A city program aimed at providing a diverse array of street food to Torontonians is facing criticism for saddling vendors with too many regulations and expenses.

The Toronto A La Cart pilot project has street vendors selling foods such as souvlaki, kebabs and jerk chicken from city-approved carts.

There are eight vendors taking part in the program, which kicked off earlier this summer. But one of those eight — a vendor who sold Greek food at Nathan Phillips Square — recently closed indefinitely.

Other vendors seem to be experiencing a number of growing pains as well.

Andnet Zere sold Eritrean food across from the CN Tower for most of the summer, as mandated by the city. But constant construction in the area made for poor business, and she had to appeal to the city to let her move.

"From when I started it was construction ongoing, ongoing. I could not operate," she told CBC News. "There were some times [when] I wasted my food."

She recently started selling food at the Yonge and Sheppard area, but says it took too long to get the green light for the move.

Peggy Kaewmanee says she and her brother shelled out almost $40,000 to the city for a cart and $3,500 for a licence to sell Thai food at Mel Lastman Square.

She says she will lose money this year, "so hopefully the city can reduce the cost of the location fee for us."

Call for regulations to loosen

She also says Toronto A La Cart vendors face much stricter regulations than the scores of hot dog vendors that dot the city.

A La Cart vendors are not allowed set up a generator for a cooler or put up a shelter in the winter, Kaewmanee told CBC News. She says she hopes the city addresses this issue, particularly as they hope to expand the program to include more carts.

"If they cannot fix this problem then how are they are going to expand more?"

The chair of the Toronto Board of Health — the body that oversees the pilot project — acknowledges there is room for improvement but disagrees that the vendors are over-regulated.

"There a few glitches and we are sorting that out — such as what makes a viable location, what food sells well [and] what doesn't," said city Coun. John Filion. "We are evaluating all of that. That has nothing to do with bureaucratic red tape or regulation."

Toronto Public Health is reviewing the A La Cart program and will issue a report on possible changes in October.