Page 20 - Flathead Beacon // 2.19.14

20 THE FOOD ISSUE // FEBRUARY 19, 2014 FLATHEADBEACON.COM

Food Carts Converge on the Flathead

In Montana and beyond, food carts have become big business

BY JUSTIN FRANZ OF THE BEACON
“IT’S HARD AND EXPENSIVE
E
UREKA – Keith and Katie Poe were TO OPEN A RESTAURANT.
looking for a new life, one where they
wouldn’t have to take orders from any- SETTING UP A FOOD TRUCK
one but themselves. They found it in the MIGHT COST $50,000, VERSUS
form of an old trailer.
Late last year, Keith and Katie opened the Saucy SETTING UP A RESTAURANT,
Dogs food truck – one of many mobile restaurants pop-
WHICH COULD COST
ping up in the Flathead Valley and around the country. $150,000.” Tim Good
In 2013, nearly 3 million food trucks, carts or trailers
were operating in the United States and more than 2.5
billion people eat from them around the world every
day, according to CulinarySchools.com. The food cart task, which leads many creative cooks to food carts.
industry grew more than 8 percent between 2007 and “It’s hard and expensive to open a restaurant,” Good
2012, according to an Australian research irm, and is said. “Setting up a food truck might cost $50,000, ver-
now a $1 billion industry.
sus setting up a restaurant, which could cost $150,000.”

“It’s convenient and it’s hip,” said Tim Good, who The concept of a food cart is nothing new. In the late Keith and Katie Poe of the Saucy Dog food cart.
owns The Cuisine Machine based out of Whiteish.
1800s, the food cart became a staple of cattle drives af- GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON
Good has been running The Cuisine Machine for ter a rancher named Charles Goodnight repurposed an
seven years and is a staple of the Whiteish Farmers old wagon into a rolling kitchen. According to legend,
Market every summer. His walleye sandwich, sweet the term “chuck wagon” originated from Goodnight’s Keith and Katie even make their own ketchup and
potato fries and market fresh salads are always popular contraption. The food cart idea was especially success- mustard to top the sausages they’re slinging from their
items on the menu. He also attends community events, ful on the streets of major metro areas or near factories. cart. Although they planned for a soft opening – “we

provides food at the occasional beer dinner at the Great In the late 2000s, the food cart idea took of again as didn’t even tell anyone” – the cart has been incredibly
Northern Brewing Company and caters weddings. an economic way to open a new restaurant. Many carts, popular with brewery patrons in recent weeks.
Good and his crew catered 25 weddings last summer, trucks or trailers cater to specialized menus, including Good said he’s had the same success with The Cui-
including three in one day.
Saucy Dogs, which can usually be found parked outside
sine Machine, which is why more people are capitaliz-
Just a few months before graduating from college of H.A. Brewing Co. in Eureka.
ing on the food cart trend.
in Minnesota, Good entered the culinary world when “The brewery needed food and we needed a venue,”
“People are realizing it’s easier to have a kitchen on
he landed a job at a local restaurant. He’s been cooking Keith said. “We’re all about local, fresh and organic the go,” he said.
ever since. But starting your own restaurant is no easy
foods.”
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