For more information and background on this continuing situation, please read our previous statement on the new food truck ordinance.

First, THANK YOU for your support and for voicing your opinion on this situation in the public eye. All parties involved have heard your voice loud and clear, and you are a massive factor in how this plays out. Please continue to let your voice be heard and contact your city council members to let them know (nicely and constructively, please ) that you want to continue enjoying food trucks regularly without hosting businesses and food trucks having to jump through incredible hoops here in YOUR city on BOTH private and public property.

Click here to view the Monroe, NC City Council public contact information.

At last night’s City Council meeting, we and others were given a brief opportunity to share our perspective on this matter. We are grateful to the Council and other members of City leadership for their attentive ear and the decision to table a final verdict. This pause allows all parties involved to come together in a special council meeting and discuss how we can all benefit. While we wish this had happened months ago, we are heartened to see our collective voice acknowledged and respected.

As we have hopefully made very clear, we still support our downtown restaurant neighbors. We’re not necessarily opposed to some of the items up for discussion. Still, we want to make sure any final decisions here benefit all parties and allow everyone to continue to grow and make Downtown Monroe the vibrant city it is on its way to becoming.

In keeping with our outlook of full transparency to you, our customers, and the public at large on this subject, and since we did not get the opportunity to say our entire peace during the 2 minutes we were allotted during the meeting, we are sharing the complete statement that was prepared by one of our owners/partners, Zach Hinschberger, for the Council meeting last night.

“Good afternoon.

Thank you for allowing me to speak, even if it is brief. I will dispense with the pleasantries and get to the point for time’s sake. My name is Zach Hinschberger, and I am one of the business owners of Americana Beer Company at 222 North Main Street in the heart of downtown Monroe. I speak today because I would like to point out to this council the fact that neither we nor any of the other alcohol establishments or businesses that bring in food trucks were a part of the discussions for the changes to this policy.

The General Services Committee never once contacted us to ask for our opinions, recommendations, viewpoints, or even concerns about the effects any policy changes would have on us. In January, at a meeting here at City Hall, we were told that the original Food Truck Pilot Program was to be adopted as an ordinance in its entirety….no changes. I stated to all present that I was in favor of changing the policy to make it more amicable for all parties on both sides of the issue. I was turned down by all present. So, I stated that if that is the case, then it should be adopted as it is written with no changes whatsoever. That included times, distance, procedures and private property being abstained from the permitting requirements.

We have supported our restaurants from the start, almost two years ago. We have always encouraged our customers to support them, even when we have food trucks. And here now, you are creating, not adopting, a policy that will affect our businesses. You have changed the distance, the times, and the procedures. So we were lied to by all parties who told us that day that they wanted to only adopt the policy in its original entirety.

I believe there must be guidelines, as do all the establishments that play host to food trucks. Many trucks have followings that bring people to town who otherwise would not come here. Many trucks we host are Union County registered businesses that pay taxes here, have their commissaries here, live here in Monroe, and pay property taxes on their trailers and trucks. Many are women-owned, minority-owned, and veteran-owned. I guess these citizens and their small businesses do not matter to you? They matter to my customers, who also support their local restaurants as well. The customer HAS THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE WHERE THEY EAT as some parties have mentioned that they should not.

Some of the restaurants have said that they invested huge amounts of money into their upfit and equipment. They want the brick-and-mortar locations protected and to flourish. Well, I say this, my partners and I invested well over half a million dollars into OUR BRICK-AND-MORTAR and our equipment. So did all the other brick-and-mortar companies downtown that host trucks. Do we have no voice in things that will affect our businesses? Do you wish to see us hurt and lose money? Because the policy changes you are making without our voice or consent cost us thousands of dollars in lost revenue. You are going out of your way, it would seem, to punish us. All we ask tonight is that you send this Ordinance back to the committee and require them to sit down with ALL PARTIES ON BOTH SIDES OF THE ISSUE. Let us come to a resolution that benefits all businesses downtown and our customers. We want a fair policy for all and hope we can finally sit down with you and discuss our side before we continue this process, the emotions continue to rise, and any divides widen further. Again, let me state for the record that we are in support of our neighbor businesses and restaurants and want fair guidelines for both. Thank you for your time.”