I was over at City Hall yesterday. This is a picture of the plaza they are talking about parking trucks on. If you haven’t been following there is a food truck challenge the City of Boston has launched. We’re entering an really excited about the potential.

So yesterday there was a public hearing. I was contacted by some folks at the City (sorry, I’ll admit I don’t know exactly who you were when you called) and asked if I could attend. I was really glad they called because I wasn’t following this too closely on my own and wouldn’t have known about the hearing otherwise.

When I got to the City Council chambers I didn’t know what to expect. There were 2 log-in sheets: one for “Attendees” one for “Testimonials.” I wasn’t sure I wanted to present a testimony, but I think the person who called an invited me asked if I would. So after a bit of deliberation (sorry to who ever was behind me in line) I put my name on the testimonial page. But I was a little concerned because I was near the bottom of the list (arriving early is another thing I’m not good at), and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to stay all the way through to the end of the meeting due to some other commitments.

So then the meeting started, Michael Ross (I think he is City Council President? Sorry, I don’t mean any disrespect, I just don’t know much about City politics yet), asked me to speak before everybody. It was an audience of food vendors (including Speeds, M&M, Frosty, etc.). I’ve never been to a public hearing before and didn’t know what to do. They told me to come down to the microphone, which worked pretty well. But you all know I have a pretty loud voice. Not sure I needed amplification.

I kept it simple. Spoke a bit about Clover’s experience with the city (the G-rated version). Fact is Boston doesn’t really have any food trucks. There’s Speeds, M&M Ribs, and some ice cream trucks. Correct me please if I’m missing anybody, but that’s all I’m aware of. Then there are these upstarts, the newcomers like Clover and Fillbelly, etc. But there really aren’t trucks in Boston. Compare this to even Cambridge, a city that isn’t too friendly to trucks (they’ve had a standing moratorium since the late 1990s). Cambridge has at least 9 trucks that operate daily.

So from my perspective, as a lover of street food, it’s exciting to think that there might be more of it in Boston soon. We’ll see what happens. I hope it’s an open, transparent, and fair system that allows a diversity of operators to enter. I’m a fan of a simple fair open process. I’ll stand against any system that “locks up” the market. We don’t need one operator here, or one powerful business running this thing. The ideal would be a process that is open to everybody.

Those of you who know me know that I’m not always the best at dealing with bureaucratic processes. Well, there are a lot of things I’m not good at dealing with (the press comes to mind), but I’m particularly bad with bureaucracy. I don’t know if it’s the engineer in me demanding efficiency, or my inability to follow rules, or impatience when it comes to details. Whatever the case, I’m just not good at this stuff.

I got a call the other week regarding our building permit for 7 Holyoke. You may remember we had to file for a variance with the Board of Zoning Approval (BZA) back at the beginning of this process. “Fast food establishments” are not allowed in Cambridge without a variance. That was a long process, but with some help we navigated it.

(Gory details follow)

We apparently there was a signature on the BZA approval that I needed before our building permit could be reviewed. I was surprised, and it took me the better part of the day, and a visit to the county court house to sort the situation out. Get this: we were issued a letter a couple weeks after the hearing the confirmed the decision: an approval for the variance. The letter had instructions that I was to wait 20 days, then return with my letter to the City Clerk to file the decision. I did that. Then (I missed this part) I was supposed to file this decision with the Registry of Deeds, which is at the county court house. So why on earth would you set up a system that requires (1) that the applicant (me) comes back in person after 20 days? To what end? And, after that, why should I hoof over to the county court house? Couldn’t those things be handled by the city much more effectively? I don’t know if it’s because “this is they way it’s always been done” – basically nobody has tried to improve the situation. Or whether it’s because each agency wants its own check (oh yes, there is a check associated with each of these errands).

I just tell myself this is an adventure. I’d never been to the county courthouse before, have you?

This is Betrous. (Sorry if I’m mucking up the spelling.) I love this guy and I love his falafel. As a student I lived across the street from his truck and would enjoy his $2.50 Falafel with hot sauce, Soda, Baklava combo at least 2 times per week.

If you haven’t tried his truck you should. It’s at 77 Mass Ave, right at the heart of MIT’s campus (we’re at the rear end). Tell him Clover sent you.

I love Betrous’ business. He knows his customers. He cares about his food. He works hard. Now I know exactly how hard. He’s been doing this for years with little attention. What more can you ask for.

I stopped by today to say hi and chat a bit. Here’s my favorite quote from the day: “People ask me… they say do you want to advertise… but I don’t spend money on advertising. Spend it on the food. Food is the advertising.” Couldn’t say it better myself.

Not everyone knows this next part… (after the break)

When Rolando and I were trying to figure out how to develop a menu for our restaurant we really didn’t like the idea of focus groups. I had the idea of hiring a food truck, and using it to do “mini” focus groups for a couple of months. I approached Betrous with this idea, offered him a lot of money. He said no, and now I completely understand why. He loves his business, as I’ve come to love mine. Instead he told me to come back and meet him at the end of the day. He took me for a tour of food-truck-land. Betrous taught me how licensing worked, where to get food, where canteen trucks park, and much more. There’s no way Clover would be trucking without his early help.

So next time you’re over on Mass Ave. say hi to Betrous for me.

If you don’t recognize that address you’re clearly not initiated into the wonders of the foodservice industry in Boston. This is where Boston Inspectional Services lives.

Some of you may remember our frustrating experience with that office last summer. You can search old post entries for more details, but the short version is this: we wanted to serve to the people of Boston last summer on weekends.

I went over to 1010 and wrote a check, then another check, and then another check. Then they inspected the truck and told me I needed a full ansul (fire suppression) system for the hood. So I went ahead and had that installed at significant cost (something like $5k). I went back to have it inspected to be told by fire that they didn’t want to inspect my truck, the guy in charge there actually asked me who would have told me to do such a thing. OK. Frustrating, but at least we can operate now, right?

(more after the break)

Well, no. Inspectional services told me I would need a different generator that could provide full time refrigeration (even though my food, which had been waiting in the truck for 2 hours for the inspector, was properly insulated and at exactly the right temperature. Cost of generator: $10k. Very very frustrating.

Alright, enough of that. Meant for that story to be short, but obviously I haven’t recovered fully. Happy to say that this time around we’re making better progress. That’s because I brought them the design drawings so changes don’t cost me anything (last truck was designed for Cambridge, this one if for Boston). I was still run around a bit. I was told what to bring for a meeting, I brought it. I was told I needed my architect to SIGN my plans before they would review (not mentioned before the first meeting). I got the signatures, rescheduled, back again, a few more things they would need, back again, done.

There’s a lot of city stuff happening right now, what with the new truck and the restaurant. I promise these updates will not all be rants. This is what we do to bring you food.

Last week we tried, and failed, to pass the inspection. Major issues: they want us to add a full fire supression system to the full hood we already have. Very expensive but we’re going to do it anyway. Second issue: cleanliness of the truck. Are you kidding me!?! You all know how we keep the truck.

I’ll share a quick story with you, an exchange from BEFORE we were flunked for cleanliness:
Inspector: what is your fly management system?
Me: we don’t have one
Inspector: you need a fly management system. Where are the flys?
Me: we don’t have any. We clean everything out of this truck every single day.
Inspector: well you need a fly management system, sticky hanging strips or something.

I’ve always liked the Hitachino logo. It’s so difficult to figure out what it is about the logos that work, and somehow use that as an influence without creating a logo that looks like a version of something already out there.

… but if I don’t write it down I’ll forget everything. And I know this will be useful to others someday. I was always skeptical when people said things like “you’re going to have to deal with licensing” as though it was a huge hurdle. I was wrong.

Here’s a summary of the city and state licensing processes to date:

STATE-LEVEL:

• Register Chapter Two Restaurants LLC in Delaware $500 (lawyer did this)
• Register “doing business as” for Clover in Delaware $ (lawyer did this)
• Register as a foreign LLC in Mass, requires custom form $500 annually (I did this, 2 week wait after application in)
  • Must have certificate of good standing from Delaware first $76 (I did this with help from a courier firm, 2 week wait unless using courier firm)
• Register for a hawkers/ peddlers license with Massachusetts pending (I’m doing this)
  • Requires signature from Chief of Police indicating that you are a citizen of good standing $ (I’m doing this now, 1 week)
    • Requires a CORI criminal record search $25 and self-addressed envelope (I did this, 2 weeks)
      • Requires a notarized application 
• Register vehicle with the RMV $135 fee + $700 taxes (I did this, 3 days and a LOT of aggravation)
  • Requires insurance (I did this, 2 days)
    • Requires copy of Employee Identification (EIN) forms from the IRS (I did this, immediate)
• Vehicle safety inspection $35 (I did this, 1 week)
  • In my case required king pin replacement $1,200

CITY-LEVEL:

• Cambridge vendor license $135 (I did this, in process)
  • Approval from health inspector
  • Approval from fire prevention
  • Truck registration
  • Proof from of private site
    • Insurance
    • Lease
  • Approved and inspected commissary
  • Company registration
  • ServSafe certificate
    • Complete ServSafe Class
    • Pass ServSafe exam
  • Cambridge criminal background check (different from the CORI for the state)
  • State vendor license (see above)
  • Zoning approval
  • Abutters notice
    • Send certified mail notifying abutters
• Register “doing business as” for Clover in Cambridge, MA $35 to the clerk (I did this, immediate)
  • Required notarized application

This is where I’ve been spending a lot of time lately, Cambridge City Hall. Actually, the building I’m usually visiting is next door, and not as grand.

Today I was running between MIT, having met with Richard Berlin, head of dinning services, to confirm my spot, and city hall to get my application for food truck license submitted. At 1:45pm I arrived at the licensing office with my final package. And a guy called Chris O’Neil told me I was 2 hours late and that my hearing (which I was hoping would be 23rd September) would be postponed until November. Of course I thought he was joking. I knew I had to get it in by the 27th. But he said that’s NOON on the 27th. Here was our conversation:

me: OK. But I really didn’t know. The person helping me just said 27th. Can we make an exception?
Chris: No.
me: Please

Chris: There’s nothing I can do, they’ve already been shipped. We have strict deadlines

me: Shipped? Shipped where?

Chris: They’ve been shipped

me (slight panic): Can I hand deliver them somewhere

Chris: That wouldn’t work

me (gaining some composure): So explain this to me. What happens after they are handed in? Where are they shipped?

Chris: To the newspaper

me: Which newspaper?

Chris: Cambridge Chronicle. They have deadlines that are even more strict than ours

So I say I’ll call them and see if they can help out. He says “you can’t make the call in here.” So I go outside, call the newspaper (owned by GateHouse Media who own both the Cambridge Tab and Cambridge Chronicle apparently). And a very very nice lady named Debbie helps me out. She says she hasn’t gotten the email yet from the city, and that she has no problem waiting until tomorrow. I say thanks 30 times, give her my info, and run back in to talk to Chris. Here’s the punchline:

Chris says: “Yeah… well I’m not sure I’ll be able to get to it this afternoon.” Me, losing composure again: “Please. Please. Please. This means a lot to me. More than you can know. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Please. Please. Please.”

Chris: “I just don’t know whether I’ll be able to get to it.”

Me: “What’s your name? It would really mean a lot to me if you could help out here.”

So there we left it. Of course, I returned 1 hour later, asked how it was going, and sat around until everything was complete. I’ll check with Debbie in Legal at Cambridge Chronicle tomorrow morning to make sure everything went through. Let’s keep our fingers crossed!