One Caterer Can No Longer Do Lunch in Beverly Hills

In a town famous for “doing lunch,” the city of Beverly Hills has decided that some lunches just won’t do.

After hearing innumerable complaints from affluent residents, city officials have been cracking down on the catering trucks that serve construction crews remodeling million-dollar estates.

The flap over the rolling restaurants emerged during a surprisingly grueling 90-minute City Council hearing last week, where one of the catering truck owners had come to appeal his permit revocation.

But Ziggi, also known as Segfredo Hernandez, soon discovered that he had come to the wrong place. Seemingly searching for a smoking burrito, the council grilled Hernandez and a Beverly Hills police officer over their repeated run-ins on the city’s streets.

When it was over, the owner of Ziggi’s found himself barred from doing business in Beverly Hills. The council, citing a string of police citations against Ziggi’s for having bald tires, unlicensed drivers and unmarked propane tanks, voted 4 to 1 that Hernandez should take his trucks someplace else--like Los Angeles.

Despite the seemingly innocuous nature of their business and the valuable service they provide, the catering trucks pose a serious problem, Beverly Hills police insist. Since December, police have closely monitored the estimated 60 catering trucks that operate in the city each day and say that the vehicles often ignore the 30-minute parking limit and several other regulations.

Ziggi’s, in fact, became the seventh catering business in Beverly Hills to lose its operating permit since the beginning of the year, according to police.

“Some of them are operating within the law, and some of them aren’t, but those that don’t pose a real hazard,” said Officer Gary Gilmond, who works in the city’s traffic division. “These trucks are large, and they block cars, they generate a lot of foot traffic, and they carry potentially dangerous equipment like propane tanks.

“These people are basically setting up roadside restaurants in residential neighborhoods, and the people who live there don’t like the litter, the odor and the other elements that they bring. If you live in a quiet neighborhood, you shouldn’t expect to see a restaurant open outside your house.”

The catering truck operators maintain that they are providing a much-needed service, particularly in areas such as Beverly Hills, which has a dearth of fast-food restaurants.

“Where should the construction workers go to eat, the Bistro?” said one rolling restaurant owner, who asked not to be named. “Sure, you have some guys breaking the rules, but most of us don’t. If anything, we probably save them traffic and parking problems, but the police have been harassing us anyway.”

Hernandez’s attorney, Tustin lawyer Robert Crupp, said he couldn’t say if the city was being overzealous in its pursuit of renegade catering trucks. However, he said, it did appear “that they were strictly adhering to the letter of the law.”

The city of Los Angeles has also been grappling with the issue. And in the county, the number of food service trucks has ballooned to the point where, officials say, it is now considered the catering truck capital of the world, with an estimated 5,000 or more vehicles operating there.

In Beverly Hills, the number of catering trucks has grown in proportion to the number of extensive renovations to the city’s mansions. Police contend that many of the problems occur when the trucks park on narrow hillside roads such as those in Coldwater Canyon and Benedict Canyon.

Mayor Allan Alexander said the real problem lies in trying to regulate a growing commercial enterprise in residential neighborhoods. He said city officials are concerned “because they haven’t always been following our rules, and we expect those rules to be abided by.”

“We realize that the workers on the construction project need to be provided with food, so we allow them,” he said.