On Thursday afternoon, a few feet from Pier 33, Carmen was chopping pineapple on a plastic table, preparing small fruit cups she hoped to sell to tourists returning from visits to Alcatraz Island. Nearby, several hot dog vendors played music from a small speaker as they grilled food on a warm February day.
For Carmen, it was an opportunity to recoup the money she had invested in fruit for the week before it spoiled. For the past few days, she told El Tecolote, she and her husband had driven around the pier, discouraged by the constant presence of city workers who, since last spring, have regularly seized food carts from food vendors without permits.
“[On Wednesday] one of the people from the city told me they would be bothering us every day because of the Super Bowl,” Carmen said. “But either way, they don’t really let us work here.”
At 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, seeing the pier momentarily empty, Carmen and her husband decided to set up her fruit stand. Her husband had errands to run and proposed leaving her his hot dog cart, but Carmen declined, worried about the warnings she had been issued.
Three hours later, her fears proved to be true. Staff from the San Francisco Department of Public Works (DPW), the Department of Public Health (DPH) and officers from the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) surrounded Carmen and the three nearby hot dog vendors.
City workers confiscated the hot dog carts, placing ‘Impounded’ stickers on their sides. As Carmen attempted to rush away with her fruit cart, a DPW employee chased her down and seized it as well. Despite soft protests from the vendors, city employees loaded the carts into a car. They handed vendors Spanish-language SFDPH pamphlets, letting them know that they needed permits to continue selling food on the street.
In the days leading up to the Super Bowl, which is set to take place in Santa Clara, San Francisco has been hosting a number of themed events as it welcomes tourists from across the country. There has also been a noticeable increase in the presence of local, regional and federal officials in tourist-heavy areas.
Mayor Daniel Lurie has said the goal is to “provide a safe, welcoming experience” for visitors and residents alike, citing concerns about criminal activity that can accompany large-scale events, including human trafficking.
But some advocates and vendors note that part of keeping San Francisco “welcoming” this week has included ramping up operations that, for the past year, have pushed certain groups, including unpermitted food vendors, from city streets.
Enforcement intensifies ahead of Super Bowl
On Monday night, next to the parking lot facing Pier 39, “Éxito Q” worked his small mobile grill, turning vegetables and sausages while he talked to another hot dog vendor in Quechua. The Guatemalan vendor requested to be identified by the name of his hot dog business. Some tourists walking back to their hotels stopped to buy hot dogs from the 27-year-old, who has been selling food in the area for six years.
That night, he said, would be his last day selling food in the city for a while. Earlier in the evening, city staff had warned him that starting Tuesday, enforcement would intensify in Fisherman’s Wharf, with food carts regularly subject to seizure through Super Bowl Sunday.
“I don’t think I’m going to come back until next week,” he said. “They don’t want us to sell, that’s what they’ve told us.”
On Tuesday, a police officer in the Mission District told another El Tecolote reporter that SFPD had been helping with enforcement against unlicensed food vendors ahead of Super Bowl events since Saturday, though he declined to be quoted.
In a statement, SFDPH said that the city regularly conducts inspections, engagement efforts and enforcement across the city to ensure safe food handling.
If equipment is impounded, officials say vendors can request a meeting with the department to discuss violations and how to get equipment returned.
Vendors in areas like the Embarcadero and Fisherman’s Wharf have faced cart confiscation for years, with officials citing failure to comply with public health code violations. But vendors say enforcement increased citywide beginning last spring. In September, El Tecolote obtained records showing that the city was reviving an old proposal to restrict vending in certain areas of the city and developing a new permit structure for food vendors.
As enforcement has ramped up, many vendors, like Carmen, say they are concerned by what city officials tell them is required to obtain a permit. Last year, Carmen said she had 15 carts seized during enforcement operations, though the cost of replacing them is still more affordable than pursuing the permits required by the city.
Meeting SFDPH regulations for a Mobile Food Facility permit can be expensive, she said. And vendors organized through the Food Vendors Committee say that even the proposed, more “accessible” permits currently being reviewed in City Hall remain out of reach for many low-income vendors. Standardized carts for fruit and hot food preparation can cost around $15,000, the committee says.
“We’re not criminals. We’re working,” said Carmen, who immigrated to the U.S. with her husband three years ago. “I’ve looked for a job in many places and while they’ve taken my contact information, I’ve never heard back. And I’ve opted to have my own business, and have my own income.”
Some vendors, like Éxito Q., say they comply when warned not to sell, viewing lost workdays as just part of the “investment” required to keep his business afloat.
“They’re telling me what I need to do, and I need to do my part too,” he said. “I don’t really get mad at them because they’re just following orders.”
An evening to make money
Even as heightened enforcement continues in the city, many hot dog vendors are closely watching the Super Bowl as an opportunity for revenue. Éxito Q said he and several friends plan to drive down to Santa Clara, hoping to sell food at the event drawing tourists from across the globe.
He said he expects vendors from across California to head to the stadium that day — he himself commutes around the state for similar opportunities.
Still, he is mindful that vending enforcement in the San Jose area could result in additional cart seizures. He plans to scout the area first from his car, noting that other vendors are much more fond of taking risks.
“I have to see what’s going on first,” he said. “Because sometimes they don’t let us sell right by the stadium, but they let us a few blocks away. In these events you can either earn twice what you make, or nothing.”
With the heightened federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota, advocates as well as local officials are reminding immigrants of their rights as well as San Francisco’s sanctuary policies. On Tuesday, the NFL’s chief of security Cathy Lanier said there will be no enforcement operations at the Super Bowl and that ICE will not be present, countering early speculation.
But immigrants who make a living through vending say their most pressing worries are also related to what local officials will do.
Daniel, 27, was one of the hot dog vendors whose cart was seized on Thursday afternoon. The Mexican vendor has been selling hot dogs for the past three years, but recent enforcement, he said, has made it more difficult to earn money, which makes what are often strong revenue opportunities like the Super Bowl feel discouraging.
“I think I’m going to go,” he said. “But I’m looking at the way the situation is right now, and it’s very tough.”