A mobile food trailer franchise is looking to set up permanent residence in a parking lot in Richardson.
Winston’s British Fish and Chips has requested a special-use permit to operate its food trailer daily in the Dal-Rich Town Square Shopping Center in Richardson. A public hearing was held for the mobile eatery’s request during the Richardson City Council meeting on Monday.
Winston’s is a British cuisine food trailer franchise co-founded by Darren McGrady, a former chef at Buckingham Palace. One franchise food trailer currently operates in various locations in the Plano-Richardson area, while another trailer operates from a permanent spot at a church parking lot in Vancouver, Washington.
The City of Richardson’s regulations normally limit mobile vending hours to 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. unless an exception is approved. In addition, the existing mobile food vending ordinance only allows motorized vehicles, not unmotorized trailers, to be used for mobile food service.
Winston’s is asking for approval to operate a food trailer daily at Dal-Rich Town Square from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The business promised in its request that the area would be kept “clean and tidy at all times” and would be moved from its daily operating location to a designated parking area during the night.
“We envision offering daily seating that would be limited to 4-6 portable foldable picnic tables that we would set up and take out (transported off-site daily),” said the eatery in its request. “Garbage will be collected in 4 large plastic trash receptacles and also transported daily to our Commissary Kitchen, located at 7989 Beltline Rd. Suite 138 Spring Creek Village, Dallas, TX 75248 for disposal.”
Winston’s co-founder and CEO Timothy Johnson said he also hopes to open Winston’s Tea Room in the Cottonwood Market in the same area, according to Community Impact.
Council Member Joe Corcoran expressed his approval for the permit, noting the impermanence of the mobile unit.
“I think this is a good chance for us to experiment, and we can keep a time limit on that permit so that it comes back before the same council, look at the different issues that come up, if there are any, and decide to revoke it,” said Corcoran, according to Community Impact. “If it doesn’t work, it’s not a brick-and-mortar store, [so] it’s as if it was never there.”
The council has not yet approved the permanent placement of the mobile food trailer but intends to gather public feedback to gauge impacts on parking and pedestrian safety.