‘$8 for a cup of juice?’: Jake, Spike reveal the permits driving up Seattle’s food vendor prices

Grabbing a bite to eat at one of many Seattle events tends to come with a hefty price tag per meal, but what may go unnoticed is the expensive permits each vendor must pay before a customer even steps onto the premises.

Jake Skorheim and Spike O’Neill, co-hosts of “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio, analyzed some of the permit costs these vendors must pay, giving Jake some understanding of why he’s paying $8 for a bottle of juice.

“Sometimes there’s a sticker shock when you walk up to some of these vendors,” Jake said. “One juicer, a person who makes fresh, cold-pressed juices, you’d think, ‘Well, how much does a fresh cold-pressed juice cost?’ And it’s like $8. Why am I paying $8 for a cup of juice? There are all these fees that you’re not even thinking about that go into setting up one of these vendors, and it’s an incredible amount of money.

Spike walks through the string of permits each Seattle vendor must obtain

Spike broke down each permit a vendor must obtain before setting up shop at an event, which he believed was “shocking.”

“You go to an event, there’s a fee to rent the booth because [the organizer] is bringing the crowd and they’re doing advertising,” Spike said. “They’re getting the permits for the event, so there’s a booth rental fee. But when you’re trying to sell food at a booth, you need a temporary health permit too. There’s a responsibility to serve food to the public. There’s a fire department certificate required if you’re going to have a kitchen in a group of people. It’s a stress, strain, or need of city resources that wouldn’t be needed if you weren’t making food.”

The fee to rent a booth at a King County event can cost up to $1,000 or more depending on the event, while the organizer can take 10 to 15% of the commission of sales. These numbers led Jake to ask if the fees are a bit excessive.

“I was shocked by these numbers. Per tent, per truck, whatever it might be,” Spike said.

“The thing is, it’s not like you’re setting up a permanent business, a structure that’s going to be there all the time and benefiting from the walkability of your location and all those things,” Jake responded. “You’re one of 55 vendors that’s setting up. The idea that you’re paying these prices, like, for instance, the fire department certificate that’s required. Think of the juicer; I don’t imagine they run into a lot of fires with that juicer. They’re not in the business of frying up juice.

Actual dollar figures paint a costly picture for Seattle vendors

Jake noted that the fire department certificate runs $400 per event in King County, and a temporary health permit costs $120 per event. A yearly mobile food unit health permit ranges from $630 to $1,260, and another SDOT street use vending fee tacks another $418 as a deposit, and $146 for issuance, plus an additional $110 to $170 per month depending on the season a vendor is operating in.

“Seattle and King County in particular are very expensive to do these events in,” Jake said. “That’s why people, when they show up, they say, ‘$8 cup of juice!’ Because you have all these high fees. Tacoma-Pierce County’s mobile food unit health permit is $52 as the floor v. King County’s $630 floor. You may not get the foot traffic; it all depends, but that’s why you’re paying so much at these things.”

“We talk about how tough it is to run a restaurant in this city,” Spike responded. “Now imagine you have to pick that thing up and build it every weekend and pay every single permit every single time, for space, insurance, health code, fire, all these things.

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to “The Jake and Spike Show” weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3