Want to own a food truck? You better like paperwork

On Monday, Amber Bryson and Pete Izzillo expect to receive a Beaufort city business license for their food truck.

They already have a Port Royal business license.

And a Hilton Head Island catering license.

And a Bluffton catering license.

And a Beaufort County business license.

And a state tax retail license.

And a federal tax identification number.

Of course they have a permit from the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, which mandates their food truck — “It’s Only Fair,” home of funnel cakes and other fair-inspired foods — is attached to a commissary, which it is — Bluffton’s Lowcountry Kitchen — where food is prepped and stored.

“And I think that’s it,” Izzillo said, grinning as he sat at a table in the commissary early Friday afternoon.

“We had to become an LLC,” Bryson said, chuckling.

If they get their Beaufort City business license Monday, it will be the ninth license or permit or credential or classification they’ve had to do to realize their dream of bringing high-end fair food to the entirety of Beaufort County. They want to operate like “a daily lunch truck” — pull up, set up, fill you up and then leave. But the couple, who is new to the food truck business, has learned they can’t set up shop just anywhere.

On Friday the couple had just returned from Savannah, where they’d run a few errands ahead of Sunday’s Savannah Food Truck Association Festival. “It’s Only Fair” will be at the festival, where it will be subjected to another inspection from another health department official.

As their colorful, maybe even psychedelic truck — its trippy art might have been inspired by The Beatles and his 1960s childhood, Izzillo said — baked in the sun outside the commissary, the couple shared a story about going to a festival and finding out they had the wrong type of fire extinguisher. The fire marshal let them slide, but they quickly fitted “It’s Only Fair” with a Class K fire extinguisher to be in compliance.

“Because it’s serious,” Izzillo said, “and as she’s been saying all day, we want to do it right.”

Izzillo and Bryson call themselves “rule followers.”

On May 10 the couple parked their truck out front of Nickel Pumpers in Bluffton. They’d made an arrangement with the owner, they said, to sell food out of the gas station’s parking lot. They’d applied for and obtained a Bluffton license — the catering license. They thought they were within the regulations.

A code enforcement officer informed them otherwise. The catering license, they were told, allowed them to cater specific events, not operate as a mobile food vender.

“And he was very nice,” Bryson said of the officer. “He had the ordinance in his hand where it said ‘no mobile food vending.’”

“He had our ... license pulled,” Izzillo said. “Everything. He knew all about us.”

“And he told us that he believed the only way we could continue to do business there that day, and maybe in the future, was to go to town hall and get special permission from the city manager to be able to do that,” Bryson said. “But it was written in the ordinance and in the bylaws that there’s no mobile food vending allowed in the town of Bluffton.”

A message left with the Bluffton business license office Friday morning was not returned, nor was a message left with town manager Marc Orlando on Friday afternoon.

Hilton Head allows food trucks but they must be tied to a specific site, town attorney Brian Hulbert said. They are not allowed to operate as mobile businesses, said Nicole Dixon of the town’s zoning division.

A food truck vendor must obtain permission to operate on site from the property owner, Hulbert said, and the property must be zoned for commercial use and allow for eating establishments. A site plan must be prepared that shows the proposed location of the food truck on a properly zoned parcel. And there has to be sufficient parking at the site so the food truck doesn’t take up another business’ parking spaces.

“Zoning is the first step — it’s always the first step,” said Justin Rose of the city of Beaufort’s business license office.

The current city ordinance requires food truck to operate at a “multi-tenant” commercial space, said Libby Anderson, Beaufort’s director of planning. Those are spaces like Beaufort Plaza Shopping Center and Cross Creek Plaza, she said. Food truck owners must obtain the property owner’s permission and prepare a site plan at the planning office. The site plan has to specify the exact location of the food truck and account for things like water and electric hook-ups, trash can placement, and pedestrian safety.

Assuming the property owner gives permission and the site plan looks good, a food truck owner can apply for a business license, Rose said.

A proposed change to the current ordinance governing food trucks would make it easier for vendors to find a location because it would do away with the multi-tenant requirement, Anderson said.

“That’s the hardest standard to meet,” she said.

“This whole world of food trucks has changed considerably in the last few years,” she said, referencing the popularity of food trucks in big cities. “It’s a really big deal. It can create vibrant neighborhoods and activities that bring people together.”

For Bryson and Izzillo, who continue to learn as they deal with local municipalities, anything that simplifies the process is welcome.

On Friday they talked about a countywide food truck license that would standardize the approval process throughout Beaufort County. They said they’d still be willing to pay local business license fees as long as the process was easier to navigate.

“I want everybody to be equally loved by the funnel cake,” Bryson said.

This story was originally published June 3, 2016 at 5:14 PM with the headline "Want to own a food truck? You better like paperwork."