Food Cart Nation

What Food Cart Nation does

Food Cart Nation operates FoodCartsPortland.com, a two-sided online marketplace founded in 2008 in Portland, Oregon by Brett Burmeister. The platform connects food cart, food truck, and mobile catering vendors with end-customers seeking on-demand dining and event catering, covering 1,000+ vendors across 60+ neighborhoods and cities in Oregon and Washington. Core functionality includes interactive map-based discovery by cuisine, neighborhood, and availability; a catering request and quoting service for corporate, wedding, and private events; and a vendor business dashboard offering free profiles, catering lead distribution, calendar sync with Google and Outlook, online ordering, and social media integration.

The company's product surface extends beyond discovery into three specialized service verticals: Food Carts at Work delivers recurring lunch programs for office parks and corporate campuses with automated weekly menu emails; Food Carts at Home serves apartment complexes and HOAs through scheduled rotations; and Food Carts at Breweries pairs taprooms with rotating food carts to increase dwell time and beverage sales. Strategic partnerships with property managers (Greystar, CBRE, AvalonBay, Equity Residential), breweries (Black Raven, Baerlic, Base Camp), and major food cart pods (BG's Food Cartel, PROST Marketplace) anchor the network. Technology is a web-based platform with a proprietary scheduling system, calendar integrations, and an online ordering module; no public API or AI/ML capabilities are documented.

The business model is freemium on the vendor side and free for customers: vendors join at no cost with access to core features, while premium opportunities (featured listings, sponsored placements, reserved vending locations, structured catering programs) generate subscription and advertising revenue. The platform explicitly takes no commission on catering bookings, so vendors retain 100% of catering earnings, and revenue is monetized through premium tier subscriptions and advertising rather than take-rate. GTM combines a self-serve consumer marketplace with direct B2B sales into corporate offices, residential communities, and breweries, supplemented by event-driven catering acquisition.

Name

Food Cart Nation

Legal name

FoodCartsPortland.com

Website

https://foodcartsportland.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Food Cart Nation operates FoodCartsPortland.com, a two-sided online marketplace founded in 2008 that connects 1,000+ Portland-area food cart vendors with consumers, corporate offices, residential communities, and breweries seeking discovery, booking, catering, and recurring scheduled food cart services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Online Food Cart Marketplace

NAICS

Mobile Food Services (722330), Mobile Food Services (72233), Food Service Contractors (722310), Food Service Contractors (72231)

SIC

Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810), Retail-Eating Places (5812)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYHSACAGAG

Food Truck & Mobile Catering Coordination

Home & Personal Services/Event & Personal Concierge Services/Catering Coordination & Food Service (Non-restaurant)

SECONDARYTHAFAHAA

Food Trucks (Motorized)

Travel & Hospitality/Foodservice & Beverage (Restaurants, Cafes, Bars)/Food Trucks, Street Food & Mobile Vendors

SECONDARYTHAFAIAJ

Mobile / On-Site Catering (Food Trucks for Events, Pop-Ups)

Travel & Hospitality/Foodservice & Beverage (Restaurants, Cafes, Bars)/Catering & Banquet Foodservice

SECONDARYTHAFAHAI

Festival, Fair & Event Mobile Concessions

Travel & Hospitality/Foodservice & Beverage (Restaurants, Cafes, Bars)/Food Trucks, Street Food & Mobile Vendors

Keywords

• Online food cart marketplace
• Food truck catering platform
• Vendor booking software
• Corporate lunch programs
• Event catering marketplace

Headquarters

HQ city

Portland

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Vendor Subscriptions: Free vendor sign-up with access to business profile, catering leads, and booking management. Some premium opportunities such as reserved vending locations or structured catering programs may include fees.
2. Featured/Sponsored Listings: Premium placement for vendors in search results and category pages, providing increased visibility to customers
3. Catering Lead Generation: Connect vendors with event requests from corporate clients, weddings, and private parties. Platform takes no commission on catering jobs - vendors keep 100% of earnings.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Food Cart Nation operates FoodCartsPortland.com, a two-sided online marketplace that lists more than 500 food cart, food truck, and mobile catering vendors in the Portland metro area and lets customers discover them by neighborhood, cuisine, or availability. The platform matches vendors with event catering requests (corporate, weddings, private parties, festivals) and runs recurring food cart rotation programs for office parks, apartment complexes, and breweries using its own scheduling system. Vendors receive free profiles, calendar sync, online ordering, social media auto-posting, and catering leads, while the platform monetizes via optional premium subscriptions, featured/sponsored listings, and structured catering programs.

Product overview

FoodCartsPortland.com operates as a two-sided marketplace platform connecting food cart and food truck vendors with consumers seeking on-demand dining and event catering. The core platform (FoodCartsPortland.com) provides discovery, search, and booking functionality for finding food carts by neighborhood, cuisine, and availability, supporting hundreds of listed vendors across the Portland metro area. The platform's primary service is a Catering Booking Service that enables event planners to submit requests and receive custom quotes from multiple food cart vendors for weddings, corporate events, private parties, and community festivals. Vendor-facing, the Vendor Business Dashboard provides food cart owners with free business profile management, catering lead distribution, online ordering, and calendar synchronization tools. The platform extends its marketplace through specialized service verticals: Food Carts at Work delivers recurring corporate lunch programs for office campuses; Food Carts at Home serves residential apartment and HOA communities; and Food Carts at Breweries pairs taprooms with rotating food cart vendors. Social media integration allows vendors to auto-post location updates and promotions to Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• FoodCartsPortland.com Marketplace
• Catering Booking Service
• Vendor Business Dashboard
• Food Carts at Work (Office Catering)
• Food Carts at Home (Residential)
• Food Carts at Breweries

Quantifiable outcome

• Breweries with on-site food see up to 30% increase in beverage sales
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles6 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

20 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• GreystarcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018Major property management company providing food cart amenities to residents at their apartment communities across the Portland metro area. Platform provides automated scheduling and resident communication.
• CBREcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018Commercial real estate services firm partnering to bring food cart programs to managed properties and office complexes.
• AvalonBaycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018National apartment REIT using the platform to provide food cart amenities as resident perks at Portland-area properties.
• Equity ResidentialcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018Property management company offering food cart programs as resident amenities at their apartment communities.
• WindermereminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018Real estate brokerage partnering for food cart services at residential communities.
• Black Raven BrewingcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018Brewery hosting rotating food cart schedule through the platform to provide food options without a kitchen, increasing customer dwell time and beverage sales.
• Baerlic BrewingcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018Portland brewery operating Halsey Beer Hall at Barley Pod food cart location with 8 rotating vendors including Hapa PDX, Namu, Bam Pow Burgers, and more.
• Base Camp BrewingcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018Brewery with regular food cart programming through the platform at their Portland taproom.
• Figurehead BrewingminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018Brewery partner hosting food cart rotations.
• PROST MarketplacecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018German pub on N Mississippi that purchased and expanded Mississippi Marketplace into PROST! Marketplace with new vendors including Caspian Kabob, Matt's BBQ, Little Conejo, BloodBuzz, and BreadBox.
• BG's Food CartelcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018Largest food cart pod in Beaverton with 21 vendors featuring Thai, chicken wings, Mediterranean, Argentinean, German, Chinese, Italian, and Guamanian cuisine. Includes Speakeasy Bar and event space.
• The Village at St. JohnsminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018New food cart pod at N Chicago and Ivanhoe in St. Johns featuring Fishbox, Highsight Beer Cart, Taste of Casablanca, Sila Thai, and Uncle Tsang's Vegetarian Kitchen.
• AdidasminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2008Adidas uses FoodCartsPortland.com for corporate campus catering and employee food programs at their Portland-area offices.
• NikeminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2008Nike utilizes food cart catering services through the platform for corporate events and employee appreciation programs.
• IntelminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2008Intel's corporate campus uses the platform for food cart catering services and recurring lunch programs.
• Columbia SportswearminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2008Corporate partner using food cart services for office catering and employee events.
• BoeingminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2008Enterprise client utilizing platform for corporate catering needs.
• AirbnbminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2008Corporate partner using food cart services for company events.
• US BankminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2008Financial services company utilizing food cart catering for corporate campus programs.
• YahoominorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2008Corporate partner using food cart services for office catering.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Market position

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks1 record

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/pdxfoodcarts
• Facebookfacebook.com/112219952194335
• Instagraminstagram.com/foodcartsportland

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Food Cart Nation