Food carts have been a staple in Bend for over a decade. The arrival of new carts and another pod on the horizon suggests the scene still has room to grow — but as several beloved carts close their doors following a slow winter, a question emerges: Has Bend reached peak food cart?
After more than 11 years of serving Polish staples, Big Ski’s Pierogis will close Sept. 14. Owner Rich Winiarski said that he had planned to close to spend more time with his family and re-enter retirement. But he said it’s clear the financial side of the business has changed.
“I built this business when there were only seven or eight food carts in town, maybe nine,” Winiarski said. “It was a whole different experience. It has changed a lot.”
As of August, there were roughly 153 food carts in Bend operating from permanent locations. There were 290 carts throughout the county, according to date from the Deschutes County Public Health Department.
Not only have competition and prices increased, but the scene is more sophisticated. For instance, Winiarski said there are no longer “freebies” — where breweries let carts park for free or at a low cost so beer drinkers can linger longer with food at their fingertips.
“Now everybody sees the value in a food truck,” he said. “There are so many different food trucks now. We’re at our max. It’s starting to spread everybody a little too thin.”
Like Dump City Dumplings — which ran a cart and a brick-and-mortar for 17 years until the end of August — Big Ski’s also endured a slow winter, stung by poor snow conditions at Mt. Bachelor that attracted fewer tourists.
Poor winter slowed business for some
Himalayan Bites, a cart that served Nepalese, Bhutanese and Tibetan dishes for a decade before closing at On Tap at the end of August, also struggled this past winter. Owner Tenzin Sherpa said business had been declining for three years, which he attributed to the growing number of food carts in Bend.
“I’m kind of done with (the) food truck,” Sherpa said. I’m just a little burnt out. We have harsh winters. That is one brutal part that I didn’t want to deal with anymore. Then during the summer, we don’t have a cooling system. It’s like I’m living in a box. All my employees complain it’s either too hot or too cold.”
Sherpa nearly closed the truck last year but decided to hold out. Now, he plans to take a break for six months to a year and then open a brick-and-mortar with a refreshed menu.
IndoDaddy, a Dutch-Indonesian fusion cart, closed in late July after a four-year run. Owner Jason Wiggers moved from Bevel Craft Brewing to Ballers & Brews once it opened, assuming the decision would boost business but he was proved wrong.
“I went backwards,” Wiggers said.
While the first month or so went well, business soon slowed. Wiggers is currently revamping his menu and looking for a new location, ideally on Bend’s west side. He described the city’s cart scene as “oversaturated.”
“I have a great following of people that love my food, it’s just not enough to sustain,” he said. “It’s just becoming more and more difficult for us food trucks to survive. Like there’s food trucks coming in from Portland, taking spots from us locals.”
MidCity SmashedBurger, which operates three carts across Portland, opened in Bend in 2022. Instead of moving to Base Camp as planned, they closed in June, according to the owner’s Instagram.
Does Bend have room for more?
Bend has topped 1 million visits to its food cart pods for four years in a row. So far this year, lots have seen more than 900,000 visits according to early September data from 16 pods that report to Visit Bend. Nearly half of those visits occurred between June and August, aligning with the busy summer season.
Visits are up slightly compared to the same period last year, potentially driven by the new Base Camp and Ballers & Brews, said Tim Neville of Visit Bend. The growth, however, isn’t consistent across the city: more than half of the lots are seeing fewer visits than at this point in 2025, with the largest decline at about 12%. He also shared that total visits remained mostly unchanged between 2023 and 2024 despite the launch of another pod.
“This indicates average traffic per location could be slightly diluted as the options on where to go increased,” Neville said.
Bend’s food cart scene has steadily expanded since The Lot, the city’s first food cart pod, opened in 2013. Since then, over a dozen pods and brewery lots have launched including The Podski, Crosscut, On Tap, Crux Fermentation Project and Midtown Yacht Club. Ponch’s Place opened in 2024 and Ballers & Brews opened last year.
As Bend continues to evolve, City Economic Development Officer Katy Brooks said there’s still room for more carts, particularly in the north and southeast parts of town.
Bend Chamber of Commerce CEO Sara Odendahl agreed.
“I don’t think we’ve reached an apex as much as we’ve reached maturity,” she said.
Hangar 97, an aviation-themed pod and taphouse, is expected to break ground this year in Bend’s south end. While it’s not yet approved, a pre-application for the Easton Neighborhood Food Lot, an 8-cart pod in Bend’s southeast side adjacent to Caldera High School, was submitted to the city in mid-June, according to city documents.
Bend’s newest pod addition, Base Camp, opened in mid-July with two stories of indoor seating and 10 new carts. General manager Hayden McGee said he wouldn’t describe Bend’s food cart scene as oversaturated.
“I see all the other lots are busy and so are we,” McGee said. “So it seems like there’s plenty and plenty of pieces of the pie to go around right now, especially as the town expands.”
Mikel Lomsky, owner of The Podski, also said there is still room for more pods in neighborhoods that don’t yet have them.
“It is the future,” said Lomsky. “It’s sustainable. But everybody’s getting squeezed now because more carts are available. Unfortunately, you’re going to see your carts that you love so much go away and new ones will replace them.”
The cart craze continues
At the start of this year, Eky’s, a Turkish food cart, opened at Bunk+Brew. Around the same time, The PotLuck, a comfort food truck at Midtown Yacht Club, replaced Lively Up Yourself — a vegan food cart that closed the month prior.
After working in a kitchen for years, Roman Campos opened Roman’s Island BBQ, an Asian-American fusion cart parked outside of The Abbey Taproom, in May.
“It’s kind of a horrible time for the food industry,” Campos said. “All these food truck lots are pretty oversaturated, so the competition is pretty high. It’s probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
The creperie stand, Crepe Oh! Holics, opened a permanent downtown location in mid-August while waiting for its food cart permits. Owner Nataliya Gonzalez said they are set to open a food cart at the start of next year as long as they secure a spot.
Joe Kim, owner of Yoli, an upscale Korean restaurant in downtown Bend, started a food truck in mid-July at Ballers & Brews. He said he has a regular customer base. Kim had been thinking about opening his own cart for about five years.
“I wasn’t sure that the food cart scene was going to be a sustainable thing in Central Oregon and so that’s why I never really took it too seriously,” said Kim. “But I’ve seen how much it has been supported by the community and the sustainability of it over the past few years.”
Other Central Oregon cities have embraced the trend and continue to grow their food cart ecosystems, including Redmond. By the end of the year, Old Line Tailgate Company, an existing food truck and restaurant in Maryland that serves southeastern barbecue and crab cakes, is moving to Redmond’s Dry Canyon Club.
Old Line owner Pat Acuña said East Coast laws force carts to be nomadic. Old Line tows its trailer to move to a different spot almost every day. The plan is to open multiple food carts in Central Oregon, starting with Redmond because that opportunity opened up the fastest and then expanding to Bend — before bringing the Oregon food cart model to Maryland.
“Pods do not exist out here. No one even knows what a pod is,” Acuña said. “The food truck scene over here is at least a generation behind where it is (in Central Oregon).”
Dining and Cooking