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After all the hoopla surrounding Portland's food trucks, such as how many should there be? Where should they park? The city's five-month pilot program kicked off Wednesday, June 15.

Room for 14 food trucks was approved down on Cutter Street, a parking lot halfway down from the Eastern Promenade.

It wasn't even lunchtime on Wednesday, June 15, but the food trucks were busy churning out their specialties. Mini donuts from the Eighty 8 Donut Cafe truck. Nearby, pizza was served from inside a cargo container-turned-food truck

Customers were eating it up.

"This is great. This is wonderful. We're super excited," said Janet Kwok who was visiting from Pittsburgh.

The food truck operators are a bit more skeptical about their new location. The city set up a food truck park halfway down the hill. But truck operators worried about whether hungry customers would even see them.

"There's going to be a number of folks that just won't want to walk down the hill, but by having everyone down here it will hopefully create that synergy, bring the traffic, the foot traffic down so we'll see them at the end of the day or at least most of them," said Aaron Milberger, owner of the food truck he named “Cheese The Day.”

The food truck owners said they preferred being up on the street. Residents of the fashionable Eastern Prom complained about the congestion, the traffic, and the trash. The city decided to create a food truck park to see how things would go during a five-month pilot program.

Food truck owners we spoke with expressed mixed feelings.

"The way the city delineated this park – they did a really nice job with that," said Garrett Chamlin, who owns the “Eighty 8 Donut Café” food truck. "The pedestrians are on the inside near the grass, so they are safe from traffic in the parking areas," he said.

They worry about their bottom line. Wondering if their sales will be affected by the new location.

"I think we're going to see a change in business flow being down here," Chamlin said. We asked — for better or worse. "I am not convinced that it's going to be for the better," he said.

After the city's initial ruling that only ten trucks would be allowed, there was a protest outside city hall and soon after a change of heart. All 14 food truck applicants were allowed to be part of the pilot program.

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