BigEggpowercords.png

A photo of The Big Egg's power cords, which were cut and stolen sometime after-hours on Tuesday.

(The Big Egg)

Food carts owners across Portland arrived at their carts Wednesday morning to find their power cords had been cut and stolen.

Six carts at the Mississippi Marketplace, The Big Egg, Meet BBQ, Minizo, Koi Fusion, Miss Kate's Southern Kitchen and Homegrown Smoker Vegan BBQ have had their cords cut or tampered with within the last week, as well as many of the carts at Carts on Foster, including The Angry Unicorn and The Egg Carton.

"Yesterday, we arrived at the cart to find they had cut the locks off of our power box and simply unplugged our cord and left it on the ground," Gail Buchanan and Elizabeth D. Morehead, owners of The Big Egg, said in an email. "So we decided to buy PVC pipe to run our cable through so that it would maybe deter someone who just wanted to cut and run."

Buchanan and Morehead also purchased two locks for their power box. But, when they arrived at the cart Wednesday morning, the duo found their PVC pipe conduit broken into pieces and their 220VAC (voltage alternating current) cord missing. They said the cord was cut live -- the locks on the power box remained intact.

Across town at Carts on Foster, other carts shared similar frustrations.

The Egg Carton shared their news on Facebook:

"We are closed today but wanted to let everyone know that most is (sic) the carts at the Pod had their power cords stolen last night. Collectively the cart owners will be out thousands of dollars. Most of the carts will be open tomorrow so please come out to support the carts! We plan to be back Thursday as usual."

Replacing the cables will cost hundreds of dollars, Buchanan and Morehead said, in addition to the loss of daily sales and spoiled product.

-- Samantha Bakall Follow @sambakall