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Katie O’Brien was walking toward the U.S. Capitol Building after the Cherry Blossom Kite Festival on Saturday when she stopped in front of a group of food trucks.
She noticed one selling ice cream and approached it to buy three cups. She said she assumed that each would cost $5 or $10. The family ahead of her in line said they paid $10.
O’Brien retrieved the ice cream, and as she did, a Park Police officer yelled at the food truck operators to leave because they weren’t authorized to be there. She asked for the receipt, which the vendor handed her, and then the operator drove off.
She had been charged $66 for her order, she said, and learned that the family she was in line with was charged $100 for five orders of ice cream.
“Food truck vendors are overcharging people who don’t ask for the receipt,” O’Brien said. “Nobody knows really how much it costs, because we assume every truck is the exact same price. It normally is, but these are not authorized people.”
How to spot a licensed food truck
The Park Police officer told O’Brien that food trucks like the one she had bought from are denied permits from the city “because of their shady business practices for doing exactly that.”
Last month, there were 400 licensed vendors in the city — a figure that combines sidewalk and mobile vendors. From month to month, there are about 100 licensed food trucks in D.C., according to Tiffany Crowe, director of the city’s Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection.
In order to operate in the city, food trucks are required to post their prices, Crowe said. It’s more challenging to monitor vendors selling water on foot, she said, “but we do require in the District transparent pricing.”
The goal for oversight of National Mall food trucks is safety, Crowe said, and licensed vendors have a sticker that says “DLCP” and has a number on it. It means the truck has been inspected and is safe.
The agency is working to make the sticker larger, and is making progress on a database so that customers can look up license numbers to determine whether the truck they want to buy from is licensed.
Food trucks, Crowe said, participate in a monthly lottery that instructs them where to park that month, so the trucks along the National Mall are “supposed to be licensed, inspected and parked in a particular location.”
Through the agency’s website, customers can file a complaint about a specific food truck or vendor. Users can submit photos, so even if a truck has moved, the city can still investigate.
“We always want a customer to file a complaint,” Crowe said. “One, that way we can see if there’s a pattern or practice, and two, we also have the ability to mediate and work to try to get their money back, even if it’s a small amount.”
What food trucks are not to do
The most common complaint is people operating without a license, Crowe said, an action that comes with a fine of up to $2,600.
Food trucks can’t park in crosswalks either, and those that are parked illegally can be fined, booted or towed. The city’s Department of Public Works, Department of Transportation and D.C. police all play a role too, Crowe said.
The agency is working on a tool that will allow it to get vending complaints in real time, and there are investigators who walk around the National Mall and other places around D.C. “so that we don’t have to just be reactionary to get complaints. If we are out there and we see this illegal activity, we address it,” Crowe said.
Crowe said it’s essential for visitors to seek out licensed vendors, because “if you’re someone who’s already operating outside of the law, the likelihood that you are going to adhere to reasonable prices, adhere to safety standards, health standards is lower.”
Denise Carnes said food trucks in D.C. are different from the West Coast neighborhood she lives in, so, “we don’t have this many food trucks that we’re exposed to. It’s kind of hard to tell which one is which.”
Sarah Clark, meanwhile, was looking for a specific ice cream she had the last time she visited the city. The truck she stopped at along Constitution Avenue on Monday afternoon “looked pretty legit because they had a line.” But she didn’t get a receipt.
“I don’t even know what I paid. I’m not even going to lie,” Clark said. “I didn’t even look to see what I paid. That’s terrible, I’m not even sure.”
O’Brien said her experience is making her more vigilant. She canceled the card she used to pay, too, just in case.
“How am I to trust that he didn’t also rip the information from it?” O’Brien said.