Food trucks are coming to Santa Monica, but the mobile restaurants could be driving into the same hostile territory they’ve famously found in Los Angeles.

That’s because some restaurant owners are already upset about a once-a-week “food truck court” set to open Sept. 14 at California Heritage Museum on Main Street. They cite the same sentiment that’s been expressed by L.A.’s brick-and-mortar restaurants about food trucks: unfair competition.

Peter Lepore, co-owner of Bravo Pizzeria, an Italian café less than a mile from the museum, is concerned that he’ll lose as much as 30 percent of his business to the planned food truck court.

“I’m very upset about it,” Lepore said. “Most restaurateurs on the block are adamantly against it because we have worked hard to build Main Street together as a group.”

Matt Geller, chief executive of the Southern California Mobile Food Vendors Association, acknowledged that restaurants might get hurt on Tuesdays, when the food truck court comes to the museum lot. But he believes the lot will also help bring traffic to the area. And he’s trying to take some pressure of Lepore.

“We won’t let the pizza trucks go to that lot because we are being respectful of his cuisine and the Heritage Museum asked me to do that,” Geller said. “Hopefully, people will get up afterward, walk around, see the bars and see other restaurants and say, ‘Hey, I’m going to come back here on a Friday.’”

Food truck activity is already severely restricted in Santa Monica. The controversy over food truck courts began in January, when a lot at Santa Monica Boulevard at 14th Street was shut down after one day.

The beachside city announced earlier this month that food trucks will be allowed to operate on private property through a temporary permit system. As a result, property owners and food truck operators have begun organizing “food truck courts,” including the museum location and the lot at Santa Monica and 14th.

The food truck courts will feature temporary tables and chairs so people can sit down to enjoy their Korean tacos, barbecue sandwiches, cookies and cupcakes. Portable toilets will also be provided, and the museum site will include a bar serving booze.

Tobi Smith, executive director of the museum, said the food truck court will drive business to nearby merchants through a discount program that’ll be offered to diners. For example, when customers buy food from one of the trucks, they’ll get a receipt with a blue star that’ll qualify them for discounts at participating Main Street stores.

“The whole idea is to make Main Street a destination spot,” Smith said.

But the food truck court will also help the museum make up for losses in corporate grants that have resulted from the economic downturn. That’s because the institution is planning to charge each food truck a fee to park in its lot.

“It’s an alternative way for a small non-profit museum to make money,” Smith said. “We are not like MOCA downtown. I don’t have an Eli Broad to give me $30 million.”

Lepore said he understands that Smith has to find ways to make money, but he doesn’t want it to be at his expense.

“She shouldn’t be given the ability to hurt the business of everyone else on the block,” he said.

Test program

Back in January, when the trucks parked at the 14th Street lot and hundreds of customers flocked to the site, the city shut it down because zoning codes prohibit food trucks from selling to the public on private property.

Geller’s association worked with the property owner and the museum to ask the city to allow food truck courts.

City Council members then directed Planning Department staff members to look into the issue. Planning workers decided to allow the courts with temporary use permits on a four-month trial basis. The permits are good for up to three months, and the fee for a permit application is $953.72.

After the trial period, the council will decide on a policy.

“We can gauge the response of the public and nearby business owners and residents,” said David Martin, deputy director of planning and community development for Santa Monica. “That will give us information to know if it should be allowed on a permanent basis.”

Food trucks are already allowed to serve their customers in Santa Monica from any legal public parking spot, but for only for 30 minutes, and they are required to have a vendor permit and business license from the city.

The trucks must be parked at least 10 feet from the entrance of any business, and they cannot be parked within 35 feet of another food truck.

As a result, Geller said food trucks in Santa Monica favor the food court option. That way, they avoid all the problems associated with the restrictions.

“A lot is wonderful, you pull up and everyone is excited you are there,” he said. “You never have to fight for a place to park. It’s really a nice thing.”

Geller’s association already operates three food truck lots in Los Angeles during lunch time hours: at the Hollywood Production Center on Gower Street in Hollywood, the L.A. Mart on Broadway in downtown Los Angeles and the parking lot of the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Century Boulevard near Los Angeles International Airport. The association shut down a fourth lot that was located in Little Tokyo due to a lack of customers.

About 4,000 food trucks roam Los Angeles County, and they’re continuing to draw the ire of the brick-and-mortar restaurants – especially along a block of Wilshire Boulevard on the Miracle Mile that’s been ground zero for the city’s food truck battle.

Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon introduced a motion Aug. 17 that calls for a report on how to make restaurants more competitive with the food trucks. The report, which will go to the council’s Jobs & Business Development Committee, will include proposals for decreasing the business tax rate for restaurants, creating a Dine LA campaign and allowing restaurants to open up sidewalk cafés.

Geller said he supports the idea of giving restaurants tax breaks, but questions why it’s taken so long for the city to propose such assistance.

“It’s interesting that after all of the years, Los Angeles finally wants to do something to help brick-and-mortars,” he said. “Because for years, restaurants have had a huge failure rate and the city has never stepped in to do anything.”

Geller said he’s pleased with the plans to test the Santa Monica food truck courts, noting, “It’s a win-win for everybody.”

But Bravo Pizzeria’s Lepore doesn’t see it that way. He said he’ll fight to get the lot at the museum shut down if it hurts his business.

“If it impacts us too adversely, I’m sure there will be a coming together of the restaurateurs on the block to shut it down,” he said.