Owner of popular Sandwich food truck concerned ordinance debate could impact business

Tiffany Foster is now hopeful that her specialty coffee trailer on Church Street in Sandwich will be able to reopen for the season in April.

The Hinckley Coffee House in the spring of 2024 opened a coffee trailer at 320 W. Church St. in Sandwich. It also operates a coffee trailer at 200 Somonauk Road in Hinckley that it opened in the spring of 2022.

Recently, the Sandwich City Council has been talking about possibly restricting how long a food truck can operate in one location. That would affect The Hinckley Coffee House, which leases its space in a parking lot year-round.

“I’ve received complaints about some trucks setting up what appears to be a permanent location at different sites,” Sandwich City Clerk Denise li said during a recent meeting. “Our current application doesn’t list any type of restrictions.”

Sandwich started licensing mobile food vendors in May 2022. Vendors must apply for an annual license and pay a $100 fee.

li said she received two complaints on two different food trucks. Sandwich City Administrator Geoff Penman said one food truck was leaving its generator on overnight.

“The question is, are people kind of abusing this privilege and should we do something about it?” said Sandwich Mayor Todd Latham.

Foster started a petition on change.org opposing changes to the city’s food truck ordinance that would limit the duration a mobile unit may be parked in one place. To date, more than 1,000 people have signed the petition.

“We love the community,” Foster said in talking about why she wanted to open a location in Sandwich. “Actually, a lot of our customers were traveling from Sandwich to Hinckley to see us.”

It is currently closed for the season and plans to open again in April for its second season in Sandwich. This past year, it stayed open until Christmas Day.

“Our main concern is just being able to continue operating in our location that we’ve got there,” Foster said. “We have a lease and we’re renting our space in the parking lot there. We just really want to continue to serve the community like we have been.”

The business partners with Kay’s Homemade Desserts and Bake Shop, which is also located on Church Street in Sandwich.

During the Feb. 17 Sandwich Committee-of-the-Whole Council Meeting, li said a hawkers ordinance might be better suited to address food vendors that are stationary. She said under that type of ordinance, a vendor can be permanently set at one location, but also can move to another location on occasion.

The coffee trailer travels only occasionally for events such as the Sandwich Fair.

“I know there’s a rumor out there that we’re chasing the coffee shop out of town,” she said. “We are not. We’re simply saying I believe it’s the wrong license that has been issued. But that’s a council decision.”

Third Ward Alderman Bill Fritsch agreed with her assessment.

“I believe 100% that they should be under the hawker ordinance,” Fritsch said.

Second Ward Alderman Adam Arnett was not in favor of making any changes in the food truck ordinance at this time.

“All small businesses have to start somewhere,” he said. “I for one am not in favor of changing something we just did to force people into something that we asked them to do.”

Foster spoke at the meeting. She told Latham and the City Council members that the coffee trailer is hard wired to an electric service and does not use a generator.

“We don’t feel that we are specifically being targeted, but wanted to just bring to light how changes to the ordinance could affect our business and push us out of Sandwich,” she said. “We believe that our business adds value to the Sandwich community and encourages customers from within the city and surrounding towns to shop local, supporting our business and others.”