can find out more details on this issue by reading the full article here

 

[Jake]

$100 per day? Sounds like highway robbery to me. But seriously, being forced to pay extra because you're not part of the area sounds wrong to me. I get why they are doing it, but I think this could hurt business more than help anything.

But I get if it's someone coming from another area to possibly make money from that area. I'm sure if they make really good money they could afford this $100 a day fee. But I can see people throwing a fuss about this.

 

[Nomad]

The rules in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, imposing different permit fees for local and out-of-town food truck operators, raise notable concerns. Charging out-of-town operators $100 per day compared to $100 per year for local operators creates a substantial disparity in costs and may impact the feasibility of operating a food truck in the area. The differential fee structure appears to treat local and out-of-town operators unequally. While it's not uncommon for municipalities to charge fees to cover administrative costs, a significant difference in fees might be perceived as discriminatory and raise questions about fairness.