Delta Carts Food Pod in Portland: An Update

I have an update on the food cart pod in the Delta Park area. Its name is Delta Carts Food Pod, and it looks like they hope to open this summer—first, a soft opening in June and a grand opening event in July. I had a chance to speak with one of the persons behind the project, Erik Opsahl and here is what I’ve learned.

A Little Background on the Delta Carts Food Pod

Back in 2022 I noticed that there was a plan to develop an empty lot, owned by TMT Development, in the Delta Park area into a food cart pod.

I checked in on it again last year, but they were still at the permit approval point in the process. There was no real movement at the site itself.

Fast forward to 2025 and the project is making headway and on its way to completion. There will be 9 food carts and a bar cart. At the writing of this article, they have created a 12-foot concrete fire table, and have poured much of the 8,000 sf patio space.

Here are a some additional construction photos.

Erik Opsahl

As I mentioned earlier, back in March I was able to speak with Erik and learn more about where they are with the Delta Carts project. Erik is a developer and has been in real estate for over 20 years. He has also served on the Artists Repertory Theatre board and the board of the Friends of Wallace Park.

He’s been helping to develop and establish food cart pods since 2020, including the Cathedral Park Food Carts and Nob Hill Food Carts. He has some other projects going on, too, which we will talk about here at a later date.

Market Analysis: Why Should a Cart Join the Delta Carts Food Pod?

One of the things Erik did while preparing the site for the pod was to conduct a market assessment and analysis for the benefit of multiple stakeholders. “It’s not just for the owners, even though TMT was already committed to it,” explained Erik. “But it also helps me understand, from a marketing standpoint, and in terms of talking to food cart vendors, why they should be interested in putting their cart down here.”

They highlighted the pros and cons, and all the benefits that this site has going for it. And that includes traffic.

Not only did they look at the amount of physical vehicular traffic that goes by on I-5, but they were able to review cell phone data reports for the Expo Center, Portland International Raceway (PIR), and the Delta Park Sports Complex. It turns out those three venues alone get about 1,500,000 visitors annually, putting them in the top 10 entertainment destinations in the Portland Metro Area, joining MODA Center and Providence Park on that list.

“There’s a tremendous number of people who visit—most heavily between May and November,” said Erik. He also notes that the Holiday Lights event at Portland International Raceway that starts around Thanksgiving and goes through the end of December is an additional draw.

The Food Carts

Erik has been in touch with a variety of possible food carts, and he would like to bring on some of the top ones in the city—known entities with name recognition. At this point they are not ready to share their list of candidates. However, they are looking at having at least a Mexican cart, a gyro cart, and a burger cart there.

Looking at the map of the area, it is clear that the Delta Carts Food Pod will be one of the few places to eat in the area. From what I can tell, the only other place nearby to eat at this point in time is a Burger King on N Whitaker Road. So this pod will be a great resource in the Delta Park area in North Portland.

The Location

The Delta Park pod is pretty large compared to most pods, which tend to be in more densely developed areas of town. “It’s a huge site,” said Erik. “It’s almost an acre and a half. And there’s a tremendous amount of seating—we’ll have covered seating for almost 240 people.”

Along with the patio area, there will also be a grassy area for picnics and activities.

There will also be a big parking lot, plus there’s plenty of parking in the other parking lots nearby. That’s because TMT owns those as well, and at this point they’re all vacant. And they do expect most people to drive to the pod, since walkability is more limited there.

He also pointed out the Prologis logistics center that is in the broader area. “There’s 6,500 employees that work within one mile of Delta Park,” he explained. And because there isn’t much in the way of food nearby, this food cart pod will be a great option for these folks—a shorter drive, and more time to eat and relax.

Electric Vehicle Charging

There was going to be a Tesla charging staton at the pod, but my understanding is that Musk ended up firing everybody from the the team, so it did not get implemented. “However, one of their competitors is actually stepping in and will be putting in the charging station,” said Erik.

“I think it has something like 28 spaces—good for folks who are driving along I-5 and need to charge up their car,” said Erik. “There’ll be a pathway from that charging station parking lot to our pod.” This makes it easy for these people to make their way back and forth between their charging car and the food carts.

Events

They are looking to collaborate with PIR in the summertime for events—a classic car meetup is one idea. And the pod can also provide a place for people to come over before or after PIR events and hang out there.

They’d also like to host live music and concerts there in the summertime. Their location makes that easier than most, because they will not have to get a noise variance. They have 9,000 square feet of dining and 15,000 square feet of a grassy area. There’s a lot of space between them and the next residential area.

And the pod can be rented out for bigger groups—think family reunions, summer staff parties, or a quinceañera.

Block parties are also on their mind for the summer. “We’d like to pick a really nice weekend this summer and promote it like people used to do back in the 80s and 90s,” explained Erik. “We’d get some big spotlights out there shining up in the sky to spark people’s curiosity as to what’s going on.”

When Delta Carts Food Pod Will Open

When we originally spoke, Erik indicated that they were looking at a May opening, but that has been updated to summer—June, as I mentioned earlier. They do plan to move the carts in the week of Memorial Day (Monday, May 26) but an exact opening day is an unknown right now. I’ll keep in touch with Erik to learn what that is when they have a better idea of that.

But whenever they do open, it’s going to bring a nice amenity to that little corner of Portland. The size really sets it apart from most pods in Portland. “What’s unusual about this pod is that it’s such a big pod, and we’re not just trying to cram as many cards into it as possible,” said Erik. “We’re really trying to make it a big pod with curated carts, in a great area for people to want to hang out and gather together.”

I look forward to stopping by to see the pod next month to see its progress. Best of luck to Erik and the Delta Carts Food Pod team as they get this place open for summer!

Delta Carts Food Pod [opening summer 2025]
1223 N Hayden Meadows Drive, Portland
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