A local food share program in Burlington, Vermont has incorporated bicycle trailers into their food distribution. Intervale Food Hub began as a research project of the Intervale Center in 2007. The goal was to identify the existing barriers and opportunities to increasing local food production and consumption, and to find appropriate solutions for “moving local food forward” in Chittenden County.
A local bike delivery company, One Revolution, set up some food-specific bicycle trailers for the Intervale Food Hub. The plan is to deliver food straight from local farms to pick-up locations around Burlington, supplying food to more than 300 people. The challenge to One Revolution was to design a trailer that wold keep the vegetables clean and well ventilated so that they do not overheat. The majority of the weight that the delivery riders will be hauling is in the food. Each delivery cart only weighs 10 lbs. Check out the news video covering the story.
Burlington, Vermont is not the only city to see food deliveries by bike. Cities such as San Fransisco and Portland are beginning to have fine foods and cuisine delivered by bike. Check out more about cities that have bike delivery services at Utility Cycling.org. If it so happens that you want to start your own food delivery service but don’t have access to a custom vented food trailer, check out a Wandertec Bongo or a Croozer Cargo. The Bongo has endless mounting options and the Cargo is a price-point-friendly cargo trailer that would be great for hauling things such as food products.
