It is safe to say that the food truck boom of the past several years has made its way to the Cumberland County area, with lots of successful and well-known food trucks and more arriving on the scene regularly. While it’s easy to stumble upon one set up in a parking lot here and there, food truck hubs are becoming more popular, both for the businesses and the patrons. The latest option for such a location is The Hive in Hope Mills, located at 3414 Bullard Street. Open seven days a week, The Hive offers a family-friendly environment for food, drinks, and fun. But every first and third Saturday, The Hive also hosts the Mercantile Market.
The Mercantile Market at the Hive is a relatively new event that Operations Coordinator Lisbeth Anne Marin hopes will quickly become a “community destination” for food, outdoor fun and shopping. There is space at The Hive for up to 20 vendors and up to 15 food trucks, providing several options for customers to peruse, explore and find new favorites.
While the food trucks rotate and can change from week to week, one constant is Big T’s Grill and Ice Cream, a Hope Mills institution whose original location is in the concession stand at Hope Mills Lake. On Mercantile Market mornings, Big T’s offers a breakfast menu from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m., with stick-to-your-ribs breakfast sandwiches and other fare off the grill. While other breakfast food truck options could be added in the future, Big T’s has plenty of options for early shoppers.
On Mercantile Market mornings, vendors begin set-up at 8 a.m., then the shopping kicks off and lasts all day. The Hive is open until 10 p.m. on Saturdays, with live music kicking off at 6 p.m. The line-up rotates, so you can come back every week for a different musical offering. Live music takes place every Saturday, not just the first and third weeks of the Mercantile Market.
The Market is more than just a shopping destination; it is a curated collection of small businesses selling good-quality products. Marin works to ensure that the products being sold by vendors are varied and that thought goes into the placement of different vendors at the market.
All products must be hand-made or grown by the seller and each market day has no two booths selling the same types of products. All food products must be prepared in a commercially-inspected kitchen and carry the NC Department of Agriculture Home Processor label, to ensure that patrons can be confident in the safety of the food they buy.
Marin also works to support the small businesses by offering advice and guidance on everything from booth set-up and display to pricing and marketing. In addition to the Mercantile Market, starting in August, on the 3rd Wednesday of the month, The Hive will host a monthly business mixer for small business owners.
For more information on the Mercantile Market at The Hive, visit thehiveofhopemills.com. There, you can find links to applications for both food trucks and vendors.