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3 Things You Should Know About Small Business: August 9

Written by: Laurie Kulikowski 08/09/12 - 12:36 PM EDT
Tickers in this article: GOOG

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- What's happening in small business today?

1. Escalating differences between food trucks and restaurants. Talk about too many cooks in the kitchen, especially when the kitchen is parked near the sidewalk seating area of a restaurant.

Gourmet food truck vendors and restaurants are having difficulty getting along, and it's reached the point where some cities are enacting parking restrictions and other rules for the trucks as competition heats up against bricks-and-mortar restaurants, according to The Wall Street Journal.

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Cities including Chicago, Boston and New York are enacting laws to curb the influx of food trucks. The restrictions include limiting how close a parked truck can be to a restaurant and for how long.

Food truck vendors say they shouldn't be punished for offering an innovative service. But restaurants say the influx is eating away at their bottom lines, according to the WSJ.

Another problem is antiquated laws designed for hot dog vendors, ice cream and other more traditional "street food" sellers that don't apply to food trucks with expanded menus.

A spokesman for the city of Chicago says the new rules are a "workable compromise" to include the addition of 60 free parking spaces in high-traffic areas for food trucks. The city of New Orleans is looking into adopting more progressive laws to regulate the gourmet food trucks.

2. Online petition launched to save two expiring SBA loan programs. Unless Congress acts fast, two Small Business Administration economic recovery programs will expire next month.

Mercantile Capital, a subsidiary of Old Florida National Bank and an SBA lender, has created an online petition to send to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Small Business and U.S. Senate Small Business & Entrepreneurship Committee leaders to extend the two programs by one year each. Mercantile specializes in SBA 504 loans for small business owners who want to acquire, develop or refinance their own facilities.