News Summary

• Deepak Saxena, the owner of Indian American restaurant Masala Lab and food carts Desi PDX and Chaat Wallah, plans to close his carts ahead of the weekend, using the restaurant space as a pickup location for meal kits..
• Forecasts project anywhere from 1 to 8 inches of snow accumulation, plus freezing rain and temperatures in the teens.Those winter conditions could make travel tricky through the weekend, which dramatically impacts diners’ and food service workers’ ability to access restaurants and food carts..
• The “snowpocalypse” kits are reminiscent of the early pandemic-era family meals sold by restaurants and carts for takeout — the idea to create larger orders for diners to use over multiple meals and to help businesses make up for loss of revenue..
• Take a look at a few of the cold weather meal options below:A post shared by Chaat Wallah (@chaatwallahpdx)Customers can order “survival kit” meals for pre-order at this Northeast Portland Indian American restaurant..
• Snow days can be financially disastrous for restaurant and food cart owners, who have estimated that snow days can cost them thousands of dollars in lost revenue..
• In past snowstorms, power outages have shut down restaurants; at food carts, keeping food and employees warm becomes a challenge, and if pipes freeze, carts can’t operate..