Page 25 - foodservice - June 2018

TOOL TALK
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Operating out of a bricks-and- mortar-free zone and going directly to customers, food
trucks and mobile kitchens have a freedom and fluidity that restaurants and cafes do not have. Their business model allows for interesting mix of creativity and simplicity, hard work and flexibility, technology and innovation. It is perhaps no wonder then they’re increasing in popularity.
Frank Rusitovski got the food truck bug standing in line of his very first food truck. He found himself “speaking to complete strangers about what food items they would try from the menus. To me, it was a unique social dining experience like no other.”
With an idea for an Australian, food truck collective sprouting, Rusitovski and business partner Dean Trpeski decided to spend 18 months exploring the possibility. And after travelling to the United States where they visited food truck vendors and analysed the North American industry’s challenges, the duo launched The Food Truck Park in 2015, which has grown to become Australia’s largest food truck event provider. Their flagship festival, simply called The Food Truck Park, took place in Melbourne’s Birrarung Park in early May featuring food trucks from across the city, including Biggie Smalls, Real O.G Burgers, and Yo India.
Rusitovski says, “We see food trucks as well-positioned to push the boundaries of exciting and innovative street dining experiences.”
Zachary Green agrees. The
Darwin-based chef founded his mobile kitchen, Elijah’s Kitchen, earlier this year. An Americano food truck, measuring 4 by 2.4 metres with a 2.2 verandah, its ample interior and kitchen set-up allows Green and his team to dish out 60 meals a night.
“I wanted to break into the market and start Darwin’s only indigenous-owned and operated restaurant,” he says, “And after much research and costing analysis – taking into account the limitations of Darwin’s wet and dry seasons – I decided launching a food truck was the best course of action. It has since exceeded my expectations.”
Following ‘our culture, our food, our stories’, Elijah’s Kitchen is about celebrating indigenous culture through food. “It’s about giving people the opportunity to see indigenous culture through a different lens,” says Green. “What we’re doing is different to any other food truck currently in operation, because we’re not doing street food on disposable plates – it’s à la carte dining with full table service. It just happens to be outdoors and the kitchen is a food truck.” Accordingly for Green, Elijah’s Kitchen is not simply a mobile restaurant, it is also an important tool in the education of consumers and the spreading of awareness.
ADVANTAGES TO GETTING MOBILE
Rusitovski has been happy to see the position of food trucks and mobile kitchens in Australia transform over his career. No longer only at the local fair
serving hot chips, Dagwood dogs and fairy floss, he says, “They now offer an array of gourmet offerings, at times, served by some of the world’s most acclaimed chefs. This has given our industry the credibility it deserves and has changed the way food and beverage is sold at events and festivals.”
Rusitovski sees flexibility
as a major reason for this change; operators are able to move from location to location, expose their business and products to different areas of the city, and choose their own operating hours. “There is
no fixed rent and low initial capital outlay,” he says. “You can build your brand before expanding to fixed premises.”
This was a big consideration for Green. “Rent, utilities and other overheads simply are killers for permanent restaurants and cafes,” he says. “A food truck doesn’t cost much to run, which is fantastic.” This doesn’t prevent Elijah’s Kitchen from having space for a fridge, bar fridge and chest freezer, two prep benches with a service window, a Goldstein flat grill, a salamander grill, fryer, oven and hot plate. The mobile restaurant also has a Yoda smoker and Green Egg Smoke Bullet on the veranda.
FOOD TRUCKING DRAWBACKS
As advantageous as operators may find running a food truck or mobile kitchen, it’s not without its unique set of challenges. Rusitovski urges those keen to get into the industry to crunch the numbers so to avoid a nasty surprise regarding costs.