Food Policy Council outlines ordinance changes, a vendor list and multilingual guides for World Cup surge

The Douglas County Food Policy Council told attendees that it has spent more than a year studying local mobile-vending rules and compiling resources intended to reduce barriers and help vendors meet safety requirements before a large influx of visitors for the World Cup.

"We've been preparing for the World Cup now probably for the last good 18 months, 24 months," said Tyler Linkquist, a longtime council member and chair of the economic development working group. He said the council produced an approximately 60‑page report that reviewed city and county ordinances and recommended changes such as longer allowable operating hours and removing costly site-planning requirements for semi-permanent truck sites.

Council staff said they published a live mobile-vendor list on the council website to help event organizers find permitted trucks and that vendors permitted by the city of Lawrence are automatically listed; vendors may opt in or out or update their information. The council also issued a food-truck guide in English and Spanish and has partnered on training with an online restaurant academy and other counties.

Organizers said they will post the training recording and a packet of resources on the Food Policy Council's World Cup landing page and collect contact information from attendees who want follow-up materials. The council framed the work as both an economic-development step to increase vendor participation and a public-safety effort to ensure vendors operate safely during large events.