On a morning in mid-August, 69-year-old Reyna Uñane pleaded with a Department of Public Health (DPH) inspector not to confiscate her stove — she used it to make pupusas at her usual spot on 22nd and Mission. She was one of a dozen vendors shut down that morning. Four unpermitted sellers had their equipment taken.
“The City should go after the real delinquents,” said fruit and beans seller Martha Regidor, who has a business registration to pay taxes to the city, but not a street vendor permit or food permit with DPH. Regidor said she was forced off the street while, across the plaza at 24th and Mission, sellers of stolen goods were left undisturbed.
For months, San Francisco officials insisted there was no crackdown on informal street food vending. But the sweep on August 23 is one of several targeting food vendors in the Mission, displacing them from longtime vending spots and confiscating their equipment.
Records reviewed by El Tecolote show that in March, the City quietly launched a workgroup to create a new permit for street vendors who sell food on tables, push carts, racks, wagons and other non-motorized vehicles. In a June 10 internal memo obtained by El Tecolote, Environmental Health Director Patrick Fosdahl said the new permit is meant to reduce the number of unpermitted food vendors by having a “low bar permit process for those who want to operate legally.”
Yet as drafted, this new pathway is out of reach for many of the city’s informal vendors. Paired with an uptick in enforcement, informal food vendors say the city’s ultimate goal is to dismantle a fragile economic lifeline altogether.
Enforcement had briefly eased over the summer, but by mid-August inspectors were back on Mission Street, warning vendors that regular walks would resume.
How Compact Mobile Food Operations (CMFOs) work — and don’t
The new permit is for Compact Mobile Food Operations (CMFOs). Created under California’s 2022 law, CMFOs are defined as a non-motorized food business. The idea behind CMFOs was to standardize food cart regulation across California and offer vendors a more accessible alternative to food trucks, which are regulated under the city’s Mobile Food Facility (MFF) permit.
But the requirements for CMFOs quickly add up.
According to draft guidelines, any vendor selling unpackaged food classified as potentially hazardous foods such as pupusas and cut fruit would be required to draw up detailed cart plans for city approval, pay rent to a commissary kitchen for daily preparation and storage, and provide handwashing sinks, overhead protection and access to a restroom within 200 feet. Vendors also need food handler certifications and refrigeration for perishable foods.
Vendors argue that even if CMFO fees are lower than traditional permits, the hidden costs of commissary rent, storage, and custom equipment make compliance nearly impossible.
Uñane, who until last weekend sold pupusas at 22nd and Mission, says she would need to invest in a cart outfitted with a handwashing sink and drainage. Though CMFOs are meant to be smaller-scale than food trucks, Uñane believes the requirements mean only a truck could realistically meet the standards — an expense running into thousands of dollars. Meanwhile, her $500 stove is now gone.
Citywide enforcement disguised as a pathway?
In March, city officials revived an old proposal to begin talks to restrict street vending citywide near BART stations, parks, around event venues, and on sidewalks narrower than 16 feet.
Through a records request, El Tecolote obtained the draft, titled Restricted Vending Time and Location. By April 22, Supervisor Fielder circulated the policy outline to her aide, and later to Rafael Moreno, the Senior Program Manager with the Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD).
Fielder and OEWD both said the document is outdated and not guiding current policy. Still, the scenarios it outlined — including removals at BART plazas and inspectors measuring sidewalk widths — mirror what vendors have been experiencing.
Luis L., who sells cut fruit, was removed from the 24th Street BART Plaza in May for vending too close to hydrants and bus stops. He relocated half a block north to comply with the rules but says sales have dropped 20 percent. “To get a (Department of Health) permit, I’d have to invest thousands of dollars I don’t have,” he said. Even if he could afford the upgrades, Luis added, he has no place to store the equipment at home.
The increased city presence has helped fuel new organizing. Since May, dozens of food sellers have been meeting with Rodrigo López of the Mission Street Vendors Association. In recent weeks, food vendors formed their own subgroup, working with nonprofits like Nuestra Causa, CLECHA and Calle 24 to push for clearer, more accessible permitting.
In early June, the CMFO process was presented to the Mayor’s advisory committee, where members raised concerns about access to commissary kitchens and restrictions on where vendors could operate.
According to Fosdahl’s memo and an internal roadmap, the permit framework is being developed in coordination with DPH, the Mayor’s office, Supervisor Jackie Fielder, OEWD and community partners.
By the end of June, more city agencies were asked to weigh in as staff worked toward a final draft due October 27, which would formally add CMFOs to the city code, Senior Environmental Health Inspector Abel Simon wrote in an email.
OEWD did not respond to questions about when the CMFO application process will be available to vendors. For now, enforcement has resumed even as the permit framework remains unfinished.
By the Monday after the August sweep, vendors whose equipment wasn’t taken were already back in place. “Why are we going to take off running if we’re working with the City in good faith?” Regidor asked.
The next day, the majority of food vendors voted to resist. In a general meeting of their association, 46 vendors voted in favor of waging a public campaign with protests if necessary.
López said many vendors will keep selling during the week, avoiding weekends when sweeps are likelier. “They’re going to continue chancing it to make a living,” he said. “The City won’t stop hounding the food vendors until they take stronger actions, like demonstrating in front of City Hall and staging public protests.”