My big brother Paul raised his family selling hot dogs and popcorn from mobile carts.
In fact, almost 40 years ago, he was the first one in St. John’s, Newfoundland, to successfully establish a whole network of food carts in the city that employed dozens of people.
It was a novel idea at the time and people would go out of their way to buy a hot dog or a bag of freshly made popcorn from his carts.
Paul and his staff would dress in white pants and shirts with red-striped vests, and customers were given the opportunity to listen to circus-themed music that was always playing from speakers he had mounted on the carts.
Paul and his food carts became a fixture in the community and even became a focus of a locally recognized painter who sketched beautiful paintings of the carts that sold briskly in his studio.
The idea was so new in that city at the time that the civic authorities didn’t even have any laws governing them, and tended to turn a blind eye when any issues arose because the food carts were so popular,.
But, of course, success draws copy cats so, after many years of monopolizing the market, other food carts began to compete with Paul’s business.
That’s when city hall decided it was time to get involved and began treating the food carts like they would any other business.
From then on, anyone wanting to set up food carts in St. John’s had to apply to the city for a business licence, and follow all the rules set out in the newly established bylaws governing the industry.
Competition began to get fierce but, fortunately, Paul was slowly withdrawing from the business anyway as he aged and was finding it increasingly difficult to keep up with the fast pace and 20-hour working days that were required.
But he did his part to add something new and popular to the city at the time, and food carts have been a big and welcome part of the street scene in St. John’s ever since.
It was Paul who I thought of immediately when Aaron Eskola came to see me last week about issues he was having setting up a hot dog cart in Duncan.
The single father has invested approximately $10,000 into establishing the business so far, but he was shocked when his application for a business licence from the City of Duncan was denied.
Apparently, other than in a few cases, the city’s current bylaws do not permit food trucks or food carts anywhere in Duncan.
However, Eskola was told that the city is currently in the middle of developing draft bylaws that could cover food carts like his, but he will have to wait until those decisions are made and the new bylaws are in place.
I hope council is open minded and educated about the food cart industry before they make crucial decisions on their future here.
Like in St. John’s, they can be a great addition to the community if the industry is developed properly.
Such entrepreneurial spirit in our community should be nurtured and encouraged, and I hope that the City of Duncan decides to support Eskola and look favourably on his desire to set up shop here.
Robert Barron is a reporter with the Cowichan Valley Citizen. He can be reached at Robert.Barron@cowichanvalleycitizen.com.