All food trucks in Birmingham will now need to have a yearly fire inspection by the Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service. (City of Birmingham)
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Changes are coming, and they could affect business owners across the City of Birmingham.
A Monday meeting at Sloss Furnaces in Birmingham addressed key topics such as business licenses, vending during major events such as the Magic City Classic, safety measures to begin operating a truck, and more.
Starting Jan. 2, 2025, food truck owners will be required to get a fire inspection before even applying for a business license or other permits. During the meeting, the City of Birmingham explained this is an effort to make sure all business owners are on the same page.
In the past, getting a yearly fire inspection was a free service to business owners by the Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service. Now, that service will cost $100. That fire inspection is the first step for business owners to make sure their food truck meets the requirements. City employees hope this will minimize confusion for food truck owners.
“Previously, it was a little more cumbersome for our vendors and taxpayers to come in and they would have to go back and do some backtracking,” city of Birmingham’s Yolanda Lawson said. “We’ve made the effort to streamline that process to kind of make it a more succinct process that ends up with the tax and license division, which should be the last step. But before it was basically people had a tendency to visit the tax and license division then we would have to send them away and then they would have to come back and back and forth. We’ve made the effort to eliminate that.”
Toni North owns Tasteful Touch Catering and Food Truck. She feels the new feels more money she has to put into her business to feed people’s souls when she’s already $6,000 in the hole. On the other hand, though, she does understand the need for new safety measures.
“They’re requiring you to have the fire suppression system that wasn’t required before now, which is more that would cost me just to have that installed in front of you,” she said, “and I had to change my gas line. It’s safety management. I understand that aspect of it. We need those. We need safety measurements in place. Other cities around Birmingham that require it so why not?”
The city also announced there will be no food trucks allowed inside Legion Field. Instead of allowing food trucks to park under the stands, chefs can request a concession stand space, but those are limited to just 14 spaces with 30 entrepreneurs interested. North is grateful businesses along Graymont Avenue near the stadium will allow food truck owners to use their parking lots, but that’s just a band-aid to fix the problem.
“I think the business owners will be affected by the impact of not being able to participate in Magic City Classic,” she said, “and it has been such a boost to the economy and to small businesses, especially food vendors.”
The city also made changes to the way business owners pay their taxes as well. Business owners said those changes are expected to start next month.
For more information about the new requirements, visit the city’s website here.
