Mountain View Food Truck Incubates Small Business

Budding culinary business owners have a new platform to test their menus. The Anchorage Community Land Trust (ACLT) is purchasing a food truck where entrepreneurs can learn the ins and outs of cooking on a line in a timely manner without the financial risk of purchasing a vehicle of their own.

Kitchen Laboratory on Wheels 

ACLT is using a $15,000 donation from GCI to help purchase the food truck, which will be permanently stationed at the organization’s Grow North Farm in Anchorage’s Mountain View neighborhood. The food truck will serve Grow North Farm and ACLT’s flagship Set Up Shop program as an incubator for early-stage food businesses.

“Our Set Up Shop program has served over 270 entrepreneurs, with more than 60 percent operating food-based businesses, and what we’ve found is that one of the biggest obstacles for these business owners is an extreme lack of affordable, available, and permitted kitchen space,” says ACLT CEO Kirk Rose. “Last summer, we were able to rent a food truck for the season for our clients to use and it was a huge success, with each entrepreneur earning an average of $1,000 a night in new income while learning how to grow and scale their products. Now, with support from community partners like GCI, we’ll be able to make it a permanent fixture at our Grow North Farm.”

The donation from GCI is one of many in recent weeks as part of its GCI Gives program, returning approximately $2 million per year to Alaska nonprofits.

“Great food and a strong local economy benefit us all, and GCI is proud to support ACLT and their efforts to empower Anchorage’s entrepreneurs,” says GCI Chief Marketing Officer Kate Slyker. “We’re excited to experience all the new, delicious food and support the local businesses that make them happen.”