The aircraft viewing park at Gerald R. Ford International Airport (GRR) in Grand Rapids, MI, is a popular hangout for people with an appetite for watching planes take off and land.
But there’s even more on the menu during summer. On Food Truck Wednesdays, plane watchers also can enjoy entrees ranging from burgers and hot dogs to Mexican, Greek and Asian fare, with treats like ice cream for dessert. Fresh coffee and other drinks are also available.
“The community really enjoys the food trucks; they’re quite popular,” says Carlos Ruiz, chief commercial officer at the Gerald R. Ford International Airport Authority, which owns and operates GRR. “It’s a great way to increase community participation and bring people closer to the airport.”
 facts&figures
Project: Food Trucks Location: Gerald R. Ford Int’l Airport, in Grand Rapids, MI Where: 12-acre viewing park on south side of airport Lineup: Rotating group of 6-8 food trucks each week Operating Schedule: 10 a.m. until about 4 p.m. on Wednesdays, June through Aug. Established: Park Amenities: 162 parking spaces, most angled toward airfield; live feed from air traffic control tower; benches; covered pavilion with restrooms, filtered drinking fountains & picnic tables; dedicated circular parking for food trucks, with electric power outlets Cost: $1.1 million for pavilion; about $850,000 for expanded parking & circular food truck area Funding: General airport revenue Vendor Permit Fee: $100/summer Marketing: Social media Key Benefits: Enhanced community engagement; good public relations |
It’s not unusual for airports to provide a place for the public to watch airfield activity and many in-terminal concessions feature views of runways. But GRR is part of a small group of U.S. airports with viewing parks that include food trucks.
Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) in North Carolina features a 600,000-square-foot viewing area with an airport-themed playground, a retired F-4 Phantom II military jet and food trucks. On the smaller end of the scale, Arcadia Municipal in South Florida stations food trucks on the perimeter of its airfield to attract visitors. (See May/June 2023 issue of Airport Improvement for more details.)
Other airports, including Fresno Yosemite International Airport, have used food trucks just outside the terminal to supplement the variety and operating hours of in-house concessions.
By elevating its viewing-park game to include food and drinks, GRR has developed a relatively low-cost blueprint other airports could follow to build community engagement.
Room for a View
Located on the south side of the airport, the 12-acre viewing park allows visitors to watch planes on GRR’s main runway from roughly 700 feet away. The park is located roughly at the runway’s midpoint, so it provides great viewing whether planes are coming from the east or the west, Ruiz explains. Each day, there are about 300 take-offs and landings.
The park is open from 7:30 a.m. to dusk Tuesday through Sunday and from 9:30 a.m. to dusk on Mondays. It features 162 parking spaces (most angled to face the airfield for maximum viewing), numerous benches and a live feed from GRR’s air traffic control tower. It also includes a covered pavilion that offers visitors respite from the elements as well as picnic tables, permanent restrooms and filtered drinking fountains.
The view area was created in 1995, with pavilion built in 2016 at a cost of $1.1 million, funded in part by the local Cascade Community Foundation and by airport general revenue. Food Truck Wednesdays started in 2022 with just two food trucks.
“We started to realize the park was getting a lot of momentum, so adding food trucks made sense,” Ruiz explains.
But the trucks took up valuable visitor parking spaces. So in 2025, the airport expanded the number of parking spaces, and added concrete with dedicated spaces for the food trucks. The area can accommodate eight food trucks and features pedestal electrical outlets so vendors don’t have to use noisy electric generators, notes Ruiz.
The additional parking spaces and the circular food truck area cost about $850,000, funded by general airport revenue.
Summer Operation
Given the climate in Grand Rapids, GRR’s food truck season starts in June and runs through the end of August. Trucks arrive around 10 a.m. and stay as late as 4 p.m. Since the same trucks don’t come every Wednesday, the airport uses an online scheduling tool called SignUpGenius to keep track of the schedule. Vendor names are posted on the viewing park’s Facebook page Wednesday mornings so visitors know what to expect.
On average, six to eight trucks are usually on hand. Vendors pay the airport a $100 permit fee per season.
“It’s not a revenue maker; that’s not why we’re doing it,” says Ruiz.
The airport seeks vendors every year via its viewing park Facebook page and another Facebook page established by the Grand Rapids Food Truck Association. The airport also promotes Food Truck Wednesdays on other social media outlets, such as Instagram.
Sponsoring the Wednesday event does not consume much staff time; most of the work occurs at the beginning of the season, when staffers collect fees and process operating permits.
“On the first Wednesday of the year, we have someone out there to meet with the truck vendors and show them how to use the circular drive,” Ruiz says. “Other than that, there’s very minimal time and effort required.”
Airport Authority Chief Executive Officer Tory Richardson and other GRR leaders often attend Food Truck Wednesdays to mingle with visitors.
Measuring Success
The airport does not officially track attendance at the viewing park or food trucks, but the parking lot serves as a general barometer.
“We gauge its popularity by how full the parking lot is; and during summers, it’s pretty hard to find parking spaces on Wednesdays,” Ruiz reports. “We see a lot of families coming with kids and we also get a fair number of summer camps that bring in children. We have some longer parking spaces to accommodate larger vehicles.”
Many of the same food trucks keep coming back year after year, which indicates the idea’s popularity. In addition, airport staffers report a lot of “positive chatter and feedback” on social media channels.
A rotating group of six to eight food trucks comes every Wednesday during the summer.
Ruiz also notes that Tripadvisor ranks GRR’s viewing park as the second-most popular park in Grand Rapids, and it earns a 4.7-star rating on Google reviews.
Moreover, it doesn’t just attract aviation geeks. “From my personal experience, I see a lot of high school kids hanging out and having a picnic and enjoying a nice summer day at a clean, safe and grassy area,” Ruiz comments. “I see a lot of different age groups. Maybe they do love airplanes, or maybe they just want to get some fresh air.”
Outreach Opportunity
Looking back, Ruiz says adding food trucks to the viewing park has enhanced an already popular attraction.
“It’s another way for us to further connect with the community,” he says. “Some people can’t use our airport’s amenities as passengers, so this gives us another way to connect with people and maybe even inspire young people to consider careers in aviation.
“This is our way of giving back to the community by continuing to invest in this amenity just like we invest in other areas of the airport.”
Because food trucks continue to be popular, operators are often looking for places to park during weekdays. It also taps into a local network of small businesses.
“It’s basically low-hanging fruit for engaging at a community level,” Ruiz says. “After you do it once and have a process in place, it’s not a big and labor-intensive endeavor. And there’s not a lot of cost involved, either.
“It’s not as difficult as people might think to get it started and tweak it as you go along.”
Key to Success
Ruiz considers it critical to listen and react to feedback from users. For example, GRR expanded the parking lot after hearing complaints from visitors about having difficulty find spaces.
“So we moved the food trucks out of the visitor parking area,” he says, adding that the airport board is very supportive and listens to community feedback.
Kids of all ages enjoy watching the airfield activity.
Looking ahead, Food Truck Wednesdays are popular enough that the airport is considering adding evening hours for people who can’t attend during the day. Community feedback indicates support for that, Ruiz notes.
“We are looking at adding food trucks on Fridays, too,” he adds. “We need to explore that further as there are other food truck events throughout the city on Fridays, and the food trucks might be over-committed. But it’s definitely worth consideration.”
