Have a craving for a bite to eat while you’re waiting to pickup someone at the airport? Now you’ve got a new option as a three month pilot program for food trucks debuted this week at the cellphone lot at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The Port of Seattle is partnering with the Washington State Food Truck Association to schedule twice a day, seven days a week service.
“It’s a great way to take a bite out of your wait and enjoy some great food options you might not be aware of,” said Port of Seattle Commissioner Stephanie Bowman. “This is another opportunity to grow local, small business activity at the airport and improve the experience for users of the cellphone lot.” The cellphone lot, located on S. 170th Street off the Airport Expressway exit between Air Cargo Road and International Blvd, is designed to handle food trucks and not take away any of the 180 spaces for parkers. The rotating schedule will provide the opportunity for a wide variety of vendors including local favorites such as The Grilled Cheese Experience, Ezell’s Express II, Boss Mama’s Kitchen and The People’s Burger.
Lori Johnson, the Director of the state food truck association says “I don’t see why we can’t build on the successes of other food truck programs at similar airports. Local food trucks offer a unique experience and are most often operated by small business owners passionate about sharing their culinary art with people in their community. Food trucks have really captured the public’s attention, largely due to the quality of their food and to the creativity they bring to their menu. Some of my personal favorites include the BBQ Bomb from the Grilled Cheese Experience, The People’s Jalapeno Burger with its famous truck sauce, the life-changing fried chicken from Ezells Express and the peanut butter burger from Boss Mama’s Kitchen.
Service at the cellphone lot will run from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. and 5 – 11 p.m. daily. A schedule of vendors can be found at BestFoodTrucks.com.
The Port will evaluate the pilot program to determine if there is significant demand to expand the program to other areas of the Port next season.
Here’s a list of potential vendors you might see:
- The Grilled Cheese Experience — owner is Mark Amatangelo, a chef from Louisiana, started the "original grilled cheese food truck" in Seattle in 2013. He now has two trucks and just opened his first brick and mortar store in May in the South Lake Union neighborhood.
- Ezells Express II — owned by Michaya Pollard, a relative of the original Ezell Stephens. She is a native of Seattle and they are known for making "life-changing" fried chicken.
- Boss Mama’s Kitchen — owned by Jen Gustin who grew up in the Puyallup area and worked for Comcast for over 17 years with the dream of owning her own business. She opened up her food truck just a year ago and is very quickly becoming the best known food truck in Pierce County and beyond!
- The People’s Burger — owned by Farshid Varamini, he also owns multiple mobile units and is often found just outside of the Safeco field on game days.
- Romin Rome — Delfino's authentic Chicago-style pizza, owned by Jay Cascio, who has owned a brick and mortar store for 20 years and believes strongly in supporting our local community by training several U.W. students, partners with schools and charity organizations, and fields a baseball team every year.
For more information on the WSFTA, contact Lori Johnson, Executive Director at [email protected] or 360-223-3801.
For vendors interested in participating in this new program, they should contact the WSFTA via their website; https://www.wafoodtrucks.org/
