Matt Coggin, owner of D.B.A. Barbecue in Virginia-Highland, can track the arrivals of food trucks in his neighborhood by the drop-off in his business when the trucks pull up near Dark Horse Tavern less than a mile away. Wednesdays have become D.B.A.’s slowest days of the week.
“It’s significantly impacted my business,” said Coggin.
In early 2010, a group of activists coalesced into the Atlanta Street Food Coalition to try to change “obsolete and draconian” regulations that treated food trucks like “roach coaches.” The new generation of food trucks could serve grass-fed beef hamburgers, noodle bowls and dessert crepes while revitalizing dead spaces and giving entrepreneurs an avenue into the food industry, they said.
In response, Atlanta streamlined its licensing requirements for food trucks after decades of making it difficult or impossible for the mobile deli counters to operate.