“If you don’t love what you do, get out,” said Maggie Hodroj, arms crossed over a black outfit splotched with enough Mediterranean ingredients to indicate how much dedication a person needs to own and run a food cart. “It took me a while to realize that this was my place, but when I finally did, I realized that I’m not really doing any work at all—I’m doing what I love.”
“If you don’t love what you do, get out,” said Maggie Hodroj, arms crossed over a black outfit splotched with enough Mediterranean ingredients to indicate how much dedication a person needs to own and run a food cart. “It took me a while to realize that this was my place, but when I finally did, I realized that I’m not really doing any work at all—I’m doing what I love.”
Hodroj, a Lebanese woman who came to the United States as a child, is co-owner of the family-run Basha’s food cart, regularly stationed in the park blocks on the Portland State campus. Maggie runs the cart with her husband, Sam, her daughter, Maryan, and their friend Maria Tapia.
Her inspiration to make high-protein Mediterranean food with low saturated fat came from her father, who owned a cart in the very same location from 1971 to 1984.
“My father was the first person to start a food cart on the PSU campus. It was a shish kabob stand, with a barbecue grill and deep fryer and homemade lemonade. I came to PSU as a student and would come out and help him when I wasn’t in classes,” Hodroj said. “It was there that I started to realize I really enjoyed this type of work and wanted to do it more than part-time.”
In the mid-’80s, when Portland divided the South Park Blocks, her father did not receive his bid in time and lost out on his spot. In 1997, Hodroj was able to take back her father’s spot, and Basha’s has been there ever since.
This was not her first foray into the food service business. Hadroj’s family has owned restaurants, including one in Hillsboro and a sandwich shop in Portland, which they ran simultaneously. This came to an end because her husband’s health took a turn for the worst.
“The carts are hard work, but there aren’t nearly as many overhead costs, insurance costs and fees. My brother still owns a restaurant; he has to pay $30 per seat, per month in fees,” Hodroj said. “With the cart, we can still maintain good business and not lose income but not pay so much.”
Sam Hodroj says that working with his family allows them to stay close and do what they love as a team.
They begin each workday at 6 a.m. with food preparation, bringing food in coolers to the cart and finally opening up at 11 a.m. They close at 5 p.m.,take things home to begin again the next day.
“We own both Basha’s and the Blazin’ Burrito cart, and it’s much less work than having restaurants and carts. Basha’s needs a couple people, but with the burrito cart we can man with one person,” Maggie Hodroj said. “Competition is tough around here, and we’ve seen several carts come and go over time. They go out of business, and we learn from them.
Maggie Hodroj believes it is the quality of their ingredients and the freshness of their food that keeps customers coming back.
Maryan Hodroj, Sam and Maggie’s daughter, says that working with her family is unique and different from most other jobs and that she doesn’t have to worry about being burnt out by both living and working together.
“I love being around them and seeing them,” Maryan Hodroj said. “We are comfortable around each other, and it’s good to come home and relax after a hard day of work.”
Although Maryan Hodroj said she is unlikely to continue in the food cart business for a third generation—she is a biology major with an interest in pre-med—her love of the food and how “super close” she is with her family keeps her coming back.
“This is the best. My father used to do this, so I am used to doing this,” Maggie Hodroj said. “If you love what you do, you aren’t really working. It took a lot of trial and error to realize this is what I wanted to do, and I don’t plan on stopping any time soon.”
