Item - 2008.EX16.2

City Council on January 29 and 30, 2008 adopted the following motions:

1.         Staff initiate a small scale Toronto Street Food Pilot at selected City locations in the Summer of 2008, to introduce the sale of safe, healthy, nutritious and ethnically‑diverse foods and evaluate the commercial viability of the proposed program, conditional upon the following:

a.         staff prepare and release a Request for Expressions of Interest (REOI), including the principles as set out in the body of this report and Appendix B to this report and such other terms which are satisfactory to staff, to solicit comments as to the relevant functional, capacity, pricing, funding and design considerations which should be taken into account by the City in any procurement process for the design and manufacture of up to 15 street carts for deployment in Summer 2008, and including provisions to allow, at the City’s discretion, for:

i.          an option to select and negotiate with up to three proponents for the production/supply of carts for the purposes of the pilot; and

ii.          an option at the end of the pilot to discontinue the project, and select a preferred proponent for the negotiation of an agreement or issue a further Request for Proposals (RFP) document;

b.         the REOI also include a provision which allows for the possibility of partnership funding, so that interested respondents can reply to either of two options:

i.          design and manufacturing only (this option only applies if there is partnership funding); and

ii.          design and manufacturing with financing by respondents to the REOI;

c.         in the event that partnership funding becomes available, staff consider governance models which could minimize City staff involvement in the operation of the program;

d.         staff report to Council, as necessary, on the results of the REOI and the options and potential for procurement of the carts for the Summer of 2008;

e.         the current freeze on the sale of street food other than hot dogs and sausages remain in place until such time as City Council has considered and made appropriate amendments to the by-laws as required to implement the appropriate types of foods to be sold from food vending carts in the City;

f.          notwithstanding Part e., above, staff be directed to develop an interim regulatory framework for Council approval to implement a Toronto Street Food Pilot, including the exemption of vendors selected to participate in the pilot from the current City freeze on the sale of street food other than hot dogs and sausages;

g.         staff be directed to explore the use of partnership opportunities to provide funding for the Toronto Street Food Pilot, and bring forward recommendations for approval in Spring 2008;

h.         Staff be authorized to design interim selection criteria for locations in City parks and public squares or other suitable location that staff may recommend and an application process for selecting vendors to participate in the Toronto Street Food Pilot, subject to a limit of one street vending licence per person;

i.          staff be authorized to take the necessary actions to secure the rights to the name “Toronto a la Cart” and make application to obtain an Official Mark to secure the name “Toronto a la Cart” and any future logo or other intellectual property for the purposes of branding or protecting a potential Toronto Street Food Pilot and Program; and

j.          staff be authorized to engage in public consultation, as described in this report, with affected stakeholders, including the general public, vending industry and Business Improvement Areas, respecting a potential Toronto Street Food Pilot and report on the results of such consultation.

2.         The proposed licensing requirement that an Assistant’s Licence is required for each person who will be operating the carts, as outlined in the report (December 19, 2007) from the Deputy City Manager, be referred back to staff to propose conditions for, and limitations on, the use of assistants.

3.         The Deputy City Manager be directed to look for financial partners through an Expression of Interest proposal call.

4.         The City lead for this initiative remain in Economic Development, Culture and Tourism for the short term, recognizing that the policy and program development is an interdivisional initiative involving Municipal Licensing and Standards, Toronto Public Health, Legal, the City Manager’s Office, Parks, Forestry and Recreation, the Partnership Office, Finance and others as required.

5.                   Staff be directed to report back in Spring 2008 on the results of the activities outlined in Part 1, and make appropriate recommendations at that time on the feasibility of the Toronto Street Food Pilot and implementation for the Summer of 2008.

6.         Staff monitor and evaluate the results of the Toronto Street Food Pilot to inform the development of an expanded regulatory framework, governance options, and business and funding models of a future Toronto Street Food Program.