As temperatures soar towards 100 degrees in Portland, food cart and restaurant owners face a challenging dilemma: stay open for customers or prioritize the safety and comfort of their employees.
Among those investing in workplace safety is Phil Geffner, owner of Escape from New York Pizza. Following a sweltering 116-degree day during the Pacific Northwest’s historic 2021 heat dome, Geffner decided it was time to upgrade his air conditioning system to enhance working conditions.
“That one day changed my life,” Geffner reflected. “I can’t have people here working and suffering in the heat. So that changed it. Now the theory is it’s never going to be like that because it’s always going to be cool — we have at least enough air conditioning for it to work.”
His $40,000 investment has yielded results, with inside temperatures at the restaurant dropping to a comfortable 70 degrees, allowing staff to work during even the hottest days without having to close down.
In stark contrast is Deepac Saxena, owner of DesiPDX, a food cart situated on North Mississippi Avenue. For Saxena, temperatures inside his food cart can rise 15 to 20 degrees above outdoor readings, making operation challenging without air conditioning.
“It just gets to a point where it’s just not really safe for our staff to be in here,” he lamented.
As the mercury climbs, food cart and restaurant owners are weighing the risks and rewards of staying operational amid the sweltering heat. While establishments like Escape from New York can afford air conditioning installations, many food cart owners struggle with the prospect of shutting down due to diminished sales and safety concerns.
Restaurant workers find themselves particularly vulnerable during these heat waves. In June, Oregon’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration received ten heat-related complaints from workers, highlighting the significance of creating safe working environments.
Six of these complaints originated from fast food employees who cited lack of air conditioning and inadequate break times as their primary grievances.
Back on Mississippi Avenue, Madeline Petricola operates MidCity Smashed Burgers, also facing the harsh realities of the heat. On a day when temperatures reached 81 degrees outside, she noted that her food cart typically closes when temperatures hit 90.
“We only have one fan in here and we don’t have any AC, unfortunately. Having a big grill and a fryer definitely does not help. It can get up to like 120 in here. It can get really, really hot,” Petricola explained.
Fortunately, neighboring restaurant Prost! assists local food cart workers by providing ice water and Gatorade, along with cool water sprays to help them manage the heat.
But for Petricola, any decision to close comes with financial ramifications.
“I don’t want to be in the heat,” she admitted. “But at the same time, I can’t pay rent with 26 hours a week.”
Similar sentiments were echoed by Polo Bañuelos, owner of Mis Tacones, a vegan Mexican restaurant in the Alberta Arts district. He underscored the economic impact of heat, noting that a food truck can lose significant revenue by closing during hot spells.
“Even if a food truck is making $1,000 a day or $2,000 a day, that is a very significant amount of income for them to lose on any one given day,” he stated.
“When it’s hot for the whole week, they just literally can’t open at all. Having a loss of $10,000 plus in a week… that can make or break so many small businesses.”
To adapt to heat conditions, Bañuelos modifies his menu, offering cooler dishes and ceasing deep fryer operations, all while relying on two portable air conditioning units to keep his kitchen conditions manageable.
Customer experience remains crucial for Bañuelos.
“I don’t want people sitting in here when it’s really hot. I want to make sure that we’re able to provide a solid, positive experience throughout, as best as we can. So we have to make a lot of adjustments, and sometimes they’re not the easiest, like, closing down,” he explained.
For patrons like Thalia Medina and Javier Gomez, the heat poses additional challenges. They prefer dining out during oppressive heat to avoid sweltering in their apartment, which lacks adequate cooling options.
“I feel like we often go to restaurants in the neighborhood because they have AC and I don’t have AC in our apartment,” Medina shared.
Gomez noted the financial strain of frequent dining.
“It definitely makes you more conscious. It does add up,” he said, expressing concern about their budget after eating out.
As the community faces the heatwave, Milly Keum, owner of Miss Oz ice cream shop downtown, prepared as early as March, changing her air conditioner’s filter ahead of the peak season.
The sign at her shop now requests customers to be patient with longer wait times and to limit ice cream samples to two at a time.
“Our community is very friendly,” Keum remarked. “So we communicate with the customer if we’re having a hard time… they’ll notice that.”
For those businesses forced to close, Bañuelos strongly advocates for increased financial support from local and state government.
“Small businesses and restaurants bring in so much tourism and foot traffic and they’re a lot of what makes the city of Portland so special,” he emphasized. “It’s those mom and pop businesses that I think we really need to take care of, and I don’t think that we get the right kind of appreciation or care from the city that we deserve.”
For Geffner at Escape from New York Pizza, keeping the restaurant open and safe in extreme heat is both a business decision and an act of community service.
“It’s a community service, and we’re part of a community and we service the community,” he concluded. “So we’re all part of a bigger picture. But at the end of the day, the people in here gotta be safe and they gotta feel good about it. And we make it so they do.”
image source from：oregonlive
