Prairie Bay’s mobile food truck has seen such success in recent months through the city of Baxter, that Baxter City Council members decided to grant a three-month extension on its temporary license Tuesday night.
Council granted Prairie Bay a temporary license to operate its food truck for three months during the Oct. 16 meeting. At that time, Baxter staff asked to use the winter months to research other food truck ordinances and consider the issues.
“Everything has been going very smoothly,” said Bill Deblon, community development director, in regards to the food truck’s operation on the license in Baxter. “And along with this extension request, (Baxter) staff also requests the extra time to formulate our research more and continue to monitor and watch how this food truck is being operated.
“We haven’t had any issues with them ... but staff needs more time to customize regulations.”
The Baxter-based restaurant is working with a number of area businesses, which include the Westgate Mall and Essentia Health-St. Joseph’s Baxter Clinic, in order to rotate the food truck to different sites for meals.
The license currently requires Prairie Bay to have permission of the property owner.
Council member Jim Klein did add another motion prior to the extension, directing Baxter’s Planning and Zoning Committee to conduct a public meeting with restaurant owners in Baxter regarding Prairie Bay’s temporary food truck license as they look ahead to develop the ordinance for a food truck.
“I want to make sure we do hold a meeting with restaurant owners in town before we hear about it later down the road,” said Klein.
The meeting will be set at a late date yet to be determined.
Matt Annand, head chef at Prairie Bay, was in attendance at Tuesday’s meeting and thanked the council for the opportunity it is giving the restaurant and its truck.
JESSI PIERCE, staff writer, may be reached at 855-5859 or jessi.pierce@brainerddispatch.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jessi_pierce (@jessi_pierce).
Comments (10)
Add commentCan I put a food truck in
Can I put a food truck in front of Prairie Bay?
Well mav,
According to the city council, if you have the property owners' permission, you certainly can..
Well, Mav...!
Sure, but I can guarantee your food will be no where near as good as Prairie Bay's! Don't waste your time Mav...
So, I'm curious Mn-Tiger?
So, I'm curious Mn-Tiger? What makes you think that my "food will be no where near as good as Prairie Bay's"? That's probably the funniest thing I've ever heard.
I know you don't know who I am, and that's fine. But, would you care to make a small Wager on your assertion of my abilities?
Maybe a competition?
I like culinary competitions.
Heck, I'll even let you pick the style of cuisine for 5 courses, and your favorite Chefs from the area! I'll take the 3rd stringers.
Some say you couldn't lose! Or could you?
Prairie Bay =1
Mav = 0; game over !!
pretty presumptuous
of anyone to think that NO ONE could compare to the Side Dish, which I agree is delicious, I just had a wonderful wrap and the famous Lobster Bisque which was awesome, but our area has MANY great chefs that could equally meet and/or exceed any expections. Prairie Bay took the initiative, risks and expense of starting this new business, let them enjoy it while Baxter figures out how they can over tax them and run them out of business.
Now, Don't get me wrong
Now,
Don't get me wrong here. I'm all for locally owned business's doing "something" or "anything" to generate business and I am glad that they seized on the opportunity and ran with it. That takes some brass balls and I wish OTHER local business's would do the same before the corporate owned entities take over this area.
We already have
We already have plenty of privately owned food businesses is this area and way to many corporate food joints. How about a little industry to help the unemployment rate. If Brainerd and Baxter would put together a tax break program of some sort, and send a search committee out looking for some industries to relocate here, that would bring a lot more business and employment to our area than another restaraunt. There's not a company in the world that would not relocate if the incentives were right. However Baxter would have to change their policy of putting the screws to businesses after they do move here. No wonder it's hard to lure other industry here, with that kind of reputation.
Exactley
what are you talking about Charlie? Do you actually know what the business climate is in Brainerd? What would your answer be to entice business? Facts please.
Charlie?.
There really are not that many "corporate" food joints around. Actually, Olive Garden is about the only one I can think of. Most food places are franchises, but owned by people who live in the area. Just because something is a chain, does not mean it is not a locally owned business.