CRATE is a locally owned and operated food truck that offers fresh seasonal food packed with bold flavors and is served by a team that enjoys catering at EWU.

CRATE is owned by Eric Johnsen, a former owner and chef at Saranac Public House. He founded CRATE to develop a fun, innovative project in the food industry. He built the food truck himself and has been in business since August  2016. CRATE aims to represent a fresh and seasonal food style.

“CRATE is an energetic, imaginative mobile eatery aimed at offering high-quality, moderately priced, occasionally unusual street foods utilizing as many local, sustainable and natural ingredients as possible,” according to the CRATE webpage on the Greater Spokane Food Association website.

The CRATE menu is filled with a wide variety of bold flavors incorporating Thai, Southern-style, Cuban, and Italian food.

“We try to bring really fresh food with big bold flavors at a really competitive price point,” said Johnsen. “We really try to do a little bit of everything and we believe street food should be priced like street food.”

CRATE staples tend to run on and off campus, and can be enjoyed by anyone despite strict food diets.

“Best plate, hands down, it’s the Thai rice bowl and burrito,” said Johnsen. “Everywhere, not just here on campus, but everywhere we go. Either served with tofu or with chicken. We do sell a lot of tofu out here on campus. We offer a lot of vegetarian, a lot of vegan options. Even with our Bánh Mì, we do it as a vegetarian or vegan option with the tofu.”

The CRATE team was excited to get back on campus this quarter after the summer break.

“We love the energy….[we’re] around younger people that are more into still trying new things,” said Johnsen. “It’s exciting for us. We love being out here on campus. We were gone over the summer time so we were excited to get back on campus and everybody was happy to see us.”

The employees like the idea of forming a bond between themselves and EWU members; it brings a different experience to the food truck lifestyle.

“The nice thing about being out here is in this business we don’t see a lot of the same people, but out here we do, “ said Cubs, the service window worker at Crate and occasional cook. “So we actually kind of get to build relationships with people. You kind of get your group of people that keep coming back so that’s nice. Being out where there’s always something different going on is just fun.”

CRATE is available from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on campus in the Food Truck Plaza.

When not on campus the truck is open to catering. The best way to contact the CRATE team is by email at [email protected]