Pasadena food truck owners and mobile vendors have until Nov. 16 to apply for a spot feeding Olympic crowds at the 2028 Games, including at the Rose Bowl.

LA28, the organizing committee for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, announced the L.ocal A.uthentic Program on Thursday, Sept. 10. LA28 called it the largest integration of food trucks and mobile vendors in Olympic history. The committee said it plans to select hundreds of small food businesses across the Los Angeles region to serve spectators at competition and non-competition venue zones.

The Rose Bowl Stadium is one of those venues. The Pasadena landmark is scheduled to host five soccer matches during the Games, including the men's and women's gold medal matches on July 28 and July 29, 2028. It will become the second venue in history, after the LA Memorial Coliseum, to be used in three Olympic Games. The Rose Bowl Aquatics Center is also listed as a Pasadena Zone venue, though organizers have noted assignments could still change.

For the first time in Olympic history, LA28 said, local food trucks, festival-style pop-ups and food carts will play a central role in the Games' food and beverage operation. Across the Olympic and Paralympic Games, that operation is expected to deliver more than 17 million meals.

LA28 CEO Reynold Hoover said the program aims to give local entrepreneurs lasting benefits beyond the Games.

"… 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," Hoover said in the announcement.

Selected vendors will receive mentoring and support to scale production, strengthen financial models, navigate insurance and permitting requirements, and refine staffing and logistics, according to LA28. The program supports the committee's broader goal of directing 75% of its addressable procurement spending to Los Angeles-region businesses and 25% to small businesses.

In a Tuesday, Sept. 8 interview with the Los Angeles Business Journal, Hoover described the economic stakes. A Southern California Association of Governments report estimates the 2028 Games will generate upward of $17 billion in economic benefits across the region.

Applications are open through Nov. 16 on the Regional Alliance Marketplace for Procurement platform, known as RAMPLA. The 2028 Olympic Games run July 14 through 30, 2028, with the Paralympic Games following Aug. 15 through 27, 2028.