NorCal Food Truck Association

03/20/2026

Hello, mobile food vendors! Our friend, Dino Moniodis of Greek food fame, is working on an app to help us automate administrative tasks. Please take two minutes to complete his survey and identify your most urgent needs.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfhHzxdWMkceSFOEa6T_IW1ZsG1Yux_op-et0hcihs6_PBkbQ/viewform?usp=publish-editor

Thank you!

Heather

I'm a fellow food truck operator working on building tools to help automate some of the business tasks that pull us away from cooking. This quick survey (2 minutes) will help us understand the biggest pain points operators face. Anyone who fills this out will get free early access to the beta versio...

10/20/2025

This sounds great! Now if Petaluma could just get on board and lift their discriminatory ban on food trucks.

Napa’s planning commission has approved the city’s first food truck park, a three-year project along Soscol Avenue featuring up to 10 rotating trucks.

07/31/2025

Legendary workaround!

05/25/2025

Hi, this is Heather, founder of the NorCal Food Truck Association! If you are a registered voter and live within Petaluma city limits, I respectfully encourage you to sign the petition to allow a voter referendum that will give our community a voice in the future of our unique and registered historic downtown.

The city has yet to acknowledge or make up for the fact that its outsourced for-profit M-Group planners tried to ban food trucks within city limits without the knowledge or approval of our city council. While the hotel or historic downtown may not directly impact your small business, holding the city and their outsourced M-Group accountable surely will. An attack on any small business is an attack on all of us.

I submitted the attached commentary to the Argus-Courier and Press Democrat papers to explain how the M-Group bent over backwards to help a hotel developer violate existing zoning laws while causing great harm to two local small businesses and property owners. We can and should demand better of our local city government.

Please contact Petaluma Historic Advocates at [email protected] to find a signing location near you OR to have a volunteer come to you. You can also reach out to me here, as I am one of the volunteer signature collectors.

Thank you for supporting our historic downtown and ALL small business owners!

Heather

02/01/2025

With the filing of our lawsuit, the city of Petaluma and its outsourced M-Group are one big step closer to finally being held accountable. It's been a long three years in my fight for food trucks and The Floodway Community Marketplace.

Heather Kratt

Send a message to learn more

01/12/2025

We hope to see you there!

11/03/2024

Hopefully Tuesday 11/5 will be the day Petaluma citizens stand up and take back control of our M-Group controlled City Council majority. If we elect Lance Kuehne (district 6), Alex DeCarli (district 5), and JJ Jay (district 4), we will finally have a City Council majority that is not beholden to the outsourced for-profit M-Group, their sole goal of profit over community, the impending destruction of our historic downtown, and the ongoing disparate treatment of small business owners. We can do this, Petaluma!

Send a message to learn more

10/29/2024

My Lawsuit Against the City of Petaluma and the Value of an Objective and Informed City Council -

Yesterday, my attorney gave formal notice to the City of Petaluma of our intention to file a lawsuit for their violation of my rights pursuant to the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment and Article I, section 19, of the California Constitution.

What started as a simple zero-development project that would make the best possible and clearly permitted use of a blighted property at the gateway to northern Petaluma turned into an absolute nightmare because of the M-Group's refusal to process my use permit application. Once they said no, the Planning Commission and City Council majorities refused to consider the facts and laws as they are written or to hold the M-Group accountable for their wrongdoings.

The City of Petaluma - on behalf of the outsourced for-profit M-Group - took my land and my livelihood. What the City will never take from me is my drive, determination, and pursuit of justice. What happened to me and my family should never happen to another person.

I cannot stress enough the importance of the upcoming City Council election and the impact it could have on all future small business and property owners in Petaluma.

Brian Barnacle and Blake Hooper both played a key role in the taking of my land when they refused to consider the facts and laws as they are written but instead chose to blindly side with the M-Group. Brian's excuse for not supporting my rights was that he couldn't believe that an ADA compliant toilet could be mobile, and Blake insisted that the exact timing of my property purchase in 2022 had some relevance to zoning laws written in 1973, which it doesn't. I could never support Brian or Blake in any representative role they might pursue because they have already proven their character and abilities to me.

I am a strong supporter of Lance Kuehne (district 6), Alex DeCarli (district 5), and JJ Jay (district 4) because they all have the strength of character to do what's right for our community. They are all experienced small business owners, longtime contributing members to our community, and people willing to do their own homework on every issue. I trust them and that is not something I say lightly, given my experience to date with the City of Petaluma.

Please know that your vote truly does matter!

Heather Kratt
The Floodway Community Marketplace
Founder, NorCal Food Truck Association

Send a message to learn more

10/26/2024

Petaluma City Council candidates Lance, Alex, and JJ will also help improve conditions for all small business owners, especially those that have been forced to wait years for the simplest of permits to be approved by the outsourced M-Group and mobile food vendors who've had their permit applications dismissed outright for years! This election is very important to our future!

10/19/2024

Alex DeCarli (City Council Candidate, district 5) and his importance to our future!

I am grateful to Alex DeCarli for stepping up to run for city council in district 5. He is a well-respected member of our community, a successful small business owner, a proven leader in times of crisis (e.g., his help during recent fires), and a great neighbor with a long family history in Petaluma. He is genuine, he is honest, and he a guy we need on our city council!

Alex DeCarli has been wrongly vilified by his opponent's supporters because he took over his family's propane business that has been providing clean energy to our community since 1946. He has also been vilified because his family owns property in the proposed downtown overlay that will allow rich developers to build 9 story buildings, ruining our downtown historic charm. It is the outsourced for-profit M-Group and their blind supporters - Blake Hooper, Brian Barnacle, Frank Quint - who have and will create the blight downtown and are now wrongly accusing the property owners of "blight". Those city council candidates know full well that the M-Group is to blame, but they don't think you're smart enough to pay attention.

Alex DeCarli's family owns multiple properties in the proposed downtown overlay. They could easily support the overlay and enrich themselves by selling to the highest bidder and destroying our historic downtown with 9-story buildings. They chose not to support that greed because, as history has proven, the DeCarli family supports the community of Petaluma over personal gain.

I am the founder of the NorCal Food Truck Association. Our industry relies heavily on propane to be mobile. Our remote farm workers rely on propane for heat and cooking off the grid. Many people have outdoor grills with a propane tank attached. I am a proud customer of DeCarlie Propane and if there is ever a better solution to propane, I would trust Alex DeCarli to lead all of us there.

When challenged on the next best alternative for propane, the critics of propane and Alex have no comment, no defense for their misinformation, they just repost the same misinformation in hopes of harming Alex and the future of our city.

If you want a future city council that represents the people over their own best interests, Alex DeCarli is the absolute best choice for district 5!

If you want a city council that represents the community over their own best interests, please support Lance Kuehne (district 6), Alex DeCarli (district 5), and JJ Jay (district 4)!
Alex DeCarli (City Council Candidate, district 5) and his importance to our future!

I am grateful to Alex DeCarli for stepping up to run for city council in district 5. He is a well-respected member of our community, a successful small business owner, a proven leader in times of crisis (e.g., his help during recent fires), and a great neighbor with a long family history in Petaluma. He is genuine, he is honest, and he a guy we need on our city council!

Alex DeCarli has been wrongly vilified by his opponent's supporters because he took over his family's propane business that has been providing clean energy to our community since 1946. He has also been vilified because his family owns property in the proposed downtown overlay that will allow rich developers to build 9 story buildings, ruining our downtown historic charm. It is the outsourced for-profit M-Group and their blind supporters - Blake Hooper, Brian Barnacle, Frank Quint - who have and will create the blight downtown and are now wrongly accusing the property owners of "blight". Those city council candidates know full well that the M-Group is to blame, but they don't think you're smart enough to pay attention.

Alex DeCarli's family owns multiple properties in the proposed downtown overlay. They could easily support the overlay and enrich themselves by selling to the highest bidder and destroying our historic downtown with 9-story buildings. They chose not to support that greed because, as history has proven, the DeCarli family supports the community of Petaluma over personal gain.

I am the founder of the NorCal Food Truck Association. Our industry relies heavily on propane to be mobile. Our remote farm workers rely on propane for heat and cooking off the grid. Many people have outdoor grills with a propane tank attached. I am a proud customer of DeCarlie Propane and if there is ever a better solution to propane, I would trust Alex DeCarli to lead all of us there.

When challenged on the next best alternative for propane, the critics of propane and Alex have no comment, no defense for their misinformation, they just repost the same misinformation in hopes of harming Alex and the future of our city.

If you want a future city council that represents the people over their own best interests, Alex DeCarli is the absolute best choice for district 5!

If you want a city council that represents the community over their own best interests, please support Lance Kuehne (district 6), Alex DeCarli (district 5), and JJ Jay (district 4)!

Send a message to learn more

10/17/2024

M-Group Favoritism for Mayor's Business -

According to the M-Group, food trucks are very complicated and confusing (they're not), and therefore require a conditional use permit. That translates to thousands of dollars in unnecessary reviews of things already approved by the state (certification of your vehicle) and county (certification of health and safety training and practices).

But Henhouse Brewing didn't need a permit of any kind to park food trucks on their lot. I did a public records request for all lots with permits specific to food trucks and it is not one of the few lots with permission. And the reason is simple. Henhouse is owned by mayor Kevin McDonnell's son and Kevin is a shareholder of that business, per his own campaign disclosures.

A friend of ours recently opened a restaurant here, and I asked them how they managed to get a permit so quickly from the M-Group when other restaurants are waiting two or three years for their permits. They had a connection to somebody very high up in a department that is NOT the planning department, a phone call was made to the head of planning, and... voila, a permit was issued!

This is not how the permit process is supposed to work. We need to bring our planning department back inhouse so everybody has an equal chance of running a successful business in Petaluma.
M-Group Favoritism for Mayor's Business -

According to the M-Group, food trucks are very complicated and confusing (they're not), and therefore require a conditional use permit. That translates to thousands of dollars in unnecessary reviews of things already approved by the state (certification of your vehicle) and county (certification of health and safety training and practices).

But Henhouse Brewing didn't need a permit of any kind to park food trucks on their lot. I did a public records request for all lots with permits specific to food trucks and it is not one of the few lots with permission. And the reason is simple. Henhouse is owned by mayor Kevin McDonnell's son and Kevin is a shareholder of that business, per his own campaign disclosures.

A friend of ours recently opened a restaurant here, and I asked them how they managed to get a permit so quickly from the M-Group when other restaurants are waiting two or three years for their permits. They had a connection to somebody very high up in a department that is NOT the planning department, a phone call was made to the head of planning, and... voila, a permit was issued!

This is not how the permit process is supposed to work. We need to bring our planning department back inhouse so everybody has an equal chance of running a successful business in Petaluma.

Send a message to learn more