Restaurants on the Church Street Marketplace are starting to come back to life following the COVID-19 shutdowns, with diners sitting at tables along the pedestrian walkway and some heading inside where 25-percent capacity is allowed.
One sign of summer in downtown Burlington, though, isn’t back yet — the food carts lining the four-block stretch of the Marketplace. Wheels are in motion to make that happen.
The Church Street Marketplace Commission meets June 24 to discuss the return of food carts at a date to be determined, said Kara Alnasrawi, the new executive director of the Marketplace.
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“The commission will be meeting next week to discuss parameters that would allow this program to safely restart and bring renewed vibrancy back to Church Street,” Alnasrawi said. “We also understand the carts are a source of important income for many individuals. We are just concerned about appropriate distancing on the street.”
Shy Guy, Skinny Pancake unsure of return
In an era of social distancing and significantly reduced foot traffic on Church Street, will cart vendors even want to come back this summer?
Some are noncommittal. Shy Guy, a Burlington gelato shop that has had a cart on Church Street, declined comment via a Facebook message.
The Skinny Pancake, which operates several crepe restaurants in Vermont, has had a cart on Church Street for years. Skinny Pancake owner Benjy Adler wonders if a cart on Church Street this year will be safe for his staff, and if business will be viable enough to make it worthwhile.
“If we felt good about both of those issues, but especially regarding the safety of our staff, then we would move forward with setting up a cart for the summer,” he wrote in an email to the Free Press.
Michael Meehan, who since 2018 has run the Dosa Love Indian-food cart on the Marketplace, will not be back. “We made a decision not to renew our lease,” said Meehan, who runs the cart with his partner, Arunima Dasgupta. “It’s more of an economic decision.”
Meehan said they were leaning against returning this year even before the pandemic, in part because a new regulation requires vendors to provide a monthly report to the Marketplace containing the number of transactions they had and on which day they occurred. Meehan said he felt that was micromanaging.
“We’re not like an employee,” he said, “we’re an actual business.”
Then the virus arrived in March, leading to a near-total shutdown of commerce.
“The pandemic basically put into sharp focus our decisions,” said Meehan, who with Dasgupta plans to continue catering and online sales and revive the cart at farmers markets and other events in 2021.
Some of the rule changes planned for this year might not be cast in stone considering the unusual economics of running a business in 2020.
“We want to make it as easy as possible for these small businesses to be successful at this time,” Alnasrawi said. “The licensing committee revamped some of the terms and agreements; however, we are looking to expedite and make it as easy as possible for people to operate on the street.”
Kettle Korn cart plans to be back
The Marketplace continues to work on details to make food carts as safe as possible during the pandemic. Alnasrawi said social distancing is important, but those waiting for food can’t block the 12-foot right-of-way needed for emergency vehicles. Retail shops have expanded onto the street to minimize foot traffic inside, adding to the space crunch on the Marketplace.
Paul Buschner runs the A-Maize-ing Kettle Korn cart that’s a fixture on Church Street, and he’s also a member of the Marketplace’s vendor licensing committee. He said the committee has made several recommendations for this summer to the Marketplace Commission, including a reduction in fees and permission to place small tables in front of carts to help with social distancing.
Vendors will wear masks and gloves, Buschner said, and use chalk or tape to set social-distancing parameters of six feet facing north-south rather than east-west to avoid blocking emergency-vehicle routes. The committee wants to let vendors uncomfortable with operating this year to be given a pass so they can keep their spot on the Marketplace next year.
Buschner said it’s important for carts to work with stores that have increased their outdoor presence so that vendors are “not annoying them. We want to make sure it’s a very simpatico situation.”
He plans to bring the Kettle Korn cart back to Church Street this summer. “I’d love to at least be able to earn a little bit of money for my business,” Buschner said. “At a bare minimum, 80 percent of my revenue is gone.” Church Street, he said, typically represents more than 30 percent of his profit.
Kettle Korn last appeared on Church Street in early March. Since then, events drawing big crowds to the street such as the Vermont City Marathon, University of Vermont graduation, the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival and the Festival of Fools have been canceled or postponed. Off-site events Buschner brings his cart to, including the Lake Champlain Maritime Festival and Vermont Brewers Festival at Waterfront Park and the Concerts on the Green at the Shelburne Museum, have been canceled.
“It’s all gone,” he said. “I’m just hoping to cover my fixed-cost overhead.”
Buschner began working in May for a property-management firm to offset the loss of what had been his only source of income. He doesn’t expect this summer on Church Street will amount to half of his usual business there.
“I have no idea if I can even make it pay to be out there,” Buschner said, “but I’m going to try because I’ve been doing it since 2003 and I don’t really want to give up on it yet.”
Contact Brent Hallenbeck at (802) 660-1844 or bhallenbeck@freepressmedia.com. Follow Brent on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/BrentHallenbeck.
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