Food trucks and restaurants are now waiting months, not weeks, to get permits.
EVERETT, Wash. — Kell’s Cafe isn’t exactly busy at lunchtime.
“It’s heartbreaking and frustrating,” said Sam Dahl, an Everett cafe owner.
Dahl had been waiting since February for the Snohomish County Health Department to administer its first inspections to the cafe.
Six months later it still won’t open completely.
“When customers come in, we have to turn away three out of five of them because they’re looking for lunch,” Dahl said.
Without the proper permits, Dahl can’t create any dishes to go with his coffee – he can only serve customers prepackaged snacks.
“The fear that we won’t achieve our goal of opening has only grown stronger as time goes on,” Dahl said.
When KING 5 first exposed the issue in June, we were told by health department officials that the issues were being resolved and they would be back on track by August. The permitting process was supposed to take four to six weeks, but that hasn’t happened.
A health department spokesman said processing times have been reduced from roughly five months to less than three months, with delays being blamed on staffing shortages at the health department.
“We just don’t know when we’re going to get tested, when that process is going to start,” Dahl said. “It’s just a big question mark.”
Dahl said he’s grateful his landlord has been accommodating during the delay, but he estimates the store is still losing $30,000 to $40,000 per month.
“The bills are piling up,” Dahl said. “Electricity, gas. It’s not cheap to keep the lights on. We’re just putting out electricity and getting nothing in return. Graduations, weddings, concerts, hockey – hundreds of events have disappeared from our sight.”
So they wait, hoping that eventually the rush will come.
“We are survivors,” Dahl said. “We will persevere. We know we can get through these tough times.”
A Department of Health spokesperson told KING 5 progress is being made: The backlog has been reduced to 24 companies, up from 80 in June.