Information for Food Cart Owners

3 min read

At Travel Portland, we know visitors are excited to explore our acclaimed food cart scene, but often don’t know where to start. To help, we’ve created two free tools to help them find you: 

  • Food Cart Finder — Our Food Cart Finder filters Portland’s 500+ food carts by cuisine, offerings, special diets and more.
  • Near Me Now — This map-based app highlights fun spots near a visitor’s current location, including food carts and food cart pods.

If you operate a food cart in Portland with a permanent or semi-permanent location, we would be delighted to include you in both tools at no charge. Refer to the information below for next steps and frequently asked questions.

Next Steps 

The next step you should take depends on your current status in Google Maps. Which one of these situations applies to you? 

Possibility 1:

My cart is listed on Google Maps and I have claimed my business listing. 

Awesome! Check to see if your cart appears in our Food Cart Finder.

If it does, check your listing. If you think we’ve miscategorized your cart, fill out this form to let us know. All the other information we display is pulled from your Google Maps listing, which you can manage through Google My Business

If it doesn’t, fill out this form (we’ll ask you to provide the name of your cart, contact information and a few additional details), and we’ll add you straight away!

But wait, there’s more! Travel Portland has partnered with Portland startup Locl, whose free online tools can show you how to optimize your Google Maps listing, improve your presence in mobile web searches and find out exactly how much business your listing is driving. Travel Portland is covering the cost of this program through 2021 for all visitor-facing businesses, including yours!


Possibility 2:

My cart can be found on Google Maps, but I have not claimed my business listing. 

First, attempt to claim your listing through Google Maps: 

  1. On your computer, open Google Maps
  2. In the search bar, enter the name of your business. 
  3. Click your business name in the search results. 
  4. Click Claim this business   > Manage now
  5. Select a verification option, and follow the on-screen steps. 

Once you’ve claimed your listing you’ll be able to manage your cart’s details via Google My Business. Then, if your cart is not already listed in our Food Cart Finder, let us know by filling out this form and we’ll add you.


Possibility 3 :

My cart is not listed on Google Maps. 

Do you have a permanent or semi-permanent location for your cart, e.g., somewhere you can be found on a consistent basis? If so, attempt to add your business to Google Maps by following these instructions

Once your business has been listed, you should be able to claim that listing and manage it through Google My Business. Once you have this up and running, let us know by filling out this form and we’ll add your cart to the Food Cart Finder.


Frequently Asked Questions

Why are you pulling information from Google Maps?

Billions of people use Google every day to find things they’re looking for in the world around them. Because of this we think it’s good practice for all Portland businesses to be proactive in managing their Google Maps listings. By displaying this same information on Travel Portland’s website you don’t have to manage a separate business listing and neither do we, ensuring consistency and accuracy in the information provided to our visitors, whether they visit travelportland.com or simply Google “lunch near me.”

Would you like help optimizing your Google Maps listing? Travel Portland sponsors a free program with Locl to help you drive more traffic to your location. Learn more. 

Hey, your listing for my business isn’t quite right … could you fix it, please? 

If we’re listing you in the wrong categories (e.g., type of cuisine or the dishes you’re known for), let us know by filling out this form and we’ll update things. Other information we display is pulled directly from Google Maps and you can edit that yourself via Google My Business. Note: There can be a delay of a few days before updates you make in Google My Business appear on our site.

Would you like help optimizing your Google Maps listing? Travel Portland sponsors a free program with Locl to help you drive more traffic to your location. Learn more. 

What if I’m still having trouble or experiencing a different issue?

If you’re still having trouble or have other questions, feel free to reach out to us at
partnerships@travelportland.com.

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