The best dumpling pod in Portland, OR
When I heard about food carts, all I’m thinking is good food at great price. In Portland, OR, this is also the case – and plenty of choices, too – in fact, there are 600 of them!
In downtown Portland, you can find a group of 50 food carts (a.k.a. pods) – offering anything from Chinese dumplings (that also feature cheese and bacon dumplings) to Bosnian pitas.
So, is it really lucrative to start a food cart business? How to start one?
Food cart business: Lucrative?
The answer is yes – food carts in any big cities offering unique street food experience will almost be a success.
Almost all big cities in the world feature great street foods sold by food carts. I’ve been in some parts of the world, and most of them feature great foods in trucks and carts (I enjoyed those baked potatoes cart in downtown Wolverhampton, England, UK during my stay in UK some years ago.)
Mobile food business (in carts or trucks) are typically one type of food and beverage business that allows you to reach your return on investment quickly.
How to start a food cart business?
Food truck business in downtown Portland also proves to be successful business model. However, you might expect long working hours, especially when your cart is busy.
From the Business on Main news video I mentioned above, Ziba Ljucevic, the owner of Ziba’s Pitas, works 18 to 20 hours a day. Hiring an assistant could work, but since most – if not all – food carts are featuring well-kept secret recipes – something that you obviously won’t share with anybody.
To start a food cart business, you need to obtain a license from local city council. And just like any other business startup, you need a certain amount of startup capital. We can learn from the food truck news video that you would require $10,000 – $15,000 as startup capital. Affordable, and like what Reid Barrett, the owner of The Dump Truck selling dumplings, says, the investing is relatively affordable; you can do it without proposing for a loan to the bank.
A little contest…
So, what do you think of food cart business? Is it a lucrative small business idea? Please share your opinion – with a twist :)
Here’s a little contest for you…
How about winning a review on Noobpreneur.com (worth $75) PLUS a bonus guide – “How to start a successful restaurant business”?
Please visit the “Food Trucks Take An America City By Storm” news video on Business on Main site and leave a comment there.
Once you’ve done it, please let me know about it by leaving your comment on this article or send me an email about it
For EACH comment written on the food truck news video and the comment I receive on this article or my email inbox, the “How to start a successful restaurant business” guide is yours for free.
For the BEST comment of all, I will write a review on your business or business website on a Noobpreneur.com’s upcoming blog post.
The deadline: July 28th, 2011. So again, please go to this news page and share your opinion today:
“Food Trucks Take An America City By Storm“
Disclaimer: I receive incentives to share my views on this particular blog post. My blog is a part of an online influencer network for Business on Main.
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Just left a comment. Calling Portland’s mobile vendors “food trucks” is a bit of a stretch. I explained my reasoning there.
I cover the mobile food industry daily at Mobile Cuisine Magazine, if your readers are interested, please come check us out.
Richard,
Thanks for your comment! I read yours on the Business on Main’s video page and I think you are right – maybe food stalls would be more relevant…
Ryan,
From the news video, a mobile vendor owner borrows money from family and friends – so maybe you can start looking at that option, too?
Good luck!