Zesti Food Carts Struggle to Make Ends Meet in the Winter
By: Emily Rutkowski
Lights from various sources light up a dirt lot of 20 different food carts in Forest Grove, OR. Bulb string lights hang from the main bar, centered in the lot, lights illuminate inside and outside the carts. Zesti Food Carts opened in late October 2020 on 2131 Yew Street. The new food cart lot sees most of its crowds during the summertime. The food cart industry relies on a successful summertime to make up for the slow winter season. Business is much quieter during the winter months because customers are less likely to visit the food carts in horrible weather conditions.
Zesti Food Carts lot is open seven days a week, 8 a.m. -8:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. -8:30 p.m. on the weekends. Although, the times and days open for service vary from cart to cart. During the winter months, food carts often have limited hours because business is too slow to make it worth their time.
Joe Stroller is the owner of Jerrik’s BBQ, a texas style barbecue and Hawaiian food cart. The cart has been a fan favorite in the lot and has been on the busier side of the business than most. Jerrik’s BBQ has been there since the grand opening in 2020 and has seen all the seasons Oregon has to offer. Stroller explained that the winter business compared to the summer times business is a world of difference. The slow-smoked brisket with a hint of their signature BBQ sauce has kept business steady.
“The weather in Oregon is not great in the wintertime, and it really does tend to drive people either inside or to more brick and mortar style restaurants,” said Stroller.
Any day during the summertime tends to be busier than the busiest weekend in the winter. Stroller bought outdoor patio heaters to help warm up the customers and make them more comfortable as they waited for their food or ate there. To help customers get their food as convenient as possible, Stoller has started running food out to their cars once they arrive. Stoller hopes that pushes customers to come to pick up food if they don’t have to get out of their car in bad weather.
Turkish Cuisine employee, Ayazon Allasoni has been working at a food cart since he was thirteen years old, and his family business has 42 throughout Oregon. Like most food carts, Turkish Cuisine uses Doordash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub all year round but primarily relies on delivering food services in the winter.
“Summertime, if we are not going to work it the right way, then there is no way we will be able to make whatever we lost during winter, but winter that’s when we know it’s going to be slow,” said Allasoni.
Turkish Cuisine cuts back on staff employed in the winter. In the summertime, two to -three people are in the cart working to make sure they do not lose any customers with a long wait time, while in the winter, they hope for a line to form.
Kourosh Pournaderi, who owns and operates Zesti Food Carts, envisioned Zesti Food Carts doing exceptionally well in Forest Grove. He said Forest Grove was a treasure that had yet to be discovered but knew the small-knit community would come together to support these food carts all year around.
Pournaderi said the food cart pod opened at a good time last year because, during Ccovid, many people did not want to go into restaurants, so the food carts were booming with the outdoor open space. Now, with business slowing down due to the weather, Pournaderi is doing all he can to help the 20 food carts renting out space in his pod.
Pounaderi built a covered building with heaters that give customers a place to eat in the warmth. The food cart pod can also use the structure to provide customers with shade in the summertime.
Irine Song, the owner of Korean Twist, the “Asian fusion cuisine” food cart, is in jeopardy of closing this year. It used to be that business would make enough in the summer to get through the winter, but it has gone down a lot this year. Product costs have been increasing with the COVID-19 pandemic, and people are less motivated to go out and eat, it seems. The food product for Korean Twist has either doubled or tripled in price. She had to raise her prices to stay afloat because she could not cover the expenses.
“If I got a box of lettuce for 17 dollars, then minimum right now it is 30 dollars, sometimes 37, sometimes 48,” said Song.
Song works by herself all winter to save money, but it makes employment in the summertime more difficult because she does not have the funds to train for the summer in the winter.
“Summer is going to be the defining factor for me; I have been taking losses for about a year now. So if this summer doesn’t offset us, then we are probably going to sell,” said Song.