Getting aboard the trend

Food trucks are in such hot demand, even pizza franchise Hell has jumped on the trend. The pizza company has started selling mobile franchise business for $150,000, with operators using a Mad Maxstyle RV complete with a full-size pizza oven.

American ice-cream company Ben & Jerry’s also operates food trucks.

It has one truck in Takapuna, a pop-up container in Lower Hutt and another mobile truck which it uses nationwide for promotions.

Ben & Jerry’s New Zealand country business lead Bert Naber says its trucks have been wellreceived. “We think food trucks bring a great dynamic to any town and can support the local community and culture.”

Christchurch City Council has granted 15 food truck licences so far this year. Last year it granted 30, there were 35 in 2016 and about the same in 2015. It now has 206 registered operators, up from 188 in 2014.

In the Wellington metro area, the Wellington City Council had 44 food truck registrations last year, but a council spokesman says there was a jump because of changes in food hygiene regulations. So far this year there have been 13.

Niche and fusion hospitality has boosted the food truck industry, says AUT University senior hospitality management lecturer Lindsay Neill.

“The people who are putting together food trucks think them out more; they’re not just trendy or of the moment,” Neill says.

“I don’t think the mobile food vendor is going away any time soon.

“The food may be trendy but I think we have added value, the relationship with the customer and the food truck owner and that’s what makes the market, possibly, a little bit different than the Australian market.

“Our concepts are a bit more well-conceived because the market is smaller so people have to think about it a bit more ... ”

But, says Neill, “Kiwi mobile food truck owners, because it’s a small market, need to do their homework that little bit more because we just don’t have the numbers of population.

“These kinds of things go through booms and busts.

“Once we reach a particular point where the market is saturated with options, I think, there will be a bit of a culling in terms of lowerperforming operators which are not as unique,” he says.

“We’re still going up the peak, and who knows when it’s going to stop.”