Food carts adding shelter, sometimes heat to keep diners coming back

Meteorologists are predicting a particularly wet and stormy winter.

So what does that mean to Portland’s burgeoning food-cart scene? Hopefully not as much as in years past.

This year, some Portland food-cart owners and lot managers are taking steps to stave off the typical bruising decline in business over the cold months.

Last winter some cart pods had covered seating areas, a few were even heated. Business, however, was still tough. “It was brutal,” said Michael Kennett, owner of Venezuelan cart Fuego de Lotus. “I was at Alberta. I had just opened so nobody knew me. I had some $5 days. My gray water froze.”

This year with his cart’s reputation well-established, he is more optimistic about the winter.

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