Swingbellys and Sugo are the food truck veterans of this group. Both already operated food service vehicles, and could be seen parked around town over the last few months.

Swingbellys owner Sean Sullivan said this will be his third summer operating his food truck, and that the market is something he has been waiting for. He said it is a great opportunity to increase his lunch business and attract new customers who would typically be inclined to just walk from the train station to the beach and back, ignoring local restaurants.

Although he will no longer be one of the only food truck operators in the city, Sullivan said he thinks that having more trucks will be a boon to the businesses involved.

“I always think the more the merrier,” said Sullivan. “People aren’t going out of their way to find my truck, but having a bunch of food trucks there together, it appeals to a wider range of people. We should have something for everyone.”

But some restaurants that are not involved think that food trucks will hurt their businesses.

 “I feel like it’s really going to devastate most of our summer profit,” said Ekaterina Langis, a co-owner of Diner by the Sea. “We depend on that. It’s going to be really convenient to just grab food at the beach, tourists might not stop at local businesses in town.”

Langis said that many restaurants that can’t participate are now at a disadvantage. She said the city did not give restaurant owners fair warning about the food truck market, and that it is unrealistic for most restaurants in the city, many of which are still reeling from Sandy, to deal with purchasing, licensing and learning how to run a food truck, with only weeks notice.

“You have to give businesses enough time to react and make a decision and get together the money,” she said. “In two months, no one is going to come up with $100,000. How many hamburger deluxes am I going to have to sell to buy a food truck?”

Langis said that she is at least happy that the market includes local businesses, but expressed concern over how the initiative will affect the “good relationships” she said most Long Beach restaurants have with one another. Food trucks operating on another restaurant’s turf, she said, could create a “toxic” environment.