Bellingham loves food trucks! We’ve got an awesome selection of food trucks that have found a symbiotic relationship with many of our breweries. New legislation might even let our food trucks serve Tap Trail suds directly from their trucks.

Seattle is on a whole different level of food truck-dom as the result of a mere case of population density. More people = More Trucks. They have so many food trucks they are congregating into food truck pods, where many food trucks come together to offer an amazing selection of eats.

One entrepreneur is taking this a step further and combining beer and food truck pods to make Seattle’s first Beer and Food Truck Park.

This is what Ballard Bites and Brews will look like, sorta.

Artist’s rendering of Seattle’s Beer and Food Park

 

There will be multiple food trucks and permanent seating with cover for those rainy Seattle winters.

A local entrepreneur is trying to help Seattle’s food truck scene—by starting a food truck and beer park in Ballard. Steve Katsandres, who used to own Bad Albert’s Tap and Grill, plans to open Ballard Bites and Brew in April (pending some final permitting) in a formerly empty lot at 1502 NW 50th Street. The park will include a “draft shack,” half of which will be a drive-thru espresso stand and serve “gourmet breakfast sandwiches” from 6 to 10:30 in the morning, the other half of which will serve beer. From 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., they’ll be three or four food trucks, which will rotate. “Some will be for lunch, some will be for dinner, some might stay the whole day,” said Katsandres. Confirmed trucks so far include Skillet Street Food and Marination Mobile.

Katsandres said the idea initially came from his (silent) business partner. They noticed the city only had pods, in which food trucks are stationary and there’s no seating. “We didn’t see anything that had a park-like setting,” he said. “The idea was to bring a really nice environment for food trucks. They don’t have a lot of places to go.” Katsandres and his partner will supply the espresso, beer, wine, and gourmet sandwiches, but the rest of the offerings will be from other vendors.

The “park” will actually be a fenced-in lot with trees planted around the perimeter. The space itself will be enclosed and covered. The truck owners will have access to power so they won’t have to use generators, and the sewer so they can drain their gray water. There will also be wi-fi, full bathrooms on-site, and a stage for bands to play in the summertime.

Is Katsandres concerned about backlash from nearby brick-and-mortar restaurants? “There’s always someone who may not be happy with it, but what we’re trying to do is bring people to Ballard,” he said. “We’re not just in this for ourselves. We want everybody to be happy.”

Interested in having a food truck there? Monitor Ballard Bites and Brew’s Facebook page for application information.

Bellingham has the capacity and interest to, at the very least, start it’s own food truck pod in the near future. We also clearly have the beer to support something that mirrors this type of endeavor as well. As we’ve said before, we predict 2015 will be Bellingham’s Year of Beer. Maybe food trucks and beer could marry to make that happen!