Secret Ingredient to Success? By
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RUDY ‘TUTTI’ PAMPLIN MEDIA GROUP LOOKS TO FUTURE GRAYZELL AT 80 — SEE INSERT — SEE LIFE, B3 PortlandTHURSDAY, APRIL 3, 2014 • TWICE CHOSEN THE NATION’S BEST NONDAILY PAPERTribune • PORTLANDTRIBUNE.COM • PUBLISHED TUESDAY AND THURSDAY Region’s jobs inch forward in recovery Rest of the state not expected to regain lost jobs until 2015 Lardo chef and owner Rick By JULIA ANDERSON Gencarelli holds For The Tribune a porchetta After six long years, the sandwich at his Portland area has regained new North all of the jobs — and then Williams Avenue some — that were lost during location. He the Great Recession. j umped into the The region, which includes food scene four fi ve Oregon years ago with counties and his food cart on “No one two in Hawthorne. He expected a Southwest now has three Washington, Lardo locations quick lost 82,000 and an Italian turnaround jobs in 2008 eatery, Grassa, and 2009 as thanks to a because the fi nancial partnership with recession markets cra- ChefStable. was deep and tered and TRIBUNE PHOTOS: the housing JONATHAN HOUSE widespread.” market died. — Amy Vander Vliet, As of Oregon regional February, economist employers ■ Eateries hungry to thrive in city’s competitive food scene had added back 86,200 jobs — 4,400 jobs above the nly in Portland do people wor- pre-recession peak, according ship bacon and eat vegetarian, to the Oregon Employment depending on the day. Department. O Only in Portland do diners Employment momentum has shun white tablecloths and anything that gained traction as all broad in- SECRET gives off a “corporate” vibe. dustry categories added work- Only in Portland can a sandwich shop ers for a total gain of 25,600 jobs and food cart live side by side, in harmony. since February 2013. That repre- Welcome to Foodie Town U.S.A., where sents annual growth of 2.5 per- chefs and entrepreneurs have been fl ock- cent with the region adding jobs ing en masse for the past fi ve years or so in 12 of the past 13 months. with hopes of surviving and thriving in “Construction remains the INGREDIENT Portland’s quirky food culture. The Berlin Burger is a favorite at fastest-growing broad industry “Portland is one of Holman’s, a neighborhood eatery with job growth four times fast- BY those places where ev- established in 1 9 3 3 and under the same er than the overall economy,” eryone can play,” says ownership since 1 9 7 6 . Customers want said Amy Vander Vliet, Oregon JENNIFER Rick Gencarelli, owner quality and consistency, owner Judy regional economist. “There’s ANDERSON of Lardo, a Portland Craine and other restaurateurs say. been a rebound in housing TO SUCCESS? food cart-turned brick- (building) permits, the highest and-mortar restaurant that opened its level since the recession. Com- third location in February. of restaurants in the state turn over each mercial construction, especially “You can get into the restaurant busi- year, the same as the national rate. That at Intel’s Hillsboro campus, also ness with a relatively small budget, get a means in two years, four in 10 will fail. has really helped.” liquor license with a little bit of money,” What does it take for a restaurant to The Portland-area unemploy- says Gencarelli, who worked as a chef in thrive in such an ultra-competitive food ment rate in February held Manhattan, Boston, San Francisco and scene? Does competition from other res- steady at 6.4 percent. That’s Vermont before landing in Portland in taurants and food carts help or hinder? down from 7.9 percent a year 2009. “You can move here and pursue a Chefs and industry experts insist the ago and the lowest jobless rate dream and that’s great. But what happens competition helps drive their success — since August 2008. However, an at the end is we end up with tons and tons and is a self-perpetuating cycle, since tal- estimated 81,500 area residents of food carts and restaurants, so the com- ent breeds more talent. petition is fi erce, the labor market is thin.” “Portland’s full of really interesting, See JOBS / Page 1 1 New restaurants open at a fever pitch in Portland, but they close nearly as often. See F OOD / Page 2 Portland-metro According to Multnomah County, there are Employment Profi le: 3,198 licensed restaurants in the city, a net gain of just 15 from last year because of all “Local diners are really February 2014 the closures. Total labor force: 1,172,100 Food carts, on the other hand, have seen savvy and more informed Employed work force: 1,090,600 a meteoric rise. There are 749 licensed food Unemployed seeking work: carts in the city, a net loss of 10 from last about where they choose to 81,500 Ryan M cConaughey pours a beer to regulars at Holman’s. Portland sees a year, but a net gain of 71 percent from 2009. Unemployment rate: 6.4 percent eat than ever before.” constant rise and fall of restaurants, but those in the industry say the The Oregon Restaurant and Lodging As- Source: Oregon Employment competition makes them all better. sociation estimates that about 20 percent — Erin DeJesus, EaterPDX food blog editor Department Portland-metro j ob growth: (12 months thru February) CATEGORY JOBS ADDED Professional-business 6,500 services Affordable rents further out of reach Trade (retail & wholesale) 5,700 Construction 4,100 ments that they can afford. The forced spend more than half of Leisure 3,800 National report paints study considers rents “afford- their income on housing, includ- Government 0 a dire picture, but able” if they are no more than 30 ing utilities. That leaves pre- percent of a tenant’s gross in- cious little for other necessities, Source: Oregon Employment come. The trend has become es- such as food and health care, Construction Department nonprofi t sees hope pecially dire in recent years in says Nick Sauvie, executive di- workers oversee By PETER K ORN Portland, as renters here have rector of Rose Community De- the stacking of The Tribune grappled with an apartment va- velopment, a Southeast Portland pre-fabricated cancy rate that is among the low- nonprofi t that provides housing modules into the A study of housing trends est in the nation. to low-income residents. K ah San Chako by Washington, D.C.’s Nation- Portland-area housing advo- Sauvie points to a recent Haws apartment al Low Income Housing Coali- cates say that trend poses a seri- study by Portland housing ex- building in tion has found that a Port- ous problem for the local econo- pert Tom Cusack showing that Southeast land-area breadwinner work- my because it pushes working 72 percent of Portland renters Portland. The ing a minimum wage job families out of the city. who earn less than $50,000 a year nine-unit would need to work 78 hours The Portland area, which were paying more than the rec- development is a week to afford rent for an stretches into Clark County and ommended ceiling of 30 percent an experiment in average two-bedroom market Vancouver, Wash., has 267,680 of their income for housing. quicker and rate apartment. renting households. The median “That’s really staggering,” Cu- cheaper The study, “Out of Reach income of those renters is sack says. “That’s almost three construction of 2014,” quantifies the trend in $68,300. But a breakdown of the out of four renters, and fifty- low-income which more and more people are data shows that more than one thousand bucks isn’t a bad in- housing. making minimum wage, but that in fi ve qualify as “severely bur- COURTESY OF there are fewer and fewer apart- dened” — those households See HOUSING / Page 1 3 NAY A F AM ILY CENTER “Pamplin Media Group’s pledge is to Portland Tribune deliver balanced news that refl ects the STAR IN THE WINGS stories of our communities. Thank you for reading our newspapers.” Inside — SEE SPORTS, PAGE B8 — DR. ROBERT B. PAMPLIN JR. OWNER & NEIGHBOR A2 NEWS The Portland Tribune Thursday, April 3, 2014 Food: Big, corporate restaurants not popular downtown spots to provide com- ■ From page 1 petition to the food carts. He thinks he has the edge in price Rick Gencarelli point and food quality, not to talks with his crew engaging, delicious, fun con- mention ambience: “It rains cepts,” says Kurt Huffman, own- at Lardo on North nine months out of the year. er of the Portland restaurant Williams. The Who wants to stay in line wait- management group ChefStable. restaurant gets its ing for a sandwich while it’s “There’s something exciting name from the raining buckets out?” about this town.” Italian-style pork Fellow James Beard Award- Huffman likens it to an “immi- fatback that is winner Cory Schreiber, founder gration pattern” of sorts. “Port- cured and crusted of the 20-year-old Portland insti- land’s immigration trend has with salt, pepper, tution Wildwood, left six years been talented chefs,” he says. rosemary and ago and couldn’t discuss rea- “Like people come to certain other spices. sons for its closure last month, places.” Gencarelli fi rst except to say that there were cooked his fries in a lease issues. City has savvy eaters mixture of lard and At Wildwood, he says, the key Erin DeJesus, an editor of the canola until opening was to focus on consistency and popular food blog EaterPDX, has the Hawthorne never get complacent: “We con- tracked the Portland food scene restaurant, then stantly had to be tweaking and for the past four years.