Item - 2011.EX5.2

The Executive Committee recommends that:

1.         the Toronto A La Cart Street Food Pilot Project be discontinued immediately, prior to season three of the planned pilot project.

2.         City Council request that staff, led by the Executive Director of Municipal Licensing  and Standards, form a working group to review the current licensing, regulatory and inspection framework for street food vending, with the objective of permitting licensed food vendors to offer a wider range of food items as permitted under the Ontario Health Protection and Promotion Act. The working group will address issues associated with harmonizing the licensing and regulatory framework across the city. The Executive Director of Municipal Licensing & Standards will report the findings of the working group to the Licensing & Standards Committee in the last quarter of 2011. A proposed Terms of Reference for this working group is included in Appendix B of the report (April 5, 2011) from the General Manager, Economic Development and Culture, the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards and the Medical Officer of Health.

3.         City Council direct that the Working Group set out in Recommendation  2 consider in its review how food carts can be made more mobile friendly.

4.                  City Council revoke the delegation of authority to the Street Food Pilot Appeal Committee under Municipal Code Chapter 738, Street Food, and dissolve the Street Food Pilot Appeal Committee.

5.                  City Council grant authority to reimburse A La Cart pilot project vendors for any location fees paid for the 2010 vending season. Total 2010 location fees paid are $4,380.

6.                  City Council grant authority to forgive outstanding location fees owed by the A La Cart vendors for the 2010 vending season.  Fees payable are $39,540.

7.                  City Council give A La Cart pilot project vendors the opportunity to continue operating their businesses in their current A La Cart locations on the terms set out in Recommendations No. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 8, with fees waived for three years, (2011 through 2013), on the condition that A La Cart vendors shall be required to continue to only offer healthy, diverse menu options as defined in Municipal Code Chapter 738.

8.                  City Council grant authority to the City Solicitor to draft and introduce any necessary amendments to City by-laws and the Municipal Code so that A La Cart vendors are, except as otherwise indicated in Recommendations No. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 9,  subject to the same regulations as all other street food vendors in Toronto under Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 315, including by eliminating the following:

a.         City Branding – the "Toronto a la Cart" logo panels shall be immediately removed from vendors' carts and returned to the City of Toronto. Moving forward, vendors are welcome to promote their unique menus using custom signage, provided that no third party advertising signage shall be permitted.

b.         Legal Business Structure – A La Cart owners may incorporate their businesses, if they determine this to be beneficial for themselves or their business, without the consent of the City, provided that any change in effective control or ownership of the corporation shall be prohibited as constituting an assignment or transfer contrary to the provisions of Chapter 315. A La Cart vendors who choose to change the legal structure of their business are required to notify the City of any changes to their business name, ownership, contact details, billing location or insurance policies resulting from the change in legal structure.

c.         Operating Hours – A La Cart vendors are no longer required to operate their own carts for 50% of operating hours but may delegate operating duties to assistants according to the regulations stipulated in Municipal Code, Chapter 315.

9.                  City Council direct that A La Cart vendors be automatically offered new location permits allowing the sale of street food other than hot dogs, if and when such new permits become available and all future operating regulations that result from a new healthy street food vending program will apply equally to A La Cart street food vendors and all other street food vendors possessing such permits, provided that the payment of any applicable fees under any such new program will not apply to A La Cart vendors until 2014.

In response to the July 2007 amendment by the Province to Regulation 562 of the Health Protection and Promotion Act allowing street food vendors to vend a wider variety of foods, the City took action to delay the sale of expanded street food items until City Council had the opportunity to consider how such changes should be implemented.  As a number of options and approaches were being discussed, Economic Development, Culture and Tourism (EDC&T, now called Economic Development & Culture, ED&C) was assigned the initial responsibility to provide recommendations to Council. Several pilot projects were proposed by EDC&T staff in 2007 and 2008, some involving City ownership of food carts, others requiring private ownership with a financing partner.  In January 2008, Council directed staff to issue a Request for Expressions of Interest (REOI) to locate a cart manufacturer and/or leasing agent to design and build standardized food carts. There was one response to the Request for Expressions of Interest (REOI), which staff recommended to Executive Committee on June 3, 2008. At this time the Executive Committee deferred the report and referred the project to Toronto Public Health to develop recommendations for the introduction of healthy, ethnically diverse street foods. The project was subsequently approved in November 2008 for up to fifteen vendors and was implemented in May 2009 with eight vendors.

During the first two seasons of operation, a number of operational, administrative and other issues impacting the program became evident.  Fee adjustments, new locations and modifications to the regulations governing this initiative were made in 2010 in an effort to address issues identified during the first season. 

When administrative responsibility for the project was transferred to the Economic Development & Culture Division in January 2010, City staff committed to undertaking a third-party program review at the end of the second vending season.  This review has concluded that the Toronto A La Cart pilot project has not met its objectives, and no improvement can be expected in the final year of the pilot.  This review also concluded that modifications to the existing regulatory framework for hot dog carts and mobile food trucks should be investigated if the City wishes to pursue its objective of introducing healthier, more diverse street food.