On February 4, the day they were scheduled to talk about the possibility of reforming the city’s mobile food vendor regulations, 43rd Ward alderman Vi Daley kept Phillip Foss waiting at the entrance of her office for about an hour.
He’d developed it during a forced lull at work. In December Foss—whose acerbic and sometimes ribald wit can be sampled on his blog, the Pickled Tongue, and Twitter feed—had openly castigated a server on his Facebook page. The union that represents the Hilton’s hotel workers complained to management, and the chef was given a one-week suspension from the restaurant.
Could anyone else follow Johnson’s lead and get a restaurant license for a food truck?
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Another chef, who wants to remain nameless, had a business plan, investors, a licensed kitchen for prep work, and a truck all lined up and ready to roll. He was even prepared to give notice at the internationally famous restaurant where he works. But he never pulled the trigger because he couldn’t get a straight answer from the city about whether he’d be able to pull his idea off legally.
Like Foss, Maroni came around to the idea during a low point in his career. After getting fired as executive chef for the private Mid-America Club in October (for having a drink with a customer at the end of his shift, he says; club management declined to comment), he interviewed for work at other restaurants, but nothing came of it. He worked on a restaurant concept, but then his partner’s wife got cancer and that plan fell through.
When Foss and Maroni got wind of each other as a result of the reporting of this story, they put their heads together. Maroni launched an advocacy Web site, chicagofoodtrucks.com, and invited public comment via Twitter, and Foss introduced him to Psilos. Maroni drew up a business plan for a pilot Green City Market food truck, including a detailed spreadsheet outlining start-up costs, cash flow, marketing, and potential revenues under a number of different scenarios. “I kind of just write concepts when I’m bored,” Maroni says. Psilos began lobbying Green City Market board members for support. Meanwhile, Waguespack, Maroni’s alderman, called another meeting with aldermen Daley, Reilly, and Tunney (who sent a staffer in his place).
