Gabe Klein is one of the co-founders of On The Fly, a new food cart business in D.C. aimed at being local and environmentally friendly. The carts serve food from local vendors, and the plug-in carts are emission-free.
How did you come up with the idea for On The Fly?
Two years back, I was running Zipcar in D.C., and one of my partners was running La Enfant Cafe and the other was designing houses and doing real estate work. We realized there was a huge void in high-quality food on the street in D.C.
When did your carts first appear?
The first cart showed up Nov. 17, and since then we added five more and a few more are being built. We’ve launched in front of the Nationals ballpark, in Gallery Place, at Artomatic and at the National Arboretum.
Which restaurants have you partnered with?
We have two chefs here which prepare a 40-item menu. We’ve partnered with Julie’s Empanadas, Rocklands Barbeque and most recently, Teaism. This past weekend we launched our first Teaism-inspired dishes at AsiaFest.
What’s it like to make the transition from Zipcar to the food industry?
It’s a totally different type of business, but there’s a lot of commonality. Both involve mobile assets, bringing a service to people where they live and where they play … but I like doing things that are kind of different.
Do you think the street food scene in D.C. has improved since the arrival of On the Fly, and the city awarded some new vendor licenses?
I don’t think it’s really improved outside of us. The government never really instituted a new vending program. The Korean food cart at McPherson and the shawarma cart are really the only ones doing something new. … If people want to see more innovative street food, though, they have to write their council member.
