Toledo Drive-Through Restaurant Opens During Pandemic, Offers Fresh, Healthy Options While Supporting Local Farms

Posted

Cara Buswell said she was encouraged by her late grandfather to start her own business.

And she did it. 

Buswell, who has been taking her food cart to farmers markets and catering large events in Lewis County for the past four years, has recently opened a permanent drive-through location — Good Stuff Food Carts & Catering — in Toledo where she serves fresh foods, much of which is made with ingredients sourced from local farms.

“I finally got the word that I could open after a year of waiting on the permits and it was smack dab in the middle of a pandemic, so I didn’t know how to celebrate. I didn’t know how to announce. I didn’t know how to even charge people for food. It was really hard,” said Buswell. “I had good news, but I didn’t even know how to share that good news because a lot of people weren’t even able to work.”

When she finally received the news that she could open her restaurant in early March, the COVID-19 outbreak disrupted the country, but Buswell continued with the opening and was able to serve the community food from the drive-through window of the former espresso stand.

She has now been doing so for about two months. 

“I have a seasonal menu since I order from a lot of local farms. I try to make everything as fresh as possible,” said Buswell.

Good Stuff Food Carts & Catering, located off of Exit 59 at 196 Cowlitz Loop in Toledo, is open Wednesday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Sunday 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Buswell currently runs the restaurant on her own and said she likes it that way. 

Some of the dishes that can be found at the Good Stuff Food Carts & Catering stand include avocado toast, Thai peanut wraps, gyros, fruit smoothies, fish tacos, salads, a french dip melt, a chicken caesar wrap, chai espressos, a lavender lemonade made with Toledo lavender and other rotating dishes. 



Buswell said that the COVID-19 outbreak caused her to lose almost all of her catering gigs because of all of the canceled events, which represented a large majority of her business.

“I like catering but at the same time, I really like cart life because you get to see people and talk to people,” she said. 

Buswell’s food stand sells fresh foods that are “veggie-heavy” with large portions that offer patrons an alternative to fast-food chain restaurants. She also makes sure to have vegetarian and vegan options available. 

“I always worked in the service industry. I was with McMenamins Olympic Club for a really long time and I’ve been wanting to buy a food cart since about 2012, and my grandpa, who was my best friend — my heart and soul — he got really sick … and while he was in the hospital he told me that I should start a business from scratch like he did with his brother,” she said.

Buswell said that after her grandfather died she struggled to maintain a friendly persona to hide her sadness while working at a restaurant and interacting with customers. 

“I took a break and traveled a little bit and when I came back I said ‘I’m just going to do it’ and I bought the cart and at that point, I was ready to do my own thing and not work for anybody anymore,” she said.

From then on, Buswell worked for herself catering events and selling food at farmers markets with her food cart. About four years later, she opened the permanent location that she operates out of today in Toledo.