City food vans boom prompts cafe costs check

Adelaide City Council will investigate the costs of city cafe operations as it considers proposed regulations for mobile food trucks.

A vote on new rules for the growing number of food vans was deferred at the latest council meeting.

Among the proposals would be a limit on the number of trucks and where they could operate.

There could be a permit fee of $1,000 annually for each van.

Councillor Sandy Wilkinson said permanent cafes and restaurants were suffering and deserved a fairer playing field.

"My hope is that this additional information about the relative operating cost will bring out the inequity of charging people just $1,000 or even a few thousand dollars when businesses are paying something like $80,000-$100,000 to have a cafe in competition," he said.

The council is keen to have regulations in place by the end of June.

Source: ABC News, 17 April 2013