A program designed to diversify food sold by street vendors in Toronto has been called a failure by a new report written by the City's senior staff.

The "a la Cart" program was introduced two years ago to give Torontonians the opportunity to eat more than the traditional street meat of grilled hot dogs.

Issa Ashtarieh, who has struggled to make any profit from his cart on the corner of University Avenue at College Street, said the failure of the program comes as no surprise to him.

"Something breaks everyday. There's nothing else to break. Nothing works. It's only the grill, and you can get that at Canadian Tire for $500," said Ashtarieh, referring to the cart that food vendors were required to purchase through the program.

To comply with regulations, Astarieh had to pay $30,000 for his equipment two years ago, and now he is being told the program hasn't met its objectives.

City Coun. Denzil Minnan-Wong said, "the a la Cart program is pretty much dead anyway and hopefully what we'll do is drive a stake into the heart of it."

The written report recommends that vendors like Ashtarieh should be allowed to continue serving their healthy food at their current locations. It also requests that vendors should be refunded for last year's permit fee, and be waived from future permits for the next three years.

But Ashtarieh said the refund isn't enough because he's worked 14-hour days and seven-day weeks.

"You're talking about $100,000 investment. I mean a year's fee is like $5,000, that's just like a drop in the ocean," he said.

Cesar Palacio, the chair of the City's municipal licensing and standards committee, said he wants to make the playing field more even for vendors. He said that way hot dog vendors can also choose to serve other foods if they so choose.

Astarieh said that is what vendors should have been allowed to do in the first place.

"I feel cheated by the city, they played with eight people's lives like a soccer game," he said.

Only a few of the original a la Cart vendors remain. The report recommends that they should be allowed to continue to sell food and to apply for a regular vendor permit "if and when they become available."

With files from CTV's Janice Golding