It was supposed to be an initiative that would give us healthy eating options while expanding the city's culinary palate, ending a 'street-meat' monopoly that left locals and tourists alike hungry for variety on the streets of Toronto.

Instead, in the words of A La Cart vendor Kathy Bonivento, it was a "complete failure" marked by "enormous mismanagement."

Bonivento addressed Toronto councillors at an executive committee meeting Wednesday, tearfully recalling how the ill-fated A La Cart pilot project ate away at her finances to the tune of $89,000. She also threatened to sue the city if some form of compensation wasn't agreed to.

“I destroyed my family’s finances with this project," she said, sobbing.

The three-year project was launched in 2009, but the initial excitement for vendors quickly evaporated when they were burdened with huge, pricey carts that weren't winter-proofed and often malfunctioned.

"The first reason (the project failed) was the immobile, unsafe cart that the city forced us to buy at three times the price it should have cost," Bonivento said.

What was once a one-person job, now required several employees to move and operate the cumbersome cart, further eating away at profits.

The carts cost around $30,000 each and had to be purchased by those in the program.

"The vendors have had to throw good money after bad to try to fix the mistakes of the city," she added, reacting to the staff recommendation to halt the program before its full three-year term had expired.

Remaining participants would be allowed to stay open with fewer rules in place.  Vendors’ location fees from 2010 to 2013 could also be waived if council approves the recommendations at its May 17-18 meeting.

Marianne Moroney, Executive Director for Street Food Vendors Association, was also present at the meeting.

"The rules and regulations (of the A La Cart project) were restrictive," she said. "The menus were too restrictive, the cart was poorly designed...it was purposely set up, this pilot project, so if it was successful they would slowly eliminate all of the existing food industry, so it was nefarious," she alleged.

"I think the city would be wise to give back some of the money."