Eat the Hub to bring food truck installation to S. University

Alex Perlman isn't trying to create a new Mark's Carts on S. University. He is, however, using the same food cart courtyard concept to open minds and trigger ideas about how food carts can be apart of the campus-area business community in the future. With the six-month pop-up installation, Eat the Hub, Perlman will bring food cart quality food to the neighborhood all winter long. 

 

"The idea is if you don't create opportunities, there are none," says Perlman, who is part owner of both the Beet Box and Cheese Dream food carts. "Last winter I had the realization that as a food cart owner, our off season is when Ann Arbor's population is at its largest, and we weren’t taking advantage of it."

 

Perlman is already at work revitalizing the space, and hopes to have four to six food carts operating there by early Nov. The temporary food cart installation is part of a plant to repurpose and revitalize the lot at 1215 S. University that once housed Pinball Pete's. Unlike Mark's Carts, which encouraging summertime lingering and outdoor eating, Eat the Hub will offer to-go meals, as well as delivery with local partner Eat Blue. 

 

"Our plan is to have a temporary structure over the lot to keep the elements out," says Perlman, who notes that the area is heavily trafficked by pedestrians year-round, "and we're just providing to-go food at people's convenience."

 

Though Eat the Hub is only scheduled to run through April of 2014 the approximately 4,000 square foot lot, Perlman's goal is to create more opportunities for food carts offering freshly made foods in Ann Arbor year round.