Dick’s Drive-In food truck will park in Tacoma twice this week

The Dick’s Drive-In food truck will park in Tacoma twice this week.

On Wednesday, the truck will sling burgers, fries and shakes at the corner of Pacific Avenue and 12th Street in downtown Tacoma, across from Courthouse Square.

Then on Saturday, the truck will spend a few hours outside the Waterfront Market at Point Ruston.

Since its launch in September 2020, the truck has parked primarily in King County. The City of Puyallup hosted the truck this summer for one of its Food Truck Fridays, and it landed in Tacoma for the first time in September, parking at LeMay Car Museum in conjunction with Cider Swig.

In an Instagram post Tuesday afternoon, the Downtown Tacoma Partnership wrote: “Huge News!! We are so excited to announce @dicksdrivein will be in Downtown Tacoma with their food trucks tomorrow from 11 a.m.-2 p.m.”

Jack + Adeline, a bakery and woodworking studio with a stand at the Waterfront Market, also shared the Saturday news on their social media, describing it as a chance to “chow down on some of the most prolific burgers in the land.” The market itself is open daily 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

DICK’S DRIVE-IN FOOD TRUCK - TACOMA

▪ Nov. 10, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. at 1201 Pacific Ave., Tacoma

▪ Nov. 13, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. at Waterfront Market, 5101 Ruston Way, Ruston

▪ Details: burgers and fries from a food truck, updates at ddir.com/foodtruck

ORIGINAL POST, 09/24/2021:

For the first time since its introduction last year, the Dick’s Drive-In food truck will park in Tacoma.

From noon to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 25, the truck will serve its regionally famous cheeseburgers, fresh-cut fries and shakes from the parking lot of LeMay Car Museum.

The company teased its impending arrival in Tacoma on social media in recent weeks, asking fans for suggestions on where to park. Per Tacoma city law, food trucks can only park in designated spots or be approved by a private lot owner.

Visitors to the Saturday event are encouraged to purchase a few bottles of cider to take home, compliments of Cider Swig.

In lieu of the eighth edition of a cider-sipping festival, the nonprofit, also known as the Greater Peninsula Cider Festival that’s run by the Greater Gig Harbor Foundation, will offer ciders at LeMay on Saturday and then tasting kit pickups at the HomeGoods parking lot in Gig Harbor on Sept. 26, noon to 4 p.m. Proceeds will benefit the Lu Winsor Environmental grants program that works with schools and watershed initiatives on the Key Peninsula.

Dick’s opened its first restaurant in Wallingford in 1954 and now operates eight locations in the greater Seattle area, the farthest south being Kent. A ninth is planned for Bellevue.

In September, due to severe understaffing plaguing the restaurant industry this year, the burger chain announced it would raise its starting wage to $19 an hour ($20 after 12 weeks and a “skills test”) and that employees working more than 32 hours a week would be eligible for overtime. The company was fined $35,000 by the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries this month after several inspections revealed violations of pandemic workplace restrictions, including social distancing and masking. It followed LNI complaints filed by a handful of employees in March for similar issues.

DICK’S DRIVE-IN FOOD TRUCK - TACOMA

▪ Sept. 25, noon to 3 p.m. at LeMay Car Museum, 2702 E D St., Tacoma

▪ Details: burgers and fries from a food truck, plus Cider Swig bottles for sale

This story was originally published November 9, 2021 at 5:08 PM.