A prominent Sunshine Coast mobile vendor has started a campaign asking for a longer term commitment from Sechelt.
e.b.’s Ice Cream started operating at its Friendship Park location in 2018 and quickly became a hotspot among locals and tourists. Owner Lane Cobiskey says the current mobile vendor permit system is no longer a viable situation for him.
‘Behind the eight ball’
Sechelt offers general and seasonal tenders for mobile vendors. General vendors operate on public roadways while seasonal vendors are allowed use of one of three vending pads for a maximum of eight consecutive months.
The seasonal mobile vendor tenders are released through a competitive bid and the businesses are allowed to operate from March to October. In recent years, tenders have not been given out until late February or mid March.
Cobiskey said receiving their tenure so close to the beginning of the season is like being “behind the eight ball,” and gives no time to plan for the coming year.
“Any upgrades, any ordering of ice cream, any enhancements of our shop, any advertising that we do, has been done on faith that we're gonna be in business.”
Cobiskey said it is impossible to grow a business with this type of uncertainty.
Community support
When attempts to appear as a delegation at Sechelt council to plead his case were declined, Cobiskey turned to the community for support and started an online petition, which has since garnered more than 640 signatures.
Cobiskey received numerous letters voicing support for his request for a multi-year commitment from the municipality, and speaking to the importance of his business, including from Sechelt & District Chamber of Commerce, Sechelt Downtown Business Association and Sunshine Coast Tourism.
Policy is ‘ever evolving’
Lucy Clark, coordinator of facilities and community services for the District of Sechelt said that the mobile vending policy is “ever evolving.”
Clark added that the three mobile vending locations in Sechelt are extremely popular, already there are eight applicants for next season.
Clark affirmed that the district aims to be “as fair as fair can be” with its mobile vendors.
Clark said she understands that springtime is too late for mobile vendors to organize their next nine months of operation. “One of the things we will be doing is making sure that their request for expression will be out by the end of this year, so that mobile vendors will know what they're doing in 2024,” said Clark.
As far as multi-year commitments go, Clark said the district is still looking into it, “we are going to sit down and go through our procedures. And obviously, I think our bylaw needs to be changed as well for certain pieces,” she said.
Rotating vendors?
With only three mobile vending locations in the District of Sechelt, the municipality implemented a rotation system for the permits, vendors hypothetically changing locations week to week, in order to give all vendors a fair opportunity.
Sechelt Bylaw 480 states that where two or more applicants applying for the same Display Area are considered generally to be equally suitable, a permit will be granted to each vendor on a rotational basis, assigned by the District of Sechelt.
According to Cobiskey, rotating to multiple locations has been extremely difficult for vendors.
Semir Yusuf, who owns and operates Semir's Hot Dog Cart, was open to the rotation system, but found it extremely cumbersome moving his business every week. “Even though it's a mobile vending licence, most [vendors] aren't really set up to just pop up and move like food trucks,” he said.
Yusuf said this year he rotated out of his regular location at Davis Bay for months with a newer vendor who sold pizza, but according to Yusuf, it confused regular customers. “We decided to try it once a week and actually, he had a lot of customers wanting hotdogs, because we've been there for three years,” he said. “It didn't really give him a good start.”
Clark acknowledged that the current rotation system has caused frustration and said the district is revamping their system to benefit all vendors on the Coast.
Jordan Copp is the Coast Reporter’s civic and Indigenous affairs reporter. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.
