Madison Reporter

The City of Madison has concluded its annual Food Cart Review, setting the stage for next year's vendor locations. The review process, which attracted over 900 applications for just 22 community reviewer positions, involved evaluating food cart vendors from September 9 to October 5, 2024. A total of 38 vendors applied, with 33 completing the process and qualifying for a vending site in the Mall/Concourse Vending Area for the upcoming season.

The City’s Vending Oversight Committee will finalize the map of vending locations by year-end. The Street Vending Program Supervisor will then assign sites based on scores, with priority given to top-scoring carts. All qualified carts are expected to secure a site when the new season begins on April 15, 2025.

Scores were determined using several metrics: Raw Average Score (average score after discarding highest and lowest), Adjusted Average Score (Raw Score minus demerits), and Final Rank Order (Adjusted Score plus Seniority Points). Vendors earn seniority points for each year they hold a license, up to five points.

The top-ranked vendor was Surco 2 with a total score of 100.05. Other high-ranking vendors included Surco Peruvian Foods and Braisin' Hussies. Each vendor's rank will influence their choice of location based on their preferences submitted post-map approval.

The City does not anticipate needing a waiting list due to the number of available sites matching those who completed the review process.