1.)  No food truck vending is allowed within the "downtown area," meaning Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard on the west, Centre Street on the North, Fallsway on the east, and Pratt St. on the south.

2.) In addition there is no Food Truck Vending around the stadiums.

3.) In a residential area No Street vendor of food products may stand or park his or her vehicle: 1) for more than 15 minutes at a given location; or 2) within 300 feet of any location at which the vehicle stood or parked during the preceding 48 hours.

4.) On school days from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., no street vendor of food products may stand or park her or his vehicle within 500 feet of the grounds of any building used as a public or private kindergarten, elementary school, or secondary school.  

5.) No street vendor may park a motor vehicle for the purpose of selling any food product meant for immediate consumption with 300 feet of any retail business establishment that sells similar food products.

2. Protest or Denial of Permit; DPW Administrative Hearing; Permit Appeals.

a. Any person or persons who feel that their interests or property or that of the general public will be adversely affected by the issuance, denial, or conditioning of the MFF Permit at its intended location may protest the proposed issuance or denial of said permit or permit conditions by writing to the Director within thirty (30) calendar days from the date listed on the Notice of Intent. Upon receipt of any such written protest during the term of the appeal period, the Director will schedule a public hearing to

hear all persons interested in the tentative permit decision. If there are multiple protests for a single location or protests for multiple locations, then the Director shall strive to consolidate all protests at a single hearing.

i. Not less than ten (10) days prior to the date of a Departmental hearing, the Director shall cause to be published a notice of such hearing in the official newspaper of the City and County of San Francisco. The Director shall maintain a file of the names and addresses of all persons wishing to receive notice by mail of any application filed pursuant to this Article and of all persons previously notified of the proposed application. The cost of publishing said notice and any additional mailed notice shall be borne by the

MFF Permit applicant if the cost exceeds the notification fee set forth in Section F.1

of this Order. The Notice shall contain the following information: the name and business address of the applicant, the product or products to be sold, the location(s) of the proposed sales activity(ies), the days and hours of operation, and whether the application is for a new permit, for a change of an existing permit, or for an addition of a new location(s).

b. At the hearing, the Director, or his or her designee acting as an Administrative Hearing Officer, may consider the following:

i. Whether the applicant's proposed operation is located within 300 feet of an established business which sells the same type of food product, merchandise or similar service as proposed by said applicant, or of any location previously established and currently being operated by a MFF selling the same type of food

product, or other merchandise or similar service as proposed by said applicant.

ii. For the purposes of determining a proposed MFF impact upon existing businesses, the Hearing Officer may consider the type of food offered by the existing business and the type of food proposed to be offered by the MFF applicant.

If the foods are “like” then the Hearing Officer may recommend disapproval or conditional approval of the MFF permit application. Such conditions may include, but are not limited to, relocation of the proposed MFF a sufficient distance from the existing business or existing MFF to avoid conflict arising from sale of "like food".

iii. “Like Food” shall take into consideration the ethnicity of the food and the composition of each menu, as well as other issues the Hearing Officer deems appropriate to determine whether a conflict of "like food" exists . As an example, a coffee cart should not significantly affect a traditional diner just because it also

offers coffee on its menu, while a hot dog cart could adversely affect a restaurant that specializes in sausage sandwiches.

iv. The number of MFF on the same block or adjacent blocks.

v. Other information deemed relevant to the determination of whether the proposed location is appropriate.

3. Upon conducting the hearing, an Administrative Hearing Officer shall make a recommendation concerning the proposed permit to the Director, who in his or her discretion, may disapprove, approve, or conditionally approve the proposed permit.

4. The Director's decision is appealable to the Board of Appeals within fifteen (15) days of the Director's decision.

5. The Director may issue a MFF Permit within 14 days of the date of the Notice of Intent if no hearing is requested pursuant to this Article, if he or she finds:

a. That the operation, as proposed by the applicant, would comply with all applicable laws, including but not limited to, the provisions of this Article and the San Francisco Municipal Code.

b. That the applicant has not made any false, misleading or fraudulent statements of facts in the permit application or any other document required by the Director, Director of Public Health or Fire Marshal in conjunction therewith.

If it’s not clear from the above, one must be approved for a specific locations and there are protections for brick and mortar stores, something not sought by RAMW.

As discussed, Austin does not allow food trucks on public space at all! Here is a link that describes vending approval process in Austin: