Blog

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!

Posted in:
Tagged:

Ride the Parkways Before Summer is Spent

by Marketing
19866734416_7f7396839d_z

Sunday Parkways this Sunday!

Heya Portland, I know you’re over the heat, but one of the last Sunday Parkways is this weekend, so grab your bike and get rolling. The SE Parkways ride is one of the larger rides of this series, circulating around Laurelhurst, Colonel Summers, Sewallcrest and Ivon Parks. In all the parks along the way there are opportunities to stop and grab some yummy eats, listen to tunes, and you can even jump into a dance or activity or two.

Last summer I rode the SE Parkways ride and it was a lovely cruise through the neighborhoods with cute kids selling lemonade along the way, lots of free stuff from promo booths, and some of my favorite food carts cooking up eats. We’re lucky to live in a town committed to free community events like this one.

19704959318_230aba5ab2_z

Find us for free stuff and #DriveHope

The ride takes place this Sunday the 23rd, from 11am to 4pm, and the total route is 7 miles. Have a look at the handy Southeast Portland Sunday Parkways route map. Then take a moment to check out what activities, musical acts, and fun events await you at the event by checking out the brochure.

Portland Pedal Power will be out with our big bikes this day promoting the #DriveHope campaign. Our partner Point West Credit Union is donating $5 dollars per hashtag (#DriveHope) to raise awareness for Metropolitan Family Service’s “Ways to Work” program, helping families get to work (with purchasing a car, refinancing, repairs). We will be encouraging folks to share what drives them while handing out free goodies along the way. Find us to help the cause and grab some swag!

Also, you can end the Sunday Parkways season big by exploring the new Tilikum Crossing Bridge of the People and the Sellwood area on Sept 27th (11am-4pm – 7 miles). This new route will include the Tilikum Crossing and circle the Sellwood area introducing participants to the Westmoreland, Sellwood Parks plus Brooklyn School Park where music, food, and fun are waiting.

See you on the Parkways!

Posted in:
Tagged:

Online Marketing and the Bot Invasion

by Jon Elias

Illustration by Brad Jonas

Online marketing is a great tool, isn’t it? You get thousands of impressions on a daily basis from people all over the world. Your Facebook page, your Google AdWords, and your blog are viewed by anyone and everyone with a computer, getting attention no banner, billboard, or grassroots advertising campaign can come close to achieving.

That 15 minutes of fame you were promised in the 60s suddenly turned into a 24/7 live feed of your business activity, making your corner store bakery a worldwide phenomenon. And the best part? You can see it all happening and record it with online statistics.

Sounds great, right?

Well like many ventures, Online Marketing isn’t free of it’s own issues. In fact, online marketing seems to be inundated with it’s own Bot Invasion, sent to destroy your analytics numbers and inflate your digital budget. Just when you thought the T-9000 was your worst enemy…

The Association of National Advertisers recently published their findings on a major online fraud study, and discovered 11% of display ad impressions purchased by 36 major US advertisers were served to bots. Video ads were even worse, with 23% of all impressions sent to non-human traffic. One unnamed premium lifestyle site was sending 98% of its video ads to Bots.

To put that into perspective, this trend means that of the $140 billion the globe will spend on digital marketing, $15 billion will be lost to Bots through display ads alone.

Fitz

Assimilate This!

Think you’re getting away bot free? Think again: sites related to finance, family, and food have the highest percentage of bot fraud, anywhere from 16%-22%. Bot’s don’t need sleep, infect personal computers, and can view thousands of sites at a time.

So what can you do? It looks like Bots are a way of Online Marketing life. Is resistance to Bot Fraud futile if you’re trying to get your name out there?

Well, the last time I checked, you can’t steal impressions from a moving bicycle with Ad Space. Especially when you’re getting 132,000 impressions per bike per month. Not to mention the 13.8% ROI you get from our PPP Interactive Promotion.

Yeah, we like to brag.

Don’t misunderstand, Online Marketing is a great tool, and one that we use frequently. You are reading our Blog after all. But when you’re looking for personalized attention, numbers that deliver, and a marketing plan free of the Bot Invasion, look no further than the bike lane. Our Brand Ambassadors pass along info about all our vendors, advertisers, and local events on every delivery. As an added bonus, they also happen to be immune to Bot Assimilation.

Contact us to break away from Bots and get your name out to the world!

Posted in:
Tagged:

We’re Celebrating 5 Years! Join Us!

by Jon Elias

PPP 5 Year Invite_Green-page-001

Five years is a big achievement, don’t you think? It’s longer than a president’s term, longer than getting an education at a University and much longer than a standard year on Mars (two Earth years, for the Martian curious).

That’s why the Portland Pedal Power team is very excited to host our Five Year Anniversary Extravaganza on Wednesday, August 13th from 4:30 – 7:30 PM. We’re ready to celebrate, and we hope you can join us!

It seems like yesterday that the business consisted of just four like-minded individuals. Today we’ve grown into quite an operation, with nine additional employees working to provide delivery and active advertising to dozens of clients throughout inner Portland.  From humble beginnings with one delivery bike running out of a garage behind Zupan’s on Burnside, we’re now a fleet of 11, delivering from more than 50 vendors while displaying ads for 10 local companies.

If you so much as signed up for one of our newsletters or read our blog, you helped us on our way to success, and we want to thank you for your contribution! That’s why we want to invite you to our Five Year Anniversary Extravaganza, where we’ll kick back and relax with good food and drinks.

If you’ve ever wanted to try something delicious from Bowery Bagels, Pacific Pie Company, Seres Organic Chinese, Brunch Box, Thai Peacok or Theo’s Restaurant, this is your chance. These vendors, and many more, will be supplying a wide variety of the tastes of PDX. And of course, we’ll be supplying drinks on the house, so how could you say no?

We’re hoping to see you next week!

Portland Pedal Power 5th Anniversary
738 SE Washington Street
Portland, OR 97214
Wednesday, August 13th, 4:30-7:30 PM

Please RSVP by August 11 to [email protected] if you are planning to join us.

Posted in:
Tagged:

The Party Starts at Sundown!

by Jon Elias

There’s nothing like those warm July summer nights. A time for sandals, cool drinks, and hot music at the fifth annual Sundown Concerts!

Ecotrust is heating up July evenings with the fifth edition of the Sundown Concerts. Sundown is everything that makes summer so great in Portland – equal parts indie concert, block party, and classic Portland street fair. It’s back for an even better fifth year, Thursdays in July starting 7/10 at 5:30 pm, at the Ecotrust Natural Capital Center. And it’s still free!

In case you are not aware of the organization, Ecotrust is working to build a new economy that restores nature and invests in people. Ecotrust’s many innovations include co-founding the nation’s first environmental bank, starting the world’s first ecosystem investment fund, creating a range of programs in fisheries, forestry, food, farms and indigenous affairs, and developing new scientific and informational tools to improve social, economic, and environmental decision-making. Ecotrust works locally in ways that promise hope abroad, and it honors and supports the wisdom of Native and First Nations leadership in its work.

(more…)

Posted in:
Tagged:

Kalé: The Ultimate Japanese Comfort Food in PDX

by Jon Elias

I’ll be honest, when I think “Japanese Food,” the first thing that comes to mind is sushi. But did you know sushi doesn’t come close to the most common food you would find in a Japanese home? Makoto Yoshino knew we were all missing out on one of the best meals Japan gets to enjoy, and set out to change that.

That’s why we are very happy to deliver for Kalé, a Portland Restaurant serving a traditional Japanese dish you are going to absolutely love! Check out their video to learn a little bit about Kalé:

Kalé is a Japanese comfort food, dating all the way back to the year 1863, where Hiizu Miyake discovered the dish during a trip to Europe. Because of this history, it has traditionally been considered a European dish. During the last 100 years, it has gained popularity in Japan that it is now considered a national dish, developing into many different forms.

(more…)

Posted in:
Tagged:

Taste the Mediterranean at Tangier!

by Jon Elias

There’s nothing like great Moroccan and Mediterranean food. Few genres of flavor offer the same kind of complex tastes and culture that comes with each meal. As luck would have it, Portland is home to some great locations where you can experience the fine edible art from the Mediterranean, and none compare to what Tangier creates in their kitchen!

Tangier is a warm and welcoming family restaurant conveniently located in downtown Portland, quite close to the waterfront. When you show up, you will likely notice Tangier has a casually elegant atmosphere, catering to the exquisitely prepared cuisine that will enhance any dining or celebration experience.

Tangier features an extensive menu, much of which is vegetarian, vegan, and gluten free. Take a look at a few of the choices you will want to order from our website:

Vegetarian Mezza – Falafel, humus, tabouli, tatziki, spinach pie, zattar pizza, baba ghannouj & veggie grape leaves.

Tabouli Salad – Finely chopped fresh parsley mixed with mint, green onion, tomato, bulgar, lemon juice & olive oil.

(more…)

Posted in:
Tagged:

Cartathlon IV: Return of the Food Cart Extravaganza!

by Jon Elias

Portland is pretty lucky for a number of reasons: We have some great parks, friendly people, innovative thinking, and some of the best foot carts in the world. Portland Pedal Power has the good fortune to deliver for a number of local carts, and you’ve likely ordered from a number of them. So would you turn down a chance to win a years worth of free food? Something tells me the answer is no.

Thus, the Cartathlon returns! Willamette Week is once more sponsoring the local event, giving you the chance to win some of the best food Portland has to offer by eating some the best food Portland has to offer. A win-win scenario if I’ve ever heard of one.

(more…)

Posted in:
Tagged:

The Sustainable Pasta of Portland

by Jon Elias

Pastini & PPPPortland Pedal Power has had the opportunity to work with Pastini Pastaria, a delectably good Italian restaurant that has graced the Rose City for some time. We have really enjoyed working with Pastini, as we both share an appreciation for sustainability and unique ideas. We wanted to learn a little more about who they are, so we sat down with one of the founders, Susan, to find out what’s been going on over at the Pastaria.

Pastini’s story starts in 2001, when Portland wasn’t exactly the same kind of food scene as it is today. Susan noticed there was a lack of quality affordable food in the Portland area and wanted to remedy that, so Pastini Pastaria was born! Susan, her husband Craig, and business partner Kara Hale decided to open up their own italian restaurant on Broadway and, as they say, the rest is history.

(more…)

Posted in:
Tagged:

The Rain Is Coming… Be Prepared!

by Brook

RainAttention, Portland! The rain is coming. Are you prepared to ride through the wonderfully wet weather that greets us in the fall and lasts all winter? If you’re feeling a bit intimidated by the forecast and your lack of quality gear, don’t worry – we’ve got you covered!

Here at Portland Pedal Power, we take to the streets to deliver food from great, local restaurants and food carts regardless of the weather. So we know what works to protect our bodies from the elements. We know what keeps our phones dry. We know what gear keeps us visible and safe while riding alongside other commuters.

Here’s a quick rundown of what we use on our delivery routes throughout Portland:

(more…)

Posted in:
Tagged: