Food Cart Mania

If you live in Portland or have visited Portland you probably have a favorite Food Cart. Whether you want to statisfy a potato craving at midnight or a Sunday morning waffle, there is a food cart nearby to assist.

Did you know that Mercy Corps Northwest is nearby to assist you in starting a food cart business?

Mercy Corps Northwest provides classes, micro loans, business counseling, matching grants, prison reentry programs and refugee farming classes.

Mercy Corps is known for their work overseas but the they also have a strong local commitment. Mercy Corps Northwest is dedicated to assisting low-income populations by increasing their economic self-sufficiency.

Check them out today!

Public Alerts

As I was checking the road conditions, I stumbled on a new website that "provides news and information on major service disruptions in the Portland, Oregon area."

Public Alerts

The website provides information on Roads & Bridges, Transit, Schools, Public Health, Community Services and Utilities. Very simple and easy to navigate. You can also sign up for RSS feeds and twitter alerts.

Stay informed!

Biking Maps for Oregon

Experience Oregon's natural beauty on a bike. For anyone who wants to get out there and explore by bicycle, this website offers some valuable guidance on how to get there.

http://www.portlandonline.com/transportation/index.cfm?c=36638

Bicycle Maps

Our map collection includes a number of maps on cycling in the Portland metropolitan area. Country Cycling explores Washington County by bicycle and there are cycling/walking maps that cover the various areas of Portland. Divided by area, there are maps covering Northeast, North, Northwest, Southeast, and Southwest. The downtown area is also covered in the Portland by Bicycle map. Enjoy!

Portland Business Journal - for job hunters, executives, and researchers

The weekly newspaper, Portland Business Journal, (portland.bizjournals.com/portland/ ) is the main resource that discusses the local business news. The Beaverton Library subscribes to it, and reading it each week will help those who are job hunting, prospecting, or just interested in what's going on.

The online version is only a medium level of information, subscribers get full content of the articles. We do have a logon at the Beaverton library, because we are full subscribers. Ask at the Main Reference desk if you would like to be logged on as a subscriber, for free.

It has a careers section which highlights executive level jobs, and you can search bizjournals for keywords to locate articles of interest, for example, to prepare for an interview.

Here's how to search the archives of the Portland Business Journal

1) Go to portland.bizjournals.com

2) Click on News in the tabbed part, at top of webpage

3) Go to right and click (to the right of keyword search box) click search archive and enter keywords that you're interested in, like an officer's name, or a brand or company, or product, BUT include the word Portland!

This works 99% of the time. I tried portland software, and got mostly Portland results, with one Seattle Puget sound result. But for some reason it won't automatically let you search only one newsletter, that's why you have to enter Portland.

Food and Beverage Marketing

Food and Beverage Market Place

The Portland-Beaverton area ranks #10 in yearly supermarket sales per capita, #14 in square feet per store. In manufacturers' shipments to the rest of the United States, Oregon comes in at #13 for Confectionary, #3 for frozen food, #11 in vegetable canning, #15 in milk and butter, #18 for bread #9 for crackers, and #18 for seasoning and dressings.

At Beaverton City Library we get questions from people who need to find lists of companies that manufacture ingredients, food-making machinery, packaging & bottling supplies, as well as services like brokers and distributors. Existing food manufacturers may want to examine their bottom lines and see if there are more competitive suppliers for any supplies or ingredients. Planning your factory is easier when you can look at other companies' profiles to gain a benchmark idea of their square footage, brands, sales, and status.

Recruiters can select names of individuals in very specific fields. Grocers and other individuals may wish to expand certain lines of wines or teas and are having trouble finding a direct line or email address to the right person. Searching the internet for this will be alot of wading through companies that might not even be legit.

Generic lists of companies generated with Reference USA are okay, but details are much better in the 3 volume set. For example a description of what a company does in RefUSA may say "seasonings" whereas this set says "meat marinades." This level of detail saves you time and energy before making a call. The Food and Beverage Market Place 3 volume set has endless possibilities of helping Portland-Beaverton area food professionals and entrepreneurs.

Statistics are from Progressive Grocer Market Guide Book, & Gale Manufacturing & Distribution USA 2009