Food carts in Portland, Oregon

(2013) In 1965, the first food cart in Portland, which sold kosher hot dogs, was set up across from Portland City Hall. A 2001 report in The Oregonian stated Portland was home to 175 carts, with fierce competition for the four cart spaces available since 1987 in the South Park Blocks. A bidding war in February 2001 led to a combined price of $192,000 for the spaces. There was also a large cluster, often referred to as a food cart pod, at Fifth and Stark street, and one food cart had been operating since 1980. In 2025, Portland had approximately 25 food cart pods and approximately 500 food carts. Food Cart Week is an annual event in the city. Approximately 130 businesses participated in the fourth event in 2025. ==Regulation==

Most North American cities sought to make the street for cars in the mid twentieth century, and thus imposed strict regulations on food carts, which led to few food carts remaining. In comparison, Portland has low regulation, such as having nearly no requirement for a food cart to have a particular structure, which makes the cost of entry low, and thus leading to a proliferation of carts. Many regulations are also not enforced as long as health and safety are not impacted. ==Notable pods and foods carts==

Notable food cart pods currently operating in Portland include: • Cart Blocks • Cartopia • Collective Oregon Eateries • Hawthorne Asylum • The Heist • Hinterland Bar and Food Carts • Midtown Beer Garden • Nob Hill Food Carts • Pan y Pueblo • Pod 28 • Portland Mercado • Prost Marketplace • Rose City Food Park • Springwater Cart Park (formerly known as Cartlandia) Businesses that have operated as food carts in the city include: • Bake on the Run • Bark City BBQ • Bing Mi • Birrieria La Plaza • Birrieria PDX • Cheese & Crack Snack Shop • Chicken and Guns • DC Vegetarian • El Cubo de Cuba • Deadstock Coffee • Desi PDX • Dirty Lettuce • E-san Thai Cuisine • Erica's Soul Food • Farmer and the Beast • Fifty Licks • Flying Fish Company • Fried Egg I'm in Love • Frybaby • Gracie's Apizza • The Grilled Cheese Grill • Gumba • Jojo • Kee's Loaded Kitchen • Kim Jong Grillin' • Koi Fusion • Le Bistro Montage Ala Cart • Leaky Roof Gastropub • Los Gorditos • Mama Chow's Kitchen • Matt's BBQ • Matta • MidCity SmashBurger • Mole Mole • Monster Smash • Nacheaux • Nico's Ice Cream • Nong's Khao Man Gai • Off the Griddle • Paladin Pie • PDX Sliders • Round Two (formerly Hit the Spot) • Ruthie's • Shanghai's Best • Smaaken Waffle Sandwiches • Stoopid Burger • Stretch the Noodle • Sure Shot Burger • Tamale Boy • Tierra del Sol • Tight Tacos • Tokyo Sando • Viking Soul Food • The Whole Bowl • Yoshi's Sushi Defunct Defunct pods include the Alder Street food cart pod (1990s–2019) and Carts on Foster, which closed in 2023. In 2025, the food cart pod Foster Food Carts began operating on the site previously occupied by Carts on Foster. Defunct food carts include Baby Blue Pizza, Baon Kainan, Cultured Caveman, El Gallo Taqueria, Holy Trinity Barbecue, PDX671, Reeva (2022–2025), and Sweet Lorraine's. == See also ==