A pop-up drive-thru food truck service taking place in New West this summer is serving up good eats – and raising funds for charity at the same time.
Launched on Canada Day, the Braid StrEAT Experience is scheduled to take place on nine days this summer: July 18, 25 and 26, Aug. 8, 9, 22 and 23, and Sept. 5 and 6. Food trucks will be at 97 Braid St. (across from the Braid SkyTrain station) from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
“Each date will have different food trucks,” New West resident Guy Ciprian said in an email to the Record. “Vendor rosters and menus will eventually be posted on our Facebook page.”
More information can be found on the Braid StrEAT Experience Facebook page.
According to Ciprian, the event is being run as a drive-thru food truck experience and is only accepting debit and credit cards in order to meet health regulations. Organizers are working with Fraser Health to provide a walk-up service in the future, but it’s unclear if that will be available during Phase 3 of the province’s COVID-19 restart plan.
Along with supporting some food trucks that have struggled financially through the pandemic, the events are also raising money and donating partial proceeds to the Royal Columbian Hospital Foundation. Organizers recently presented the hospital foundation with a $900 donation from the Canada Day event.
“It was fantastic,” said Ciprian of the inaugural event, noting vendors were busy from the moment they opened until an hour before closing time.
Ciprian said the event has had great support from city staff and Fraser Health in getting it up and running. The event is employing several students who will be doing things like general labour, traffic control and sales.
Ciprian works at Savi Integrated Marketing (SIM), which is producing the event in partnership with West Coast Pop Up Events.
“SIM represents West Coast Pop Ups, which is a collective group of small businesses who have operated through COVID by either sharing their revenue with other struggling Sapperton businesses or with charities like RCHF,” he said of the hospital foundation. “This whole event is a collective effort of small businesses working together.”
