Baxter To Allow Food Trucks At Festivals And Events Only

Baxter Aldermen passed an ordinance Wednesday that limits food trucks to festivals and school events only and requires annual safety inspections from the city.

Baxter Mayor John Martin said safety inspections will cost $50. Truck owners who fail to display a certificate of a passed inspection will be fined $50 daily. Martin said the board felt that this ordinance was the best way to accommodate both food truck vendors and brick-and-mortar businesses.

“I think that they have a place,” Martin said. “Especially at the school events because all of the schools have contacted us and said, ‘We’ve got to have this because, you know, people want something to eat or drink or the kids, you know, when they finish, they’ve got somewhere to go get something to drink.”

Aside from the safety inspection, vendors will no longer be required to purchase a permit from the city to set up their trucks. Martin said business owners in town asked that an ordinance be passed to create parameters around when and where food trucks be allowed.

“The worst thing about food trucks, and I don’t object to food trucks, is that brick and mortar people spend millions of dollars to build a building and if a food truck comes and sits right next to them, it’s detrimental to them,” Martin said. “So, it’s not fair to the brick-and-mortar people.”

Martin said he believed food truck vendors would be thrilled with the new ordinance, as it closely aligns with what many of them have requested from the city as discussions around a potential ordinance have progressed.

“We charged for a permit,” Martin said. “With this new ordinance, we do not charge for a setup here or, you know, food trucks at the schools. So, there’s no charge at all.”

In 2020, Baxter passed an ordinance based on Cookeville’s food truck policy. Cookeville approves food trucks through the Department of Leisure Services. The new ordinance released vendors from that fee and rate structure.