LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – A new law regulating street food vendors in Clark County took effect earlier this year but FOX5 has learned many vendors are reluctant to go through the permitting process.
FOX5 got an update Monday from the Southern Nevada Health District, only five street food vendor health permits have been issued and currently, there are no pending applications.
Why so few? FOX5 spoke to a vendor and advocacy group to find out.
“Marely mentions that there is this fear in the community for vendors to go out there and sell due to these recent visits by authorities,” shared vendor Marely Rosales who spoke to FOX5 via translator.
Rosales has been selling from a cart for six years near local parks. It is her main source of income and she’s trying to get the new required permits.
“She mentions that the process has been very difficult… She wished that the process was more clear, more step-by-step, in their native languages,” that translator relayed.
“Our street vendors want to comply, they want to sell,” contended Celinda Dominguez with advocacy group Make the Road Nevada. Dominguez has been working one-on-one with vendors who say it is intimidating.
“The majority of our street vendors are step zero. I know I need to do this, and I want to be able to get my license and sell legally, but I have no idea where to start,” Dominguez shared that sentiment of many vendors.
It is also expensive to go through the process.
Rosales explained some of the fees: “Four hundred dollars, plus the service fee that you are going to be paying the person that was helping you…The Southern Nevada Health District fee, food handlers permit, the insurance policy to cover half a million dollars of damages.”
Dominguez says to get cross the finish line, to get running legally is about $1,500 and a that’s without operating costs like a cart with a hand washing station needed to pass inspection.
“Some street vendors have received estimates from $9,000 to $11,000 to create one from scratch,” Dominguez reported about the custom carts.
What are the regulations, the hurdles street vendors must clear? They need a state business license from the Nevada Secretary of State, business insurance, a health permit from SNHD and to pass inspection which will require a commissary kitchen and a cart hand washing station.
Make the Road Nevada is currently raising money to try and sponsor some of food vendor’s fees. They plan on holding a large fundraiser in November after the election.
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