EDIBLE: Cachagua General Store, PigWizard and Katie’s Coldpress fight to find a place to serve people.

An average of 3,000 people – almost as much as the population of Carmel (3,891) – walk into Monterey Sports Center every single day. Across the street sits a coffee-roastery-to-be where the previous tenants salivated at the passersby, struggled to read the clientele’s healthy leanings, and folded after featuring cupcakes and sausages as the titular treats.

When Nuernberg’s German Sausages left town and that vacancy hit the market, some atypical excitement ensued. Popular companies with tribal followings campaigned for placement, two publicly, inspiring me to have some fun via a piece titled “Juice v. Bacon: Katie’s Coldpress,PigWizard petition for key Monterey spot” that opened with: “It’s a showdown scripted for theFood Channel, part MTV Celebrity Deathmatch, part hipster battle for the soul of local foodies. Artisan pork belly versus cold-pressed juice.”

PigWizard (Jonathan Roberts) promptly grinded me up on Facebook: “Way to make people trying to take care of their families and follow their dreams into a partisan issue! I wish we could share the space, and I wish there were more spaces for fledgling food business, but the lack of available commercial water, coupled with high rent, make it a tough place to get started. As for us sharing, we have regulatory issues that would make it impossible for us to grow the way we both want using the same space.”

Katie Raquel squeezed in a comment: “Yeah, for anyone looking for drama, none here. Food business is tough and we all want each other to succeed.”

They spoke to some less-public plot underpinnings: One, it wasn’t just about the high-profile players in the game: There were as many as 17 applicants, according to landlord Frank Flores, who owns the Carpet Caravan that just moved into the redone batting cage space next door. That included another cult favorite, the Cachagua General Store/A Moveable Feast team, who was part of the team attempt to share the space.

Two, the primary reason so many applicants lined up wasn’t the formidable foot traffic, but the fact the space has a kitchen and water credits – albeit not enough for a full restaurant, which disqualified about half the suitors.

To quote the Peninsula’s leading water-use guru, Monterey Peninsula Water Management District General Manager Dave Stoldt, the 398 Franklin scenario “just scratches the surface of a big issue.” The state’s cease-and-desist order on pumping Carmel River frowns harshly on any new growth until a new water supply is online and flowing. Monterey is out of water credits. Pacific Grove is hoping for a few extra from a golf course/cemetery recycled water project, but MPWMD is still evaluating that. Carmel has a few on sale from Clint Eastwood’s conversion of credits from his Odello property off Highway 1. Seaside has some, but they’re committed to upcoming projects. Only Sand City, which has its own desalination plant, really has any surplus.

“The marketplace is perverse,” Stoldt says. “I look at rents in Carmel, [and wonder], ‘How can that restaurant survive?’ If there’s water available, landlords can jack up the rent and you see more competition because you can’t locate without it. We’re stuck in that mode for the next few years.”

That leaves PigWizard, Katie’s Coldpress and Cachagua General Store on the hunt. Together they’ve found a spectrum of success searching out new spots ranging from Nearly Reborn to Ready to Give Up Completely.

After waging a tasting campaign, selling more than 100 bottles in two days from the sidewalk outside the building to prove her concept on Franklin – the first viable property she saw in four years of searching – Katie’s Coldpress keeps looking. The good news is she says she’s zeroing in on an investor that will allow her to open a central Peninsula location. She’ll still produce her California Certified Organic Farmers-approved juice at El Pajaro Community Development Center Commercial Kitchen Incubator in Watsonville (763-3695), whose $10-an-hour rates make her soluble.

“It’s a nonprofit, and affordable, and it’s still challenging,” she says. “With licensing and the huge learning curve, it’s really expensive to start a food business. Monterey doesn’t have a lot of options for people who want to get into it and don’t have a huge investment.

“I wish for my sake and for a lot of other local food businesses that Monterey County had more available commercial kitchen spaces for lease and for rent.”

Cachauga General’s famous/infamous Mike Jones, meanwhile, says he’s this close to signing a lease, though he’s not telling till the ink is on the papyrus.

“We’re ready to reopen,” he says. “We have the perfect fit for us.”

The potential new headquarters includes a commercial kitchen, event space and would allow for now-legendary CGS Monday Night Dinners (and lower-key Sunday brunches).

Meanwhile, PigWizard is ready to throw in the pork chop. “There is no update,” Roberts says. “I’m considering selling all this equipment and finding another career. The bottom line is there’s no place to go, and when there is, there’s too much competition.

“It’s not going to get cheaper, we’re not going to get any more water,” he continues. “How do you long go on banging your head against something before you learn to stop?”