CLEVELAND — Ken Hatfield owns Hatfield’s good grub, and he’s built up a collection of stickers on the back of his food truck.
“This is Lakewood Fire Department. This is the Akron Fire Department. And this is the City of Cleveland,” Hatfield said as he showed Spectrum News the stickers.
What You Need To Know
- The president of the Northeast Ohio Food Truck Association is hoping to streamline the permitting process
- Food truck owners say different cities have different permitting requirements
- The association’s president met with local officials to discuss the matter
But they’re not decorations. They are permits issued by a local fire department for him to operate the food truck.
Hatfield has to apply for them in each town. He needed a special permit to work the NFL Draft last year in Cleveland.
“We got here an inspection in Cleveland, then we go get an inspection in Lakewood. Then we got an inspection in Akron,” Hatfield said.
Hatfield said these permits are required on top of the one he has with the state to operate a food truck. He said the permitting process can vary because local governments interpret the state’s fire code differently.
Hatfield said a local inspection usually includes making sure his propane tanks are a certain height above the ground, and are posted.
A health department inspection requires him to organize his food a certain way.
Hatfield is also the president of the Northeast Ohio Food Truck Association. He said he met with Cleveland and Cuyahoga County officials about possibly creating more uniformity in the local permitting process.
“As a restaurant owner, it’s hard for me to get out. I’m surprised I’m out now,” Hatfield said during a ridealong.
He agreed permits are appropriate and necessary, but said they aren’t always worth the time to get one.
“There are towns I won’t go to because it’s not worth me driving out there to get the inspection and doing only one event there,” Hatfield said.
He’s hoping a streamlined process can save time for businesses, and the fire departments who have to do all the inspections.
Hatfield plans on meeting with city and county officials again about this in June.
