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Five Tips When Ordering Food for Your Office

by Marketing

If you’re regularly tasked with ordering individual meals or catered lunches for events at your office, you’re responsible for keeping a lot of people satisfied. We’ve compiled five tips to help you keep the team happy and minimize your stress when ordering food.

Photo Credit: Dan Gold

  1. Order Early

Nothing throws a wrench in a restaurant’s operations like a late order they’re trying to squeeze in. The reality is good restaurants are doing as much, if not more, business with their delivery partners than their in-house customers. Traditional kitchens are not designed with this kind of volume in mind, and it can quickly overload the staff.

If possible, order 2-5 days in advance and schedule your food to be delivered on the early side of your lunch window. That way you won’t get stuck behind last minute orders, or an in-house rush of customers.

  1. Get Your Food From One Vendor Who Can Accommodate All of Your Dietary Needs

One-stop shopping for office vegans, celiacs, and those with food allergies, helps on multiple levels. First, it cuts your workload. Second, it helps with accurate labeling and answering any questions you may have after the food has been delivered. Third, if the restaurant is running ahead or behind schedule, all of the food will show up at one time. Few things are more stressful than having food for only some of your hungry co-workers. (more…)

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Happy Holidays!

by Eden Powers

This year is flying by faster than Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer! You know what they say; time flies when you’re delivering sustainably! Here at Portland Pedal Power we’re gearing up for winter weather and getting ready for the holidays. As we get closer to the end of the year, we are serving up the best winter comfort foods Portland has to offer, to warm your bellies and make your day extra jolly.

Pacific Pie Co

 

Wintertime Winners:

  • Soup is the classic comfort food. Our friends at Supa have a mean Thai Ginger Chicken that is perfect for a cold winter day, along with plenty of other great flavors. 
  • Pacific pie has some amazing pies, both sweet and savory, that will make you feel like you’re back at your grandma’s on Christmas Eve!

    Supa

  • Any time of the year is a good time for sandwiches, but with the cold winds a blowin’, let a hot sandwich warm you up. Charlie’s Deli and Theo’s have what you need!
  • Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say… bring some sunshine to these cold winter days by ordering Ate-Oh-Ate Hawaiian Favorites!
  • Hot tamales! Be a holiday hero by ordering the office Tamale Boy or Mi Mero Mole.

 

Happy Holidays from Buddy!

There are plenty more great foods out there to warm you up this winter. Feel free to reach out for suggestions if you are stumped on what to serve for your holiday celebrations. We are happy to help you select the perfect meals to suit your specific situation. All you have to do is fill out a catering request form and the PPP team will make sure your team is elated with the holiday spread. Just let us know!

We hope these suggestions are helpful to maximize feel-goodness for your holiday feasting, and we at PPP wish you all very happy holidays! Be safe, have fun, and share lots of good soul-warming comfort food!

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What Makes Our Foodie Favorites Unique?

by Marketing

At PPP we chose our restaurant and vendor partners wisely. We focus on local spots committed to sustainability, social responsibility, and healthy food. Here’s a few of our foodie faves who are committed to making a difference:

Keeping Portland Socially Responsible

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New City Kitchen

New City Kitchen (NCK) is your one-stop solution for socially responsible lunch catering. NCK prepare delicious box and sack lunches with tasty sandwiches, fresh (and gluten free) salad rolls, and yummy cookies. Their food features have Mediterranean accents, and are flavor-tested by ProChefs Oregon, the local branch of the American Culinary Federation. Our favorite is the roasted eggplant sandwich.

Aside from the yummy food, New City Kitchen is a nonprofit social enterprise that trains and employs people who are looking for a second chance in the workforce. Their mantra is “Hope has a flavor,” operating under the belief that when you give people the opportunity they’ve been waiting for, they come alive.

Keeping Portland Green

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Aprisa Mexican Cuisine

We deliver a lot of taco bars and delicious burritos from Aprisa Mexican Cuisine, a local favorite. Aprisa is a socially and environmentally responsible company. They aim to make the least impact on the environment as possible by using serving containers that are made from 100% sustainable and compostable materials.

Even more unique, their restaurant locations are made from recycled shipping containers. Using these as building materials (normally considered industrial waste) reduces the impact of this kind of waste on the environment. The building is also very efficient due to high insulation value; because of the layout and minimal square footage the cooking equipment can effectively heat the building!

Keeping Portland Healthy

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Gluten Free Gem Bakery

Gluten Free Gem is an independent, family run bakery located in Portland’s Rose Quarter. Owners Anne and Mike Miller started baking gluten free at CCP Gluten Free Bakeshop in 2006 when their daughter was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. By April of 2011, the bakery had outgrown its SW Corbett location and was moved to its current location on N. Hancock St. With this move came a name change, to celebrate the original Gems: Anne and Mike’s daughters Greta and Emma Miller.

Over the last eight years, their understanding of eating and baking gluten-free has grown immensely, and so has the menu. Gem plans to continuing to develop new gluten-free products that help to change the perception of what gluten-free baking can be, all the while maintaining a 100% gluten-free facility, where everything is delicious and safe to eat.

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Charlie’s Deli: A New Cult Classic

by Marketing
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Club Sandwich Triple Decker

Charlie’s Deli opened in the early days of 2015 and has quickly become a big time contender in the Portland sandwich scene. Charlie’s serves up giant east coast style sandwiches, house smoked meats, and the best cannoli and cheesecakes around. This mom and pop shop is owned and operated by Charlie Mattouk and his wife Ali, and you’re likely to see either of them cheerfully wrapping up sammies or bacon caramels at the Old Town Location.

Charlie’s is one of our most ordered spots for sandwiches. On any given weekday Charlie’s prepares about 500 sandwiches for catering orders before they open, followed by another 200-300 sandwiches for lunch and dinner. Turkey on Ciabatta is the most popular catering sandwich order.

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Charlie and Ali with the deli bike

The people have spoken online as well. Charlie’s has tons of 5 star reviews on Yelp, making them the #1 Highest Rated Restaurant in Portland that also offers delivery. Since we were voted Best Delivery, we think we are in good company with the awesome vendors we choose to work with.

They also cater to the regular assortment of dietary restrictions. Our CEO Jenn is celiac, and she said that the gluten-free turkey sandwich is the best sandwich she’s ever had, perfectly prepared and well-balanced with French Dijon and light Marsala vinaigrette.

Get some Charlie’s Deli for your next office lunch!

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Pedal Power’s Street Serenade

by Marketing

We’ve recently produced a video anthem internally here at Portland Pedal Power with the vision and hard work of Timothy Wildgoose, a talented former rider who has since gone on to be a cinematographer.  He worked to capture the city of Portland and what we do here at PPP. We all absolutely love how this piece turned out and we hope you will give it a look.

I love what Tim had to say about this project as well:

“I used to do deliveries on bicycle, my first job in Portland and definitely a very Portland job to do. I loved being on the street, it allowed me to meet people of all kinds from kids selling Street Roots to CFOs of the largest tech firms, and lots and lots of restaurant and food cart owners. I got a real intimate impression of our city and loved spending my days outside in the air, in the seasons, and watch it all change. And I loved those moments where everything came together, it all lined up, the whole world was silent for those singular moments of pure beauty.

I always imagined how I could turn this into a video that other people could experience. After imagining this for a couple years I finally hit the road with Portland Pedal Power this spring with cameras on bikes. Yep, we managed to film this entire piece using only bikes – my camera car was a tricycle – no grip truck, no sprinter vans, just bikes. It was a lot of fun and a lot of hard work. Thanks to the friends that came out for cameo appearances and to the folks at Pedal Power for pulling different roles from camera car pilot to rain makers.”

Music · Solo Mio by Mr. Moo

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Summer Grubbin’

by Marketing
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Garden Bar salads are a summer fave #incarrotswetrust

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Bowls of the Gods from Kure Juice Bar. Heavenly!

You’re craving summer eats and we’ve got ’em! We deliver and cater from the best local spots, here’s a quick run down of some of our faves:

For a healthy cool pickup, order the aptly named and absolutely craveable Bowl of the Gods from Kure Juice Bar, along with any of their fresh juices or smoothies. For snacky meetings and events, we’ll bring you and your crew lush crudité trays and lunch platters from World Foods, Zupans, or Green Zebra Grocery.

Choose from healthy fresh salads from Garden Bar or Súpa Sustainable Urban Deli, or Mediterranean fare from Habibi, Aybla Mediterranean Grill, and Wolf & Bear’s. For savory and sweet pies and my favorite kale slaw around, check out the awesome menu at Pacific Pie Company.

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Fresh crudité trays from Zupans

If you’re in the mood for heartier fare, big meaty sandwiches from Charlie’s Deli never fail to satisfy. In Hawaii it is always summer so order mouth watering Kalua Pig plates from Ate-oh-Ate.

Get on the bowl bandwagon and order bowls of fresh goodness from Whole Bowl, Café Yumm! or Cha! Cha! Cha! As far as fresh and addictive goes, we are always craving the perfectly cooked chicken and rice with that ginger sauce from Nong’s Khao Man Gai. You know THAT ginger sauce. Pretty sure I’d like to pour that over everything I eat, forever.

Of course, it wouldn’t be summer without homemade local ice cream! Grab some ice cream sammies or specialty flavor tubs from Ruby Jewel.

Seize the summer and get it delivered by bike!

 

 

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Welcome Sassy Stephen!

by Marketing

23172120953_6d9aa939e9_bOur Brand Ambassador Rider Stephen Sines has just stepped up in his new role as Catering Lead. So, for those of you who order large lunches and event catering from us frequently, you’ll be treated to the special catering stylings of “Sassy Stephen” (his nickname round the office).

Over the last seven years, Portland Pedal Power has evolved from simple bike delivery service to large office lunch and event caterers. Stephen will be helping to advance our level of service further, ensuring your team is satisfied, from breakfast to lunch to happy hour.

Stephen will work with new and existing customers and corporate accounts to assess and meet standing order and catering needs. He says he is “looking forward to providing our customers with a variety of cuisine options they haven’t yet tried.”

About Stephen: he’s a Virgo that likes isolation tanks, trail running, kilts, gardening, frisbees, and generally hard-to-do things. With a background in physiology, holistic & sports nutrition, and biomechanics, he’s a Portland native who has never left and says he’ll be here for his last days too.

Welcome Stephen and drop him a line at [email protected].

 

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Vote PPP for Best of Portland!

by Marketing

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Help us Win Best Delivery

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Vote for the Best!

Portland Pedal Power is an owner-run company, committed to strengthening our community by supporting local businesses. Since 2009, our fleet has grown to 14 delivery bikes and we are catering bigger and better lunches, fueling local restaurant sales, and promoting likeminded sponsors with a unique active advertising platform.

PPP is the only homegrown on-demand delivery in Portland that is run entirely by bike. We ride the streets everyday delivering lunch for 3 to 300.  We’ve worked hard to build strong relationships with the restaurants and markets we work with. We know what they can get you, how much time they’ll need, and how delicious it will be. We simplify lunch orders and special event ordering for over 100 corporate ordering accounts. This means our customers get the best possible service.

Delivering food by bike reduces congestion and C02 emissions on our busy downtown streets. Our commitment to sustainability has led us to further encourage our vendors to think differently about packaging, waste, and reuse. Our customers value our commitment to greener delivery, making us a valuable addition to their overall sustainability practices.

Please take a minute to vote for PPP for Best Delivery . We appreciate the love. Power to the Pedal!

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Small But Mighty: Green Zebra Grocery

by Marketing
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Lovely produce at Green Zebra

Just in time for Earth Day, Green Zebra Grocery has its grand opening today for their Lloyd District location. Green Zebra is a full-service grocery store in a small footprint, for neighborhood convenience and quality. I really love this idea and wish there were more markets like it. Reason being: I get easily overwhelmed in the oversized big box grocery stores of today (WHERE is the toothpaste? Where is it?? Aisle 57? Ahhhhhhh!).

So for people like me, who don’t have a car and prefer to shop weekly instead of purchasing giant pallets of dried spaghetti as if preparing for the apocalypse, this is my kind of market. They focus on curating their stock to emphasize healthy, local, and sustainable produce and products. It is also just plain smart to build smaller, local markets in dense mixed-use environments like Lloyd — areas that are walkable and convenient.

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Healthy convenience – Get it catered direct!

The Lloyd location also has an added bonus with their ZeBar, where you can pull up a chair and enjoy craft beer or cider or pick up a growler fill. They also have kombucha taps, because, well, of course they do! Green Zebra gives careful consideration to every product in their store. Deli food is cooked from scratch at each location. From fresh brewed coffee to lush salad bar to grass fed beef and sustainable seafood, if they don’t have it, you probably don’t need it.

PPP is now offering delivery and catering from Green Zebra, check out their online menu and order direct — from breakfast goodies to awesome cheese and charcuterie platters. We are super excited about their new location and our partnership!

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Show Your Team Some Sweet Sweet Love

by Marketing
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Order mini cheesecakes from Rawdacious for pure raw, vegan, gluten free delight.

Valentine’s Day is fast approaching! Spread some serious love around this February 14th with the best local yummies delivered direct. We’ve made it a priority to partner with a variety of vendors, considering all dietary needs and restrictions. So, if you’re planning a sweets party, start here:

Desserts
Rawdacious makes premium “cheesecakes” that are naturally gluten-free, cane-sugar free, and vegan. For gluten free baked goods try Gluten Free Gem, New Cascadia Traditional, or the paleo-friendly Home Grown Bakery. Order French pastries from Pearl Bakery, fresh baked pies from Pacific Pie, luxe handmade cookies from Sterling Catering, or old school pastries or cupcakes from Helen Bernhard Bakery.

Chocolate
Alma Chocolate  handcrafts gorgeous boxes of chocolates and candies made from quality ingredients — an excellent gift. We can also bring you delicious fair trade chocolate bars from Equal Exchange or craft drinking chocolate from Treehouse Chocolate.

Alma Chocolate aims to delight. Order a gift box and we’ll deliver!

Alma Chocolate aims to delight. Order a gift box and we’ll deliver!

Donuts
Our favorite donut shop Delicious Donuts make classic donuts that won’t last long in any office. Donut Byte Labs makes cute lil’ gourmet mini donuts so you can pretend you didn’t just eat eight of them!

Flowers
For gorgeous locally sourced, eco-friendly bouquets, order flowers from Botanica Floral Design and we’ll deliver! Pre-order flowers before Feb 5th.

As always, if you need something picked up from one of your favorite spots not listed above, we can do that too.

Or you can simply give us your budget and headcount and we’ll do the rest. Make it easy and fill out our new and improved catering request.

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