City of Carbondale looking to bring more food trucks to town

CARBONDALE, Ill. (KFVS) -It’s a fun, tasty way to enjoy lunch, dinner, desserts even drinks.

One Heartland city is looking to add more food trucks for it’s residents and visitors.

The City of Carbondale is making things easier for food truck operators to open up their windows for customers by easing some prior restrictions.

As the burgers are cooking on the grill and fries are in the hot oil, one Carbondale food truck operator is happy the city is making things easier on food trucks.

“Carbondale has been great to us it has, the people of Carbondale has been really supportive,” said Solomon Muhammad, Co-Owner of Sidney and Solomon Foods.

Sidney and Solomon Foods have operated their food truck in the same location near the Murdale Shopping Center for the last five years.

Solomon is hoping more food trucks will start cooking around town.

“I’m glad they did loosen up a lot of the restrictions, I hope a lot of people will come back because I think it brings a different vibe, different atmosphere to the town,” said Muhammad.

The city eased restrictions back in May. Leaders are hoping more food options will be available for visitors and residents.

“If someone is interested in operating here in Carbondale, all they need to do is bring their valid Jackson County Health Department permit to here, to city hall, to the city clerks office and they’ll give you fill out our application as well and then they’ll give you the permit to put in your window,” said Roni LeForge-Croxell, Public Information Officer City of Carbondale.

And this is one of the biggest changes the city has made.

“If you want to operate on public city owned property, you do there is a 1 time $100 fee to do that, if you would like to operate on private property, you just have to have a verbal agreement with the private property owner,” said LeForge-Croxell.

And for Solomon, he would love to see more cooks bring their talents to the food truck game.

“Encourage more free enterprise, bring more people out here. Cause yeah a lot of people here have a lot of stuff to offer,” said Muhammad.

The city is also hoping that this will help more entrepreneurs get into the food scene. Leaders say they are excited for more options for those in and around the city.

For more information from the city of Carbondale, that can be found on their website.

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