The overview
Winston’s British Fish and Chips, a food trailer with authentic British cuisine, is seeking a special permit that would allow the business to operate a food trailer every day of the week in the parking lot of the shopping center.
The food trailer’s proposed hours are from 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. in the parking lot between Big Shucks Restaurant and Cottonwood Market at 101 S. Coit Road.
In addition to the food trailer, the permit allows for portable tables that would be used for seating on location while the trailer is in operation. The food trailer will be stored at the business’s commissary kitchen outside of business hours.
Winston’s founder and CEO Timothy Johnson said that the food trailer is authorized to operate in Dallas and Plano, where it’s currently located throughout the week.
Opening the food trailer is part of Johnson’s broader plan for the area, which includes opening Winston's Tea Room inside the nearby Cottonwood Market.
What they’re saying
“I think this is a good chance for us to experiment, and we can keep a time limit on that permit so that it comes back before the same council, look at the different issues that come up, if there are any, and decide to revoke it,” Council Member Joe Corcoran said. “If it doesn’t work, it’s not a brick-and-mortar store, [so] it’s as if it was never there.”
What’s next?
Council directed staff to explore a feedback period where the city could study the impact of a food trailer in the parking lot on things like traffic and pedestrian safety.
City Manager Don Magner said the city could also impose a closure of parking spaces around the immediate location of the food trailer to potentially ease some traffic concerns.
In the approval of a motion to continue discussions on the project, council members did not impose a timetable on staff studies or for the applicants to reappear before council.
