Thousands of people lined up to get a bite at Kitchener’s mini food truck festival Sunday afternoon.

While this event was designed to promote local food trucks, operators say the cost of permits in general is slowing the scene down.

In Waterloo, operators are able to dish out their goods but only because of a pilot program that started last year.

Owner of Luchador Gourmet Streetery, Emma Putt says the food truck industry in Waterloo Region is far behind other major cities.

“When you can only go on let’s say eight streets in a city it's just simpler to go back to a Hamilton, or a Mississauga so that the trucks can make money.”

Putt says today’s lines ups are proof that the appetite for “food on the go” is on the rise.

Dave Betts brought this truck "Great British Bake" to Kitchener. He says unless it’s a special event the city of Cambridge doesn’t allow food trucks to set up, and when they do, it can become quite expensive.

“Typically we would pay eight to ten times the amount for what we paid for this event"

The cost to set up today was a bargain according to operators, only $100 dollars for the day. 

Waterloo's pilot project allows food truck operators to set up shop for $2,200 per year.

Anyone who wants to do business in other cities will have to purchase separate permits.

“It’s ten times what we pay in Hamilton to have a food truck on the road” says Putt.

The downtown marketing coordinator for the city of Kitchener Hilary Abel says year round permits currently aren't an option for Kitchener, but says events like this means it’s definitely something they will consider. 

“I think at the end of this summer we'll probably look back over all those attendance and different measurements and different community feedback and then decide where to go from there.”

Food truck operators say they'd like to see just one single fee for all of Waterloo Region.

Foodie, Charles Warman agrees.

“Especially in Kitchener and Waterloo it's essentially the same city but it has separate laws so it would be good to see them able to get one permit for the whole region”