Tacoma committee hears restaurant owners cite grease-trap delays, permitting confusion and need for capital

Tacoma City Council Economic Development Committee members on April 8 heard more than an hour of testimony from four local food-business owners and city staff about the practical barriers to opening and operating restaurants in Tacoma, with repeated complaints about grease-trap requirements, inspection delays, and difficulty predicting permit-related costs.

The roundtable brought together business owners who have moved from farmers markets and commissary kitchens into brick-and-mortar restaurants and founders who are still building out spaces. Philip Penagos, owner of Shaka and a multi‑venue restaurant operator in Tacoma; Jan Parker, owner of Reyna Filipina Kitchen and Jan Parker Cookery; Haley Hernandez, co‑owner of Side Piece Kitchen; and Buddy, owner of Buddy’s Chicken and Waffles, described long permitting timelines and large, often unanticipated, retrofit expenses that they say have threatened their ability to open or remain solvent.

“ I submitted everything in the summer… didn’t hear from the city until November that we didn’t get a grease trap,” Buddy said, describing a sequence of inspections and requests that delayed his permit for several months. Several speakers described similar multi‑month waits while work stalled and revenue needs mounted.

Business owners told the committee that grease-trap sizing and enforcement…