A food truck is supposed to move. In Georgia, moving it too far meant getting another permit.
Georgia has 159 counties, and food truck owners were required to obtain a permit in each county where they served. That meant they could face 159 separate permitting requirements if they wanted to work throughout the state.
For a small business like Tony Harrison’s, those requirements were unnecessary barriers that made it harder to turn opportunity into a thriving business. They meant hours away from serving customers and dollars that couldn’t go toward ingredients, equipment, employees, or growth.
And when it costs a business more to operate, those costs don’t simply disappear.
Instead of just accepting the status quo, Tony took his one small step to change it.
He realized this wasn’t just his problem — other food truck owners were running into the same barriers.
One entrepreneur took a small step to change the system
Tony founded the Food Truck Association of Georgia and started pushing state and local leaders for a better way.
For more than two years, he advocated reform. But the Food Truck Association was just spinning its tires.
See Tony’s story by clicking here or on the picture below.
After someone suggested that he connect with Americans for Prosperity, Tony shared the stories he’d collected from food truck owners across the state and explained how the county-by-county permitting system was holding them back.
AFP joined the fight and helped build grassroots support for reform. Staff and volunteers visited food trucks, talked with owners, and encouraged them and their customers to contact lawmakers.
That pressure was key. In a unanimous vote, the state passed a law that replaced the county-by-county system with a streamlined statewide permitting process.
Tony started by trying to solve a problem he faced. By the end, he’d helped make the path easier for food truck entrepreneurs across Georgia.
Removing barriers creates opportunity for others
The Peña family shows what can happen when those barriers come down.
They bought their first food truck in the early 2000s and tried to serve construction sites, warehouses, apartments, and other locations. But the cost and complexity of operating across different counties made an already difficult business even harder. Eventually, they sold the truck and found other work.
Years later, Brandon Peña and his siblings invested in another family-run food truck, Tres Jardines. By November 2023, after Georgia’s permitting reform had taken effect, the business was generating enough profit to support five family members and help fund a second truck.
Removing a major barrier helped give the Peña family another chance to turn their idea into a winning recipe.
They still had to attract customers, manage costs, and do the hard work of running a business. But with fewer unnecessary permitting costs, they had more room to put their time and money toward the business itself.
The cost of an unnecessary barrier doesn’t just affect businesses — it ripples into the community, too.
Every added cost a small business absorbs puts pressure somewhere else. They may need to charge higher prices, delay hiring, hold back on raises, or put off investments that could help them grow.
Small-business costs become family costs
Most families never see the permit fees, paperwork, or compliance costs behind the businesses they rely on.
They just see the final price.
That is why the cost of living and the cost of doing business are connected. A restaurant, contractor, shop, or food truck has to cover its own rising costs before it can serve anyone else.
Tony’s story points to a broader lesson: Removing an unnecessary barrier does more than make life easier for the entrepreneur. When a business can focus its time and money on serving customers, families and communities benefit, too, through lower prices and more opportunities.
Take one small step
The businesses behind the things you buy and the services you rely on are easy to take for granted. But what happens behind the counter reaches the people on the other side of it.
Tony saw one obstacle making it harder for food truck owners to serve their communities and chose to do something about it. His small step helped make it easier for other entrepreneurs to spend more of their time and money doing what businesses do best: serving people.
That is how opportunity can become prosperity and why the people creating it in our communities are worth recognizing.
Tell us about a small-business owner in your community who took a risk, created opportunity, served their neighbors, or helped make the path easier for someone else.
