Tang says that his business interactions with the city have left him frustrated and discouraged. The main lesson that he said he's learned: Nothing gets done without the help of higher-ups.
He's not the only one with a bone to pick. Several proprietors of food trucks say that city bureaucracy makes their line of work - one that's growing in popularity - more difficult than necessary.
The problem? As Philly's food-truck industry expands from traditional cheesesteak trucks to cupcake and fresh-pasta trucks, the city is scrambling to keep up.
Shinjoo Cho, outreach manager at the Commerce Department, said that the food-truck industry has "definitely outpaced us, and we're painfully aware of that."
Some of the truckers' complaints are specific to their industry, like the intricate list of prohibited streets for trucks or that there aren't separate regulations for food distributors on wheels.
Truckers also have more general complaints, like the perception that regulations are enforced arbitrarily. One trucker said that the only way to understand the regulations is to get them wrong: "You learn by getting slapped on the wrist."
Tom McCusker, who runs a taco truck called Honest Tom's Tacos, said that dealing with the Health Department is "like the DMV - you know it's gonna be a pain in the ass," though, ultimately, it made his business better.
Others are not so forgiving. Take Scott Schroeder, chef at the South Philadelphia Taproom and the recently opened American Sardine Bar, who owns a hot-dog cart called Scott Dogs. An inspector took issue with his cart because it lacked an overhead ventilation system.
Seems fair - until you look at Schroeder's cart. It's an open-air cart, not an enclosed truck with a roof overhead.
