Testimony of Marlene Guinchard, owner of Chela & Garnacha Hello, my name is Marlene Guinchard and I am the owner of Chela & Garnacha, a Mexican restaurant located in Astoria, Before I opened my restaurant, I had a food truck ealled Mexico Boulevard. I am here to testify in favor of Intro 1303 which would allow more food vending permits to be issued. I originally wanted to open a restaurant in New York City, In 2010, before we had the food truck, | tried to open a restaurant but it was almost impossible. We went to the Department of Small Business Services who told us we had an excellent business plan. However, reasonably priced commercial space ‘was not available and we could not get any financing. We had some friends and family that were willing to invest in our business, but they wouldn't commit to the risk of opening a first-time restaurant during the recession. Initially, we thought that a food truck ‘would be a much better option. The expenses were less than a restaurant and we were able to convince our investors to support us. Opening a food truck was a scary process. I normally try to do everything by the book, but working towards this food truck seemed more like a criminal enterprise, but we eventually found a permit holder to “partner” with, It was crazy that we could not just get a permit from the City. Despite all these challenges, operating this food truck enabled us to start and grow our business, and open the successful restaurant that we have today. The food truck functioned as an incubator that allowed us to test our food and see what kind of customers we could attract. We tried out different neighborhoods around the City and learned what type of food worked best for the area. We could never have done that if we just started with a restaurant, Allowing more food vending permits means more diverse food businesses will be able to start and grow. ‘We learned very quickly that people loved our food and we were lucky that our truck was so successful. However, New York City proved to be too hostile for food vendors, even though vending has such a long history here. We couldn't deal with the broken permitting system and the harassment from enforcement authorities since we had no legal place to park. ‘We closed the food truck in October, 2015 but running our food truck allowed us to get financing from a bank to open the restaurant. The bank no longer saw us as a risk since we had the experience and success with our food truck. I still have the food truck in my backyard and if I can get my own permit, the truck will be back on the streets and my customers will be very happy. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. Sincerely, Marlene Guinchard