Oldest Food Cart Pod In Portland Gets New Lease On Life As "Midtown Beer Garden”

About this update from Expensify, Inc.

[{"type":"text","content":"\nRenovations begin today to offer a safe and fun outdoor dining experience as a step towards revitalizing the midtown Portland community\n\n\n PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--\nExpensify, Inc. (Nasdaq: EXFY), a payments superapp that helps individuals and businesses around the world simplify the way they manage money across expenses, corporate cards, and bills, today announced its plans to reinvent the food carts located on SW 5th Avenue between SW Harvey Milk & SW Oak Streets.\n\nThis press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230518005024/en/(Photo: Business Wire)\nAs a local business owner, Expensify is doing its part to elevate its neighborhood starting with major improvements to the SW 5th Avenue food cart pod. Even before COVID, this pod faced vandalism and did not offer customers a seating area or bathroom facilities.\n\n\n\"The Expensify global headquarters are right next door to the food truck pod on 5th and Harvey Milk, and we go there every day,\" said David Barrett, founder and CEO of Expensify. \"It wasn't doing great before COVID, and the quarantine sure didn't help. Then, on top of everything, a cart blew up in the middle of the night, wiping out many of the few carts remaining, knocking out windows for a block around. It's had a long string of bad luck, and we're going to work with the rest of Midtown to turn that around.\"\n\n\nChefStable, an owner and partner with many Portland restaurants, is the operating partner for this project. They have assisted Expensify with obtaining permits, architect plans, and securing a general contractor. Some of the additional features to be added include:\n\n\n\nElectrical, water, natural gas and direct-to-sewer connections for each cart\n\n\n\nSeating for over 300 people\n\n\n\nTents with heaters\n\n\n\nOnsite security guard and security patrol during hours the pod is closed\n\n\n\nNew asphalt\n\n\n\nLarge bar cart in the center of the pod\n\n\n\nEvents and music stage\n\n\n\n“We’re grateful Expensify is committed to creating a brighter future for the food carts on 5th Ave.,” says Christian Lee with Korean Twist, whose cart has been at this location since 2008. “Many cart owners here have felt uncertain about what the future holds and we’re excited about the improvements that will be made for enhanced security with ...

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