Bids sought for food trailers: BEDA ready for spring food truck season
Mar. 22—By GREG JORDAN
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
BLUEFIELD — Spring is here and while the weather continues to warm up, plans for festivals and a big feature of those events — food trucks and trailers — are preparing for a busy season.
A program offering entrepreneurs a chance to become food trailer operators is now accepting bids for two trailers. The Bluefield, WV Economic Development Authority is seeking bids for two new food trailers as part of its Food Trailer Incubator Program, according to a legal advertisement published Thursday in the Bluefield Daily Telegraph.
The food trailer program is being funded by a $99,000 United States Department of Agriculture Grant, said Jim Spencer, the development authority's executive director.
In September 2023, two new food truck entrepreneurs — Jermaine Jackson of Raleigh County with Poppa Jay's Kitchen and Rebecca Morris of Bluefield with Lord of the Fries WV — helped kick off a new food truck program in southern West Virginia when they served customers in downtown Bluefield.
The two trucks were funded with a $400,000 Appalachian Regional Commission grant with a $100,000 local match partly funded by the the Truist Foundation, Spencer said. He described the trucks, which cost $170,000 apiece, as the "Cadillac of food trucks."
Both of the food trucks have been doing "pretty well," Spencer said, adding that with winter ending there are hopes for a busy spring and summer for the businesses.
Entrepreneurs interested in getting into the food truck or trailer business can learn more by going to the Bluefield WV Economic Development Authority website, mybluefield.org, and click on Resources in the upper menu bar and go to the Food Truck Incubator Program. The program's participating counties include Mercer, McDowell, Monroe, Wyoming, Fayette, Raleigh, Nicholas, Pocahontas, Summers and Webster in southern West Virginia.
Unlike the food trucks, the food trailers will be towed, Spencer said.
People interested in seeing the bid specifications or wanting to ask questions about them can contact Spencer at jspencer@bluewv.org or call 304-902-2332 Extension 2405. Bids were originally due today, but the due date has been extended to April 1 at 4 p.m.
— Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com
Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com
