Minneapolis weighs permit system for unlicensed fruit vendors

By Alfonzo Galvan | Sahan Journal

On a sunny weekend in August, Brittany Rosas homed in her food options near Minnehaha Falls.

Several vendors were offering fruit slices with chamoy and tajin, fruit-flavored water and fried wheat pinwheels also known as chicharrones.

As Rosas purchased a cup of lemonade for her two kids and a bag of chicharrones, another customer bought a cup of watermelon for $5 from a nearby vendor.

The unlicensed vendors were clustered in the high-traffic area near Sea Salt Eatery — and they kept a wary eye out for park police. None wanted to speak on the record.

The vendors began appearing at busy parks and highway medians more than a year ago. Efforts by park police and city officials to issue citations only led them to temporarily retreat. Many are asylum-seekers from Ecuador who don’t yet have a permit to work legally in the U.S.

The city first attempted to address the issue in 2023, according to Minneapolis Health Department spokesperson Scott Wasserman who said they worked with St. Cyril and Methodius Catholic Church holding educational classes on how to become a licensed food vendor.

But a year later the problem persists.

Now two Minneapolis officials are trying another approach. 

Council Members Jason Chavez and Aurin Chowdhury are developing an ordinance with city staff that would create a license or permit for food vendors to continue selling while being in compliance with city code.

“The reality is that right now, folks are not allowed to do it, and they’re getting letters saying to stop doing what they’re doing,” Chavez said. “And they’re being given routes to get permitted, but the permits that exist wouldn’t allow them to do what they’re doing.”

Chavez said unlicensed food vendors can create health risks if fruit and other food isn’t properly prepared. He said he is also concerned about the potential of labor abuses or trafficking.

“I think a permit can help prevent that, or at least be a part of preventing them from happening,” he said.

Several city departments are currently weighing in. Chavez and Chowdhury met with city staff on Friday to determine the proposed ordinance’s next steps.

After the meeting Chowdhury said an added goal is to create a support system so vendors can access supplies — including carts that store food at the proper temperature — so they can become eligible for a license.

In drafting their proposal, the duo said they have to adhere to state laws on food storage and refrigeration.

“The hope is next spring, people have a place where they’re able to sell and vend freely. They feel supported by our communities, by local government, and we’re bringing more people into compliance,” Chowdhury said.

For now, an option presented to some vendors in Minneapolis has been to register for the state cottage food producer permit, based on a 2015 state law that allows people to “make and sell certain non-potentially hazardous food and canned goods in Minnesota without a license.”

But Chavez said that’s a step in the wrong direction.

“That isn’t going to address the issue. And people might apply, but it isn’t actually going to address the root issue that people are struggling with,” Chavez said.

A cottage food producer permit could allow vendors to sell homemade baked goods and pickled fruits and vegetables, but it still wouldn’t allow them to operate on city sidewalks or in traffic.

The issue is one of “equity” according to Chowdhury, who said some vendors don’t have the available knowledge or resources because they’re still new to the country.

Things like licensing or permit fees become barriers for new vendors trying to become compliant.

“When it comes to folks that are immigrants, new to our community, that’s an incredible barrier. So if we’re going to do economic empowerment, that’s the barrier that we want to help resolve and so I’m 100% supportive of waiving these fees,” she said.

Claudia Lainez, the workers’ center director at COPAL, said the nonprofit organization has been monitoring the growth of street vendors across the metro specifically because many of them are undocumented.

She said the majority of vendors tend to be women because men, even undocumented, tend to struggle less to find employment. The women have the obstacle of finding child care and that’s why street vending is appealing to them.

She said access to information in Spanish is a key barrier for those who might want to comply with local rules. 

“We have had many cases where people ask ‘What can I do?’ But no, this information is not accessible in Spanish,” Lainez said.

Since the ordinance proposal is still in the early stages, Chavez said there are still many questions.

One is whether to establish fixed locations for vendors. Another is how to limit the number of vendors in a given spot.

Chavez said some licensed vendors have told his staff that they’re losing business due to increased competition. 

And a major question the council members have addressed is accessibility to information since the vendors are mostly Spanish-speaking.

They’ve said it’s important to make the process simple and easy for future vendors, regardless of legal status.

Even without documents like Social Security numbers, Chavez said there would be ways for vendors to apply, such as by using an ITIN, or individual taxpayer identification number, which undocumented individuals can use for tax purposes.

The IRS website says even undocumented residents are required to file income taxes every year.

Chavez said it’s crucial to find a solution that protects public health but also acknowledges the pressures that are pushing recent immigrants to sell food in public spaces.

“I’ll just center the humanity aspect that these people are just trying to make a living,” he said. Many of the vendors are “literally just trying to pay their rent and pay for their life.”

Pushback from licensed vendors

The presence of the vendors has sparked concern and complaints, especially from licensed vendors.

At a Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board meeting in early August, Michael Auciello, owner of Brooklyn Mike’s Italian Ice cart, said he was tired of “illegal vendors” coming and opening fruit stands and cutting into his revenue. 

Auciello said he’s seen about a 50 percent drop in revenue this year as unlicensed vendors pushed into city parks.

“A lot of the food trucks out there and vendors have given up. They’re selling their trucks. They don’t want nothing to do with this baloney no more,” Auciello said.

According to him, vendors have to buy a daily permit to operate at city parks, and some parks only allow up to two permits. The daily permits are $35 on weekdays and $100 on the weekends.

But some days this summer the parks he’s worked at have had up to five different vendors, even though the cap was two.

He’s complained to the Minneapolis Park Police and the Park Board with limited success.

Chavez said Minneapolis police officers are no longer giving citations to unlicensed vendors.

“They give them a paper with resources, because a lot of them also need more support beyond just being able to sell some food on the streets,” he said.

Park Police spokeswoman Robin Smothers said they also haven’t given out any citations to any unlicensed vendor but clarified that spotted vendors are not allowed to operate uninterrupted.

Auciello said he’s seen Park Police confront unlicensed vendors but not escort them away.

“Dear God, I wish,” Auciello said. “I think it’s not fair to the licensed vendors.”

An ordinance passed by the city wouldn’t automatically affect how parks operate, according to Chavez.

“The Park Board has to make their own decisions on if they’re going to allow people at their parks but at city streets we can make a program to allow some of these individuals to be able to sell fruit or whatever we decide with these permits,” Chavez said.

The Minneapolis Park Board still has final say on who can sell on their property.

Currently, only a mobile food vendor licensed with the City of Minneapolis can apply for a daily permit to operate at the parks.

On Friday, Chowdhury said there’s been ongoing talks with the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board.

“Our biggest goal right now with MPRB is to be proactive and build a really strong partnership and relationship, because at the end of the day, we want the same things. We want people in compliance and able to be entrepreneurs in our city,” she said.