Food vendors in downtown Orlando told to shut down or face possible fines

Chantelle Navarro,Nikki DeMarco
·2 min read

Some food vendors in downtown Orlando told Channel 9 that they are feeling confusion and concern, after city leaders temporarily shut them down.

Several vendors told Channel 9 the city is threatening them with citations if they return to set up downtown.

The vendors said the sudden shutdown came completely out of nowhere.

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The City of Orlando sent Channel 9 a statement saying, “As the city continues to make significant investments and improvements to our downtown, it has been brought to the city’s attention that some downtown street vendors may have been operating without the proper city licenses.”

Lester Pascua has been serving food to Orlando’s downtown crowd for the last nine years.

Pascua is one of more than five vendors who, after Halloween weekend, can no longer serve food from his carts without a conditional-use permit.

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“This is pretty much my full-time job,” Pascua said. “One of the code enforcement groups came to me and said we need a special permit.”

If caught otherwise, vendors can get a citation and will be asked to pack up.

When he tried to remedy the situation, Pascua told Channel 9 that the city told him that permit won’t be available until after the new year.

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Some vendors believe other restaurants could be behind the city pushing them out.

“Super sad. We don’t have any income; we survive with this income,” said hot dog vendor Lorena Nunez.

Channel 9 asked city officials for more details on why they decided to do this now and how much the citation would be. We are awaiting a response.

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