Vancouver food cart program delayed

Hot dogs will remain at the top of the street-vendor menu this long weekend in Vancouver.

The city had planned to introduce culturally diverse and nutritious food options at 17 new locations but the pilot program has hit some snags.

City engineer Peter Judd said the only vendor ready to go is Roaming Dragon, which will offer pan-Asian cuisine in Kitsilano.

Judd said the delays arose because vendors have yet to meet requirements from Vancouver Coastal Health. And, he said, a local builder providing carts to almost all of the participating vendors faces a backlog.

“It’s going more slowly than we hoped but it was a pretty ambitious agenda,” Judd told the Straight today (July 30) by phone.

Another vendor is expected to begin operating next week while the rest will likely hit the streets throughout August.

But a couple of the primary vendors risk being replaced by alternates if they are not ready soon, Judd said.

For August, vendors offering dim sum, southern barbecue, lemonade, and other options will likely be ready, he said.

“Nothing wrong with hot dogs, but it’s nice to have some variety.”

Comments

1 Comments

RealityCheck

Jul 31, 2010 at 11:05am

Go figure. Vision again jumps head first into a poorly thought out plan that gives people with no experience or expertise the right to serve food. They could have gone with real restauranteurs who know this stuff like the back of their hand and there'd be good street food now.

Epic fail (again) Mayor Moonbeam!