The Braid StrEAT Experience will continue to serve up food truck fare into the fall.
The pop-up drive-thru food truck event has been taking place in a parking lot next to the Braid Street SkyTrain station on weekends since Canada Day. Originally set to end on Sept. 6, it will continue to run on several weekends this fall.
“Overall, our customers have been praising us for a COVID-friendly experience with great food, speedy service and an awesome idea,” said Guy Ciprian of Savi Integrated Marketing, which is producing the event in partnership with West Coast Pop Up Events.
Future dates for the Braid StrEAT Experience are Sept. 19 and 20, Oct. 3, 4, 17, 18 and 31 and Nov. 1 from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. at 81 Braid St. In addition to a drive-thru service, a walk-up grab-and-go service is permitted.
The event was created with a goal of supporting some of the food trucks that have been hard-hit financially by the pandemic.
“The Braid StrEAT experience has been an interesting venture with an opportunity to reinvent the industry,” Ciprian said. “Although we have had the majority of all our contracts cancelled this year due to the COVID pandemic, we have managed to make lemonade out of lemons.”
The Braid StrEAT Experience has also been raising money for the Royal Columbian Hospital Foundation. On the Labour Day weekend, folks involved in the event presented the foundation with a donation of almost $2,400 ($1,994 from the event and $400 from Hunky Bills), which was on top of their previous $900 donation from Canada Day.
“We are fortunate to have a partnership with the Royal Columbian Hospital Foundation, some amazing local young workers, a working relationship with some quality food truck vendors and the support from our local community. Together we have all worked together and been able to help some small businesses survive. We are all proud to be able to support the foundation, and to date we have raised almost $3,300 for them,” Ciprian said. “It has been a great experience, and with the extension of our dates into the fall we will continue to support them all.”
