Michael Rotella is fed up.
Every week, from Thursday to Sunday, illegal food trucks pull up near his SoMa restaurant and steal dozens of his customers, he says.
Since he took ownership of Rocco’s Cafe just over a year ago, Rotella has lost an estimated $1,500 in nightly revenue to food trucks that park outside his Italian restaurant on what would otherwise be his busiest nights.
Food trucks say they don’t compete unfairly because they serve after nearby restaurants close, but Rotella is one of three Folsom Street restaurateurs who say they’ve lost business or been forced to close earlier because of trucks and hot dog carts operating without proper permits.
“The city doesn’t do anything about it,” said Rotella, who last year moved his closing time from 2 a.m. to 11 p.m. because he couldn’t afford to keep longer hours with dwindling customers. “It’s insulting to an operator paying rent and permits for a truck to just pull up and sell food.”
The three food trucks The Standard spotted Feb. 7 on or near Folsom Street are operating illegally, according to the city.
The Brothers.SF truck on Folsom Street between Seventh and Langton has a Department of Public Health permit to sell food but does not have one from the Department of Public Works to operate on the street. The Brothers.SF truck parked at 11th and Harrison streets has no permit from either department. The Plaza Garibaldy truck has permits from both departments but is allowed to sell food only at 475 California St., in the Financial District — more than a mile from Folsom.
A representative of the Department of Public Health said it investigates illegal street vending every day through a multi-agency task force created in 2022. When asked if the unit proactively patrols the city after business hours, the department did not respond.
The city has received seven complaints since 2021 about food vending on Folsom Street between Sixth and 12th streets and one at 11th and Harrison streets, according to DPW. Inspectors have issued five notices of correction and two notices of violation, the latter carrying a $100 fine, to illegal food vendors near Folsom since March 2024, including at least one that stemmed from a complaint.
Between July 1, 2023, and Dec. 19, 2024, the task force conducted 313 inspections citywide and impounded food or other merchandise 239 times.
Brothers.SF owner Elluver Gomez said restaurants have not complained to him directly about his trucks. He said his trucks, including one at 3650 Geary Blvd. and one on Orizaba Avenue in Oceanview, are legal, and he’s never been issued a citation.
But Gomez failed to produce the required permits from Public Works for any of his trucks. During an interview Feb. 20 outside one of his trucks parked at Geary and Arguello boulevards, Gomez claimed to have the permits at home and said he would send photos. He did not do so.
Julio Andrade, a cook at Plaza Garibaldy on Folsom near Dore Street, said the truck had parked there for a decade. Andrade, 46, said the company, in business for 12 years, operates three trucks around San Francisco.
Department of Public Health inspection stickers from 2024 were stuck to the truck’s passenger window, although Andrade was unable to present permits from that agency or Public Works. He said he didn’t know the name of the owner of the company.
Andrade estimated that the Folsom truck alone sees between 200 and 300 customers on any given summer night. Around 11 p.m. on a recent Friday, he guessed he had served 100 customers that night.
Bar and nightclub patrons say the illegal food vendors fill a much-needed gap late at night, when restaurants are closed.
“They’re targeting bar traffic, not restaurant traffic,” Mike Sorreli said as he waited for food outside the Plaza Garibaldy truck.
Olivia Wells was getting off work when she stopped by a hot dog cart on Folsom and Sixth. The 25-year-old sous chef at AB Steak agreed that restaurants don’t cater to late-night bar crowds.
“I’m not sitting down at 10 p.m.,” Wells said.
Prodding half a dozen hot dogs with metal tongs on the corner of Folsom and Sixth, a street vendor named Rocio, who declined to share her last name, said she doesn’t compete with restaurants, as she is located blocks away and sells cheaper, lower-quality food.
“I don’t think anyone is bothered by our presence,” the 52-year-old said.
She said she’s been working on the corner for 18 years, and three other hot dog carts are there Fridays and Saturdays from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. On a good night, she sells 15 hot dogs for $10 each.
Rotella said he doesn’t consider the hot dog vendors to be competitors, but V Cafe owner Fong Lau blames food trucks and street carts for an estimated loss of $500 a night on Fridays and Saturdays.
“They kill all the local business around here,” Lau said.
DNA Lounge manager Devon Dossett said the vendors are eating his lunch every weekend.
“We are frequently having to chase the hot dog vendors away,” Dossett said. The nightclub sells pizza in addition to drinks. “We pay sales taxes, so it’s infuriating.”
Supervisor Matt Dorsey, who represents the area, said he’s sympathetic to restaurant owners’ plight. He called illegal food trucks and hot dog carts “lawless operators.”
Dorsey said he asked City Attorney David Chiu to explore the possibility of pursuing civil litigation against illegal vendors under state law barring unfair competition.
Meanwhile, Public Works says it will add a dedicated swing-shift street inspection team to address illegal food trucks operating at night.
Still, some locals say that what’s killing restaurants isn’t scofflaw vendors but the neighborhood itself.
“No one lives in SoMa. There’s no foot traffic here,” said Tom Fritsche, a neighborhood resident for 15 years.