Photo by Frank Lopez | District 3 Supervisor Luis Chavez (second from left) stands with local street vendors Friday as the City of Fresno announced the launch of its Mobile Food Vendor ID Card Program, which will begin June 6.

Mobile food vendors will be able to get their businesses certified thanks to a new program from the City of Fresno.

City and business leaders held a press conference in front of Fresno City Hall on Friday to announce the rollout of its Mobile Food Vendor Identification Card Program.

Council Vice President Miguel Arias and Fresno County Supervisor Luis Chavez were joined by members of the Mobile Food Vendor Association of Fresno, the Fresno Area Hispanic Foundation, and Cultiva La Salud.

The city will begin taking applications starting on June 6 and with the program designed to support permitted vendors streamline enforcement efforts in preparation for the full enforcement of the city’s sidewalk vending ordinance which takes effect on July 1.

Arias said that the cost for a year-long business permit with the city is $27.

He said the city has been providing public education and workshops over the last few months to make food vendors aware of the upcoming rules after the ordinance takes effect.

Mobile food vendors that get a business permit and a public health permit will be issued IDs that identifies them as authorized to sell in Fresno.

The permit will authorize food vendors to operate in more than 1,000 city parks, city streets and side walks and public events such as ArtHop and festivals.

“It assures that the city is protecting the safety of our vendors and that vendors feel they have the support of Fresno and the whole community,” Arias said.

He added that there are approximately 700 mobile food vendors in the city.

Chavez said that the press conference was meant to be a celebration, but also highlighted the work that still needs to happen.

 

“This conversation started many years ago out of a tragedy and this is a win for our mobile food vendors. We can now  actually call them a formal organization — a codified recognized group. That is very rare in the state of California,” Chavez said.

In 2021 Fresno street vendor Lorenzo Perez was shot and killed while working his food cart.

He said that many food vendors were operating in the shadows and were scared to come forward to get permitted.

Chavez said mobile food vendors are small businesses and entrepreneurs and contribute to the economy, but were not treated as such.

Arias said that mobile food vendors that do not obtain a permit will first be warned, and if found in violation after that, will be fined $25. Additional violations will come with fines of $50 and then a maximum $100 fine.

Chavez said that he plans to enact a similar ordinance for Fresno County.

FAHF CEO Dora Westerlund said the foundation has allocated $231,000 in grant money to help 66 mobile food vendors get permitted with about $100,000 remaining.

She said they provide vendors technical assistance, educational workshops, marketing, free square machines, as well as loans.

“We are here to navigate you [food vendors] through the process and to get you through so that you can have your mobile food cart and be able to freely sell your products,” Westerlund said.

The first mobile food vendor in the city to get their mobile food vendor ID is La Kumbre, which is owned by Luis Corea and Luz Barron.

Arias noted that it was local mobile food vendors were the ones who asked for an ID, which will make it easier for city inspectors to see a business’s validation.

“This will allow them to focus on their business instead of having to stop serving their customers to pull out paper work,” Arias said. “I want to thank the food vendors for reminding us that all these rules that us bureaucrats come up with to try and provide order and safety has a practical consequence and it’s our responsibility to meet them halfway on mitigating those impacts.”