LA28 organizers plan to tap into the deep network of food trucks and mobile vendors in the Los Angeles region for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games with a program designed to add variety to its concession offerings.
The L.ocal A.uthentic Program was unveiled on Thursday and will be the first time at any Olympics that local small, mobile and temporary businesses will be integrated in the official roster of vendors.
Under the program, organizers will permit selected businesses to operate food trucks, festival-style pop-up shops and food carts that they say will play a “central role” in the overall food and beverage protocol for the Games.
“The Games are an extraordinary opportunity to show the world what makes Los Angeles special while creating meaningful opportunities for the local businesses that make this city what it is,” Reynold Hoover, LA28 CEO said. “From neighborhood favorites to food trucks and family-run businesses, we want millions of visitors to experience the L.A. that Angelenos know and love—and give the entrepreneurs behind those businesses a platform to grow well beyond 2028.”
Applications for the program are open now and close on November 16 and those interested can register through the Regional Alliance Marketplace for Procurement, a central online portal connecting businesses with public and private contracting and bidding opportunities in the L.A. area.
Organizers will select hundreds of vendors to be posted within the competition zones and non-competition venues and be clearly designed as official concession partners. LA28 looks to use around 75 percent of its procurement spend on companies in L.A. and 25 percent allocated to small businesses.
The push to include small local vendors is also a move to bring businesses on board that are distinctly unique to L.A. and another incentive to set the 2028 Games apart from other Olympics. Meanwhile, more than 17 million meals across the Olympic and Paralympic Games are expected to be served, with vendors in the program set to facilitate a sizable portion of those concessions.
The program comes exactly a year after L.A. City Council officials pressed LA28 organizers to make its procurement opportunities public and available to RAMP and work with the city’s Bureau of Contract Administration on quarterly reporting of procurement engagement.
At the same journal proceeding, the City Council directed LA28 to connect with city agencies to make outreach workshops available to help local vendors apply for procurement opportunities during the Games and provide funding to community organizations in a bid to encourage potential small business candidates to apply once the L.ocal A.uthentic Program was established.
In April, council member Monica Rodriguez expressed her frustration with organizers over “unfulfilled promises” regarding the exact strategy to abide by taxpayers and involve local businesses in the commerce that will see billions of dollars flow through the regions leading up to and during the Games.
“This is a whole new Olympiad in trying to end-run our own procedures in the city of L.A.,” Rodriguez said at the time in a report with NBC Los Angeles. “It doesn’t feel like much of a partnership and it’s disappointing. And there’s been some unfulfilled promises about what that would look like to make sure it’s a level playing field.
The unveiling of the program on Thursday likely met the approval of city officials, who insisted that local vendors have access to the Games in what would have been a major windfall — and still will be — for any large-scale concessions firm that is set to contract for the Olympics and Paralympics.
“Support will include strategies to scale production; strengthen financial models; navigate insurance and permitting requirements; and refine inventory, staffing, and logistics,” LA28 officials said in Thursday’s announcement. “By showcasing the breadth and diversity of Los Angeles’ food culture, the LA28 L.ocal A.uthentic Program aims to encourage visitors and Angelenos alike to explore the neighborhood businesses that give Los Angeles its unique flavor.”
