Munchery Food Delivery Service Accused Of Non-Stop Idling Of Diesel Trucks Outside SF Mission District Facility
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- A rapidly-expanding San Francisco startup which delivers fresh meals is being accused idling its diesel-powered refrigerated trucks for hours in a residential area in order to keep its hand-prepared meals chilled.
According to neighborhood blog Uptown Almanac, Munchery's facility on Alabama St. in the city's Mission District is not large enough to keep up with the amount of food needing cold storage.
To compensate, Munchery has been loading up their delivery trucks with food and idling them at all hours on the street, according to the report.
Munchery CEO Tri Tran told Uptown Almanac "it's absolutely false that we have refrigerated trucks running at all times" and that the company "always turns them off by 6 p.m."
An image accompanying the report showed several trucks outside of Munchery with parking tickets on the windshield. In a follow-up report, Uptown Almanac said the tickets are $110 violations for obstruction traffic, not for failing to move for street sweeping as Munchery's CEO claimed.
According to the California Environmental Protection Agency, it is illegal to idle a heavy-duty diesel vehicle for more than five minutes, with exceptions for circumstances such as heavy traffic, weather conditions, or queuing.
Uptown Almanac also reported Munchery workers habitually dump food waste on the street, but that since the original report was published employees have been seen cleaning up the premises more frequently.
In July, Munchery opened a location in Seattle and reportedly has plans for operations in New York, Los Angeles and Washington, DC.
