Six food trucks possible near St. Charles Bend

The Lot, which combines food carts with a heated seating area and taproom, has inspired another imitator, this time on the east side of Bend.

Eric Kramer and Laura Blumenstein are in the early stage of planning On Tap, a similar concept that will offer covered, heated seating, a taproom and space for four to eight food carts. The couple has submitted pre-application documents for 1424 NE Cushing Drive, a 1-acre site near St. Charles Bend, to the city of Bend Community Development Department.

“The east side just desperately needs more places to hang out,” said Kramer, who lives on the east side with Blumenstein, his fiancée.

The Lot, which hosts five food carts on NW Columbia Street, opened in 2013, and mobile eateries have continued to proliferate. More entrepreneurs are getting into the business of providing a place for food-cart vendors to gather. The Bite, which is similar to The Lot, opened in Tumalo last fall. Landowner Mikel Lomsky plans to open a bare-bones food-cart lot on NW Arizona Avenue in Bend this spring.

Kramer and Blumenstein, both 29, began looking for an east-side location last summer.

While they didn’t anticipate landing so near the hospital, Kramer said they think the location will be perfect because the hospital has a huge employee base, and there are few eateries within walking distance. The site, a vacant lot, is zoned for high-density residential development, but the city may permit small-scale retail that supports the surrounding medical district.

Kramer said it’s too early to discuss an opening date.

A proposed plan for On Tap includes on-site parking, covered seating, a taproom, bathrooms, an outdoor play area, a retail produce stand and space for as many as eight food carts.

Kramer said the plan is to develop in two phases, starting with four food carts. He would like for On Tap to have a wider selection of beer, cider, kombucha and wine than other lots.

Kramer and Blumenstein, who’ve previously worked in outdoor recreation and customer service, plan to operate On Tap themselves.

“We’re going all-in on this,” Kramer said. “We’re trying to make this an extension of us.”

An experienced developer, Lomsky said his food-cart pod, tentatively named Podski, ran into regulatory challenges he didn’t anticipate because he’s not providing the same level of service as The Lot, which he argues is more like a restaurant. There won’t be any sewer or electricity for the food carts or covered seating, heat or bathrooms for customers, Lomsky said.

“Food carts, you cannot compare to a full-blown restaurant,” he said.

Lomsky said the city asked him to provide traffic estimates, but there’s no national source of data for food carts. So he turned to a study of Portland’s food cart pods, which found they generate less vehicle traffic than restaurants. Most of the traffic for food-cart pods is walk-up from nearby employers, he said.

Podski will have 10 parking spaces, split between on-site and the street, Lomsky said. He said he hopes to have Podski open in May.

As a landlord, Lomsky said he’s trying to provide the flexibility and low overhead costs that food-cart vendors seem to want. “It’s a lifestyle for these people as well,” he said.

Podski will have space for as many as seven carts, but Lomsky said he’ll require only that at least two are open every day. He plans to lease on a month-to-month basis for around $600 per month.

—Reporter: 541-617-7860, 
kmclaughlin@bendbulletin.com