Xavier Becerra's Food Cart Controversy

Richie and Erica focus on CA gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra's comments encouraging the public to purchase food items from dubious street carts for an "authentic" experience - rather than patronize brick and mortar restaurants. What's the controversy? That's the topic of today's episode. 

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Transcript

Really, San Francisco?

Xavier Becerra Food Cart Controversy

Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Welcome, everybody, to Really San Francisco! I, of course, am with my co-host, Richie Greenberg. Hey, Richie!

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Richie Greenberg: Hey, how's it going, Erica? Beautiful day today here in the city by the Bay, isn't it?

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Absolutely lovely. I've got family members here taking them all around. It's… it's stunning. But Richie, I want to ask you something. Yeah, yeah. Did you ever… have you ever had any of those, fruit cups from the stands that you see popping up all over San Francisco, especially in tourist areas?

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Richie Greenberg: To be honest, to be totally honest, the food, the food distribution carts, the rolled up hot dogs, the, the, the cut fruit. Honestly, I cannot remember if I've ever

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Richie Greenberg: had… from any of them ever here in San Francisco. I think I've just always said no.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Yeah, I've always said no, too, and I'm wondering if you and I have the same reason for saying no. We're gonna talk about that today, because this is in the news. The person who is running the Democrat for

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: the governor of California.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Javier Becerra made some pretty radical statements the other day, and it rattled a lot of cages, and here's why. He actively said, he actively promoted

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Don't go to a legitimate restaurant for your Mexican food. Instead, make your way over to one of the food carts

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Right? These little carts that are set up on street corners, and in tourist areas, and outside of, outside of nightclubs, outside of restaurants.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: And buy from them instead, because it's better, it's more authentic, it's… you're… you're doing a good thing.

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Richie Greenberg: Yep.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Blew up.

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Richie Greenberg: blew up, so this was… this was, last week, July 15th, where he was speaking to, in downtown Los Angeles, to the organization.

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Richie Greenberg: the, National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, over the conference in LA.

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Richie Greenberg: So he said that, and, I think it was actually in response to a video that his opponent that is running for governor of California, Steve Hilton, Steve Hilton walked into a Del Taco down in Southern California.

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Richie Greenberg: That's like a Taco Bell, a Del Taco, which I actually preferred over Taco Bell for a while.

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Richie Greenberg: It was a long time ago. So, Steve, Hilton ate it, made a video of it, and said, oh, this is great Mexican food, and that was what, I think, triggered this, where,

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Richie Greenberg: Becerra had to respond and said, you know, he's trying to say, no, that is not real, legit Mexican street food.

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Richie Greenberg: you can go and go to a street food, street cart, a stand on any corner in certain neighborhoods, and get your legit Mexican tacos there. So, then he expanded on that, and that's what caused the uproar, the two.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: I'm sure it did.

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Richie Greenberg: So, it's really interesting why this is such a hot topic in the last couple of days. It blew up on social media, it was covered in the news, his clips, and I think that you and I have…

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Richie Greenberg: slightly different, perspectives on this, but I think that, in the end of our podcast episode today, you're… we're gonna, we're gonna converge on this. So, how about what you outline, what are your, what are your gripes and observations?

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: N-na-na.

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Richie Greenberg: No, no?

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Before we get into that, we're gonna have to address, what on earth are you in front of today?

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Richie Greenberg: Oh, oh, okay.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: For the listeners, you can't see it, but Richie has a very interesting background.

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Richie Greenberg: Yeah, so, behind me, yeah.

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Richie Greenberg: So I often use a virtual background. Like, your background today is blurred, so wherever you are is just blurred. I usually have a TV studio with monitors and all of that, or just the room I'm in.

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Richie Greenberg: So, I get fascinated by, things that I see that pop as I'm visiting, like, a nice…

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Richie Greenberg: like, you know, like a Grand Canyon look, or some buildings, or a nice alleyway, and I photograph it. So, the other day, I was in one of the local San Francisco

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Richie Greenberg: eateries, Papalote, and I happened to pop in to the restroom, and I was just… all of the graffiti, and so this is the graffiti on the walls in Papalote. So, it's… it's kind.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: It's quite beautiful.

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Richie Greenberg: It's.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: colorful.

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Richie Greenberg: It is, yeah.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Yes.

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Richie Greenberg: It's very, it's very authentic.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: It is, and Papalode actually has a couple of different locations, and their salsa is… they actually sell it at…

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: a lot of grocery stores. Okay, so aside from that, you do go to… you go to independent Mexican restaurants, as do I, who hasn't been in San Francisco to La Taqueria, and wherever… Pancho Villa, wherever it is that you want it, what your favorite…

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Spot is, you go. These are legitimate businesses, they have

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: storefront. They have workers, and.

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Richie Greenberg: They have rent. Rent and leases, yeah.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: That's right, and there… it is exceptionally difficult to run a business… actually, to start.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: operate and continue a business in San Francisco.

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Richie Greenberg: Yeah, San Francisco notoriously difficult.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Absolutely. And so, we're gonna… I actually reached out to Lieuten Governor Wannabe. She's a candidate for Lieutenant Governor, who's running with Steve Hilton. Her name is Gloria Romero, my old…

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: former women's Studies, professor.

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Richie Greenberg: Yeah.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Yeah.

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Richie Greenberg: Oh, yeah, so you know her.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Oh, yeah, we go way back. So, she's amazing. I really, really loved her as a professor, and I'm fascinated now that she's running as Lieuten governor. But, I did reach out to her.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: And, of course, Gloria Romero, she is… Latina?

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: So, the woman understands Mexican food and, the issue at large.

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Richie Greenberg: and California. She understands California the laws as well, so that's a great… it's a great person to talk to from both aspects, yeah.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Completely. And so, before I go into my opinion, I reached out to her, and I said, so what's the problem here, Gloria? What is there… and she said, boy, let me tell you. So, let's… let's go through, Richie.

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Richie Greenberg: Yeah, we got a copy of it, too.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Read through some of the costs and hurdles that a legitimate business owner, restaurant owner, needs to go through in order to open up a business.

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Richie Greenberg: So, yeah, she wrote a whole long, two-page, argument about why she disagrees with, Xavier Becerra, so that's, it's good, it's a really good…

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Richie Greenberg: perspective, and you can address that, but let's look, it says here,

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Richie Greenberg: you know, it's not free market competition here. No. Where you have a rogue fly-by-night operation, even though that they may, you know, come back to the same area, the same, street corner, day after day. It's not that kind of… it's unfair. So,

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Richie Greenberg: So you've got,

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Richie Greenberg: when you want to set up a business, when you… not just restaurant, but any business in California, in America, in California, in San Francisco, but specifically restaurants, because they're handling food, and you have to deal with the health of the patrons.

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Richie Greenberg: So, here's what Gloria brought up, and I'm sure that you and I would have come up with this as well.

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Richie Greenberg: rent, right? A restaurant has to pay for rent, property taxes, building out a kitchen, the cost of all the equipment and labor to have a kitchen built into the new location.

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Richie Greenberg: Fire code compliance, so there has to be exhaust hoods and emergency fire suppression in case it, something goes up. Ada compliance for people that have disabilities to be able to get in.

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Richie Greenberg: Commercial utilities, meaning the, gas, electricity, and, water.

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Richie Greenberg: Health inspections periodically and at the beginning, right, for all the food and food handling and handlers have to go through a program.

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Richie Greenberg: Business licenses, of course. Workers' compensation, so any of the payroll, the people who are being employed there.

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Richie Greenberg: have to be paid on the books as an employee with W-2 payroll expenses and all the taxes that are related to payroll, and then workers' compensation and other insurances. Liability insurance, in case anyone gets injured, slip or fall on the premises.

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Richie Greenberg: And sick leave, if they, the employees are accumulating sick time, sick leave, sales tax collection, and, and then just all the food that is, that you have to buy.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Right.

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Richie Greenberg: You've got to buy…

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: on very slim margins, yes, for sure. And let's talk about the workers. The people who are the laborers, the people who make these restaurants run and hum, they have to be treated with respect, they have to be… have fair labor standards.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: In one of these food cart operations, there's nobody there saying, okay, it's time for your break.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: They're not contributing to a 401K or a 403B.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: The…

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: how do we know? Sometimes people bring their children with them, and what's going on with that? I could… okay, let me ask you this, Richie, because to me, I get… I hear this a lot, and I'm just like, oh gosh, okay, well, this is not that important to me, but maybe it's important to you, is the food itself.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: safe. Obviously, with a.

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Richie Greenberg: Where'd it come from?

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Where does it come from? How is it being stored? What about all those temperatures that you have to…

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Richie Greenberg: Refrigeration, and heating through…

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: expiration dates, heating food to a certain temperature when you're cooking it, you name it, it is…

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Richie Greenberg: Out the window, all of the regulations.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Out the window.

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Richie Greenberg: the window. Absolutely.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: I say buyer beware. You want to eat a hot dog that's wrapped in bacon that is moldy.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: I kind of think that's your… that's a risk that you take.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: But what upsets me is this.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: When they start siphoning business away from legitimate businesses that do have all of these

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: costs, all of these regulations that are for the benefit of the public, right? It's a good thing. These are good regulations. No, maybe not all of them. Who knows? Maybe we should do away with half of the taxes.

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Richie Greenberg: Who knows?

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: and whatnot, but that's a different…

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Richie Greenberg: These are good regulations and good rules and requirements. It's not just the regulation, don't do this, don't do that, but it's also, yes, do this. Yes, pay the workers a proper wage.

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Richie Greenberg: Yes, insure them.

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Richie Greenberg: Yes, ensure that the food where your product is coming from is safe. Yes, be sure that it is stored properly, that it is not spoiled, because you don't want to have anyone from the public get sick. So these are all not really negative things, these are positive things to protect everyone involved with the business.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: That's right, so when Becerra pompously said, Don't go there, go here.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: What is it that you're saying here?

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Richie Greenberg: Little buffoon.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Total, but you are literally saying don't go to a business that is regulated, treats workers fairly. You care about workers? Well, by gosh, the people who are on the street at those carts are out all manners of the night.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: I don't know how long they've stood out there in the rain, the cold.

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Richie Greenberg: With little lights, little headlights.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: A little life.

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Richie Greenberg: I've seen them, yeah.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Exactly, and sometimes the competition between them is so fierce, they're not getting any business. Because there's 10 of them in a row, and if you've been to, like, a game at the… maybe you went to a Giants game, you'll see them. They're all in a row, right? So they could be standing out there without selling a hot dog more than once an hour, because there's so many of them. And meanwhile.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: You've got other businesses that are literally right there that

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: are really struggling. So, it's just… it is not okay, and I think he put his foot in his mouth, and he's suffering the damage, the PR damage from that, because people are angry. Legitimate, legitimately so.

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Richie Greenberg: Yep, yep.

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Richie Greenberg: Should we delve into, though, one of the reasons

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Richie Greenberg: That they're there in the first place.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Definitely.

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Richie Greenberg: Right? Why are these, food cart vendors, unlicensed, or rogue, or fly-by-night, or unregulated, whatever word you want to use to describe this? Why are they there in the first place? How can they be there? And how come

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Richie Greenberg: Department of Health or others would think the police… how come they haven't been, like, either arrested, taken away, seized, anything like that?

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Yeah.

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Richie Greenberg: So…

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: I'll start with one point, and you can please… I'd like you to take up the other. And point one is that these are not a lemonade stand that some little kids got together, and they whipped up some lemonade, and made some cookies, and they set up a table.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: That's independent, it's… well, they've done it on their own, they can pull away at any time. These food carts.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: They are run by cartels.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: And it's very dangerous people, so they end up… either they're paying off their fee to get into the country, that they've been trafficked into the country, and they're made to work out there. They have to. They gotta stand out there, and they're essentially paying their dues in order to…

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: to participate. These are not always willing participants in this. Cartels are no fun. These are very, very dangerous, very violent people, and who I certainly wouldn't… I would never… if you… if people knew that the hot dog that they're buying

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: is enabling

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: the kind of violence that these people are actually running away from, I don't think that they would sell too many hot dogs after that. So, it's really, really important to know what's going on. Just question. Take a look around you. Look, why is every… why are they all exactly the same? This is not an independent…

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Richie Greenberg: The design, the colors, the size, the model.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Food is the same, the carts are the same, the everything, the pricing is the same, it's the same, these are not independent. These are all part of a network, and that network is

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Dangerous people, right?

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Richie Greenberg: So, that hits on an even larger existential issue here. And, in preparing for our chat today, I did a little bit of research, the background of this whole phenomenon, and why is it even here? Why does it even exist? And so.

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Richie Greenberg: I didn't know this. Believe it or not, I didn't know this…

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Richie Greenberg: And there's someone there that's, in the area there.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: My mom doesn'.

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Richie Greenberg: Just walk into the room.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: room.

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Richie Greenberg: Oh.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Hi, Mom! I'm doing a podcast right now.

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Richie Greenberg: Oh, that's go pray!

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Hang on.

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Richie Greenberg: I'm not.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Let's ask who got pregnant. I'm working.

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Richie Greenberg: podcast.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Sorry.

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Richie Greenberg: Wow, that's, that's,

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Let her back onto that.

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Richie Greenberg: Okay, that's unexpected, how to go down the rabbit hole there, literally.

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Richie Greenberg: Okay, so, preparing for today, and I did some research, and I didn't know this because it's not an issue that I paid a lot of attention to, and I don't know if you knew this.

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Richie Greenberg: But there are two specific California laws that were created in Sacramento. One of them was in 2018, another one 2025, which just came into effect earlier this year, 2026. And, there's the…

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Richie Greenberg: Safe Sidewalk Vending Act and the Street Vendor Business Protection Act.

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Richie Greenberg: So what these two things do… Is it,

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Richie Greenberg: Removes a lot of the registration and inspection requirements of these street… these rogue fly-by-night food cart vendor

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Richie Greenberg: enterprises. So the state has actually deregulated them, and I believe it was mostly as a result of the immigration crackdowns.

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Richie Greenberg: By the, by the federal government.

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Richie Greenberg: So, in the past.

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Richie Greenberg: And even now, any of these restaurants, these brick-and-mortar businesses that want to start up, right, the legitimate, you know, restaurant shops and cafes.

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Richie Greenberg: With all those expenses that we talked about, that we listed, and the registrations, and the licensure, and the inspections, and there has to be name… people's names on everything.

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Richie Greenberg: Well, so, if one is a, illegal alien, someone who's an undocumented immigrant here.

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Richie Greenberg: They're afraid and won't want to get involved with any of these kind of registration businesses, because they don't want to expose themselves and get caught, and then say, okay, well, now we know where this person lives, we know all the information, who they are, we've got everything.

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Richie Greenberg: So these, laws that came down from Sacramento, they removed, and there's… they do not require to know about citizenship or immigration status anymore. They don't need to have fingerprinting or background checks to get a permit.

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Richie Greenberg: And, vendor data is not… Freely…

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Richie Greenberg: exchanged with immigration or elsewhere for law enforcement, so… in a sense. So that is…

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Richie Greenberg: one of the problems here is that, this continues now to… and what Becerra… Javier Becerra was saying, to…

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Richie Greenberg: to now focus on, you know, you should go and buy from these guys. You're actually supporting not only, as you said,

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Richie Greenberg: cartels and other nefarious enterprises to try and get these individuals to pay back whatever, services that they had obtained to get here, but

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Richie Greenberg: they're actually being protected by the government of California, so that way they are not found out.

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Richie Greenberg: So this is, this is a, another whole reason, another whole issue that,

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Richie Greenberg: We really have to focus on this and see what's…

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Richie Greenberg: Is this really what's best for us?

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Yeah, for sure. I mean, I think that you… it's such an important point, is that… is it shielding people from

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: you know, a crackdown on their immigration status. I don't even want to address that. To me, that's…

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: I like to focus on San Francisco.

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Richie Greenberg: I agree, but it's shielding, but it's also excusing them. It's taking them out of the normal process of running a business, especially a food establishment, and it's creating a carve-out niche for them, saying.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Right.

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Richie Greenberg: Because you are… and this is what you can extrapolate from it, because you're not here legally, right? Don't worry about it, you don't have to get the fingerprinting, you don't have to do any of this stuff that a…

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Richie Greenberg: A legitimate, very expensive, very, you know, everything has to be done by the permissions and inspections.

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Richie Greenberg: Don't worry about it, we're giving you a special place that you can somehow try and make some money.

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Richie Greenberg: And you're excused from everything else that you're supposed to be doing.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: And there is something positive about that, I have to say. Like, I love free enterprise. I adore it. I would never, ever want to discourage somebody from starting a business, a micro-business, right? These are really, really tiny, right? If you want to go out… you and I were talking a while back, actually, about the creme brulee cart.

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Richie Greenberg: Yes, yes, that was that guy, Curtis, that was you, 15 years ago, or whatever it was.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Yeah, but there are pathways, there are ways to do these micro-businesses without… without being bombarded with the excess fees and regulation. The food trucks are a great example. There's a reason there are so many food trucks. They're inexpensive.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: They're relatively easy to set up as a business.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: You just have a great idea, and kind of go through a few hoops, and you could probably do it. So there are ways you can legitimize your business, and I think that it's a good idea. I really do. I would never… I just don't want to ever say, oh, don't follow your dream of making a grilled cheese sandwich cart, or in my…

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: I always wanted to.

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Richie Greenberg: I think that exists.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Bread and butter, like, bread and butter? Who doesn't like bread and butter? Okay, but, the problem is that this is not that. So let's not, let's not conflate, right?

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Richie Greenberg: A food cart… a food cart and a food truck are very different, because even the food truck still has to have an inspection, still has to have…

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Richie Greenberg: you know, there's a regulation, you can't just line up 10 car…

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Right!

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Richie Greenberg: trucks in front of an existing business.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Exactly! Exactly.

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Richie Greenberg: No regulations.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Right, and there's a reason for that, and…

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: I think that's… it's… it's an important distinction. Now, what I absolutely love is… there's some great examples here in San Francisco of the street taking care of the situation.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: There was a while, probably about 2 years ago, a kebab pop-up started on Polk Street, and…

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Richie Greenberg: Boy, I tell you.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: they had a canopy, they put tables and chairs outside. It was on Polk Street. They had the whole barbecue thing, and then.

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Richie Greenberg: It's ringing a bell. You wrote the heads!

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: They had nothing in terms of a business license, it was a couple of guys.

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Richie Greenberg: Inspection, nothing.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Yeah. I remember.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: No.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: It took care of itself, because the neighboring restaurants

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: were said, absolutely not, and they all got together, and they ran it out of town, because it was… they were… they were definitely undercutting the price of… because there were kebab restaurants there already, right? So if this guy's selling his kebab for $5, and they have to sell it for $12 because of all the…

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Upfront costs, the associated fees and whatnot, paying their workers.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Yeah, it's a problem. Even if that is delicious, even if it's a… even if it's not moldy, whatever, they're not gonna want it.

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Richie Greenberg: Just the mold on.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: And they have every…

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Richie Greenberg: rewrite.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: To stomp out and say.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: pick up your canopy, and get out of town. And that's kind of what I would like to see more of, which is restaurants saying.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Look, it's not okay. Look at all these things. We're… we are treating our workers with respect, and we're paying them appropriately, and we're paying for their healthcare, right? We've got all of that, all these things that San Franciscans say that we want.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: If you want that, then you don't want this.

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Richie Greenberg: That's right.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Oh, sorry, Becerra.

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Richie Greenberg: Becerra, I, I, yeah, we both agree on this, two thumbs down from each of us, that's four thumbs total, and your mom, your mom is there in, in the… So her thumbs down, too. That's six thumbs down, Mr. Becerra.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: For everybody out there, my mom did wander in, but she just woke up from a nap. She's in from San Diego right now, so we had a big day. Sorry for the interruption, but it's great to have her here, and boy, do we go out a lot when she's here, too, so…

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Richie Greenberg: Nice.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Food carts.

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Richie Greenberg: Straight in the.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Thank you so much, everybody. I want to hear… we want to hear from you right.

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Richie Greenberg: Richie. We do.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: you go to these food carts? Why? Right? And it's fine, this is actually not… as far as I'm concerned, that's not a…

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Richie Greenberg: No judgment, yep, no judgment, we're just wondering statistically how many of you would eat at food cart,

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Don't tell us.

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Richie Greenberg: These kind of food carts, right?

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: That's right.

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Richie Greenberg: So, thank you, Erica, for another wonderful discussion, as always, and we, as you say, we encourage the public to, contact us, podcast at reallySFNews.com, or you can get in touch with each of us on

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Richie Greenberg: on Twitter, on X, you're Erica J. Sandberg, and I am Greenberg Nation, and we look forward to the next fun, exciting topic here on Really San Francisco.

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Erica Jennifer Sandberg: Thank you so much for joining us. Bye, everyone.

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Richie Greenberg: U.