Food truck owners will soon have to worry about another cost to continue operating as a new state law goes into effect Saturday.
Food truck owners who produce “grease-laden vapors,” or vapors and evaporation from grease oils, will have to install fire suppression systems by January. It will cost them money — and, according to operators, it will also cost them time.
House Bill 2459 will cause a barrier because of the cost of installing the system, said Carlos Bejarano, chair of the Greater Tulsa Area Hispanic/Latinx Affairs Commission, which represents and advocates for the Latino community in Tulsa.
“There are going to be certain businesses that aren’t going to be able to implement that on time,” Bejarano said.
Here’s everything food truck vendors need to know about the two laws going into effect Nov. 1 impacting mobile units in Oklahoma.
What are the new laws?
House Bill 1076, also known as Food Truck Freedom Act, streamlines licenses statewide for food truck vendors. Any food truck operator with an approved Oklahoma State Department of Health Food Establishment license can operate anywhere in the state starting Nov. 1 rather than obtaining permits in each municipality they operate in.
House Bill 2459 requires mobile food stands using propane to maintain and obtain a permit from the Oklahoma Liquefied Petroleum Gas Administration. Mobile food vendors will have to renew their permit and be inspected annually. The law also requires fire suppression systems.
How will the state laws impact local mobile vendors?
Brent McClain with Performance Fire Systems, a Tulsa-based company providing services for fire suppression systems, fire sprinklers and more, said fire suppression systems they install cost between $4,000 and $5,000. It can take them one to two days to install a system into a mobile unit.
McClain said he’s seen requests to install fire suppression systems in mobile units quadruple in the last six months alone. He understands that it’s an expensive cost for many.
“I know that it seems like it’s just a regulation that’s not required, but we’re dealing with local fire departments and across the United States even,” he said. “People die all the time from these things where there’s a gas leak and they blow up or a grease fire and they can’t get out. So these things are solely designed to save people’s lives.”
Fire suppression systems protect owners and employees if they have a deep fat fryer for items such as french fries or fried chicken, which have flammable oils, said Tulsa Fire Marshal Chuck French. Grease-laden vapors are part of the problem because they cause fires to spread more.
People will have to go through the Oklahoma State Fire Marshal’s office to get an inspection done by Nov. 1, French said.
The state agency gives mobile unit vendors a sticker once their inspection is completed, which gives them the ability to operate legally.
“If they don’t have that sticker, then we’re gonna have them shut down and then they’ll have to go get that sticker in order to operate,” French said.
Bejarano has heard from fellow commissioners and small business owners about concerns around installment and payment for fire suppression systems.
He’s connecting with local organizations who assist small businesses and food trucks to determine how to provide financial help to mobile units in Tulsa.
“In the place that they continue to operate and they’re violating the law, there’s a potential for other more punitive consequences,” he said.
How will the state laws impact Tulsa’s city, county agencies?
The City of Tulsa will soon update its policies to comply with the new laws, with a vote likely coming Nov. 5. The ordinance changes were initially announced Oct. 22.
Under the new law, mobile food vendors will just have to pay a single fee through the state — nixing the $155 city fee they previously paid.
The laws have minimal impact on how the Tulsa Health Department operates, and it will continue to inspect mobile units and respond to public health complaints, a department spokesperson said.
The department has generally heard that mobile unit vendors are in favor of some of the changes, but many have questions about how each municipality will handle the new laws, especially zoning rules and operational requisitions, the spokesperson said.
What can mobile vendors do to comply with the new laws?
To comply with House Bill 1076, new food truck owners will only have to submit a state Food Establishment license application from now on. They must continue to comply with local health regulations.
House Bill 2459 requires mobile food vendors to submit a Food Truck permit application and attestation to the State of Oklahoma Liquefied Petroleum Gas Administration by Oct. 31. Both the permit and inspection will need annual renewal.
Beginning Jan. 1, 2026, mobile food trucks who produce grease-laden vapors will have to add the suppression systems to be fully code compliant. They will also have to carry a “Class K-type” fire extinguisher, which is designed to cover fires from grease, and a “Class ABC” fire extinguisher, which covers three types of different fires.
This article was produced as part of a partnership between the Tulsa Flyer and La Semana, a Tulsa-based bilingual Spanish-English newspaper serving Latino communities in Oklahoma.
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