For almost 15 years, Off the Grid has presented a series of massively popular food truck parties on Friday nights at Fort Mason Center. Thousands of San Franciscans flocked to California’s largest weekly food truck event, enjoying a full bar and live music in the summer and fall months. Now, in 2024, the event has been conspicuously missing from the city’s cultural calendar. What’s going on?
Off The Grid recently announced some changes to the beloved Fort Mason event on Instagram. TL;DR… Due to “rapidly expanding costs,” the Friday night parties will remain on hiatus as they retool the event, but they have just launched Fort Mason food trucks at lunchtime daily from 11am-2pm.
Off the Grid’s founder, Matt Cohen, spelled out the situation in an Instagram reel last week, explaining that costs have escalated 300% for things like power, labor, and trash service. “Fort Mason started and always will be a free event,” he said; “… [we’re] really working with our partners to try and say, how can we reinvent this event so it can stay free?”
Cohen elaborated that conversations are in the works with Fort Mason Center to bring the event back at no cost to the participating vendors, creators, and food partners. “We’re excited about what we’re gonna be doing in the future,” he said. “More announcements to come.”
While we’ll be missing out on our favorite Friday night event for the time being, Off the Grid has kicked off a new daily lunchtime food pod at Fort Mason. From 11am-2pm, guests can enjoy delicious eats from rotating trucks including Amelia’s Mexipino Cuisine, Lomo Libre, Rapchik Rooster, Noodle Cone, and more. At the moment, Off the Grid’s website shows one food truck scheduled per day at “FMC Plaza.”
If you’re craving even more of Off the Grid’s street food events, they continue to organize markets at additional locations including Levi’s Plaza, Salesforce Tower, and SFO’s international terminal.
🌐 Keep up with Off the Grid via their website.