Food trucks are quickly moving in to take over typical fast food chains. It’s a fast, affordable way for foodies to find a gourmet meal – even if they have to scoff while standing.
One of the founding fathers of the modern food truck trend in Sydney is Cantina Movil, a vendor for Mexican street food. It started off as a restaurant bar in Manly; however owner Stephanie Raco thought it was time to hit the road.
“There was definitely a gap in the market in Sydney. We thought, ‘Why not? Let’s get out of the four walls’,” says Stephanie. “We definitely thought that Mexican lends itself to standing on the street.”
Cantina Movil was one of the first food trucks in Sydney to follow the trend.
Some cuisines are easier to make in food trucks than others. Cooking gourmet food in a tiny space may pose some issues; however the pizza makers at Happy as Larry found a fix, installing a 2-ton wood fired oven in their truck, so quality isn’t compromised for convenience.
“We had to order it from Naples and ship it over,” says head chef and co-owner Anthony Severino.
The guys at Happy As Larry installed a 2-ton Stefano Ferarra wood fired oven in their truck.
Sydney isn’t the only city to have food truck fever. In Melbourne’s north sits Welcome to Thornbury, a permanent food truck park. The site was revamped from an auto yard to create a bustling foodie community. It has over 40 different food trucks on rotations on a daily basis.
For many of these food truck owners, street food has been a long time passion. It certainly was for Jenny Chen, who launched Taiwanese food truck, Ghost Kitchen.
“I was a graphic designer for over 10 years, and I was sick of doing the corporate thing, and I was like, ‘there has to be something I love to do’. I love cooking; I love everything to do with food.”
Jenny Chen brought the unique flavours of Taiwan to the Melbourne food truck scene.
Dean Giannakis is another ‘truckie’ who threw in the towel at his corporate gig, to pursue a mobile kitchen. The catalyst for the change was a family holiday in Greece, where he discovered his passion for Greek cuisine. It was then he and his cousin Foti came up with the idea of St Gerry’s, a dessert cart which sells waffles and Greek doughnuts.
“I ran it in conjunction with my corporate job at the time for about six to seven months, and thought it’s either let go of corporate or let go of this. So for me, it was following the heart.”
Dean dropped his full-time job to follow his passion for food.
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