PHOTO VIA CHOLO DOGS FACEBOOK PAGE
The City of Orlando is extending its downtown food cart pilot program while it works toward a permanent policy, according to a Temporary Use Permit determination being voted on at this month’s City Council meeting on August 10.
The city’s Downtown Entertainment Area Mobile Food Cart Pilot Program was first approved by City Council in February 2023 for one year, with two possible one-year extensions built in. That authorization was set to expire in February, but city planning staff extended it administratively by six months in January, pushing the deadline to August, while officials worked on a longer-term plan.
That longer-term plan is still in progress, though. According to the City Council agenda, city staff has been unable to finalize a permanent program due to a mix of ongoing downtown projects and policy changes, including Orlando police reopening downtown streets to traffic on weekend nights, construction timelines for the two-way conversions of Orange Avenue and Magnolia Avenue, Church Street festival programming, and construction on The Canopy and the Lake Eola Gateway project.
With those projects still in the works, the city is simply deciding to renew the existing pilot program rather than changing it (provided the council members approve). The program caps the number of food carts allowed in the Downtown Entertainment Area at six, operating out of three designated locations: Heritage Square, 30 S. Orange Avenue, and 111 N Orange Avenue. Carts were moved to those private plaza locations from public sidewalks after Orange Avenue began reopening to vehicle traffic on weekend nights and the sidewalks became that much more crowded, in the hopes of reducing conflicts between food cart lines and pedestrians.
The renewed permit sets cart hours from 6 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. for last orders, with carts required to be removed by 3:00 a.m. Carts are allowed to operate an additional hour on New Year’s Eve if City Council approves extended hours for nighttime businesses that night. The standards also bar alcohol sales, amplified music, and additional seating or tables at the carts, and require each vendor to carry at least $1 million in liability insurance, along with proper trash and grease disposal.
The current approved vendors include V Island Cuisine Corp, doing business as New York Style Street Foods & More, NMXH Services LLC, and Delicious Hot Dogs at the Heritage Square location, Zaro Food Services at 30 S Orange Avenue, and American Street Food LLC at 111 N Orange Avenue.
The new permit is set to expire in August 2029, though the Planning Official can extend it administratively up to two more times. City staff says the goal is to bring a permanent food cart program to City Council once there is more clarity on the completion timelines for the Canopy, Lake Eola Gateway, and other downtown construction projects.
