On road to new success
Venture into food-truck market pays off for Foong family
WIDELY experienced Port Elizabeth restaurateur Grant Foong has taken his love for food, family and community on the road – and he is certainly going places.
Foong, the former owner of the popular Foong’s Asian food restaurant in Mount Pleasant, which was established in the early 1930s, is now making it in Nelson Mandela Bay’s “food-truck market”.
Foong and his family, who hit the road to serve small festivals and events around the province in March 2015 and after closing the family restaurant, have not looked back since.
“We decided to investigate the possibilities around food trucks. We wanted to do something different.
“We did not listen to too many people and we experimented a lot,” 52-year-old Foong said. He said his business model was built around family, community and creating an atmosphere where people could socialise while enjoying quality food.
Foong’s approach is to act as a catalyst to draw in other food trucks, so creating a public food and beverage social event and promoting the area where it takes place.
The popularity of his offerings, the emerging food-truck trend, and his role as a catalyst for the niche market was evident at the Baakens Food Truck Friday event last week attended by hundreds.
The event is now held on every second Friday of the month, and the participants are not just selling their specialist foods, but also intend to plough back into the community through a fund which has been created to assist new entrants into the market.
“We had the restaurant to begin with, before I decided to start this food-truck extravaganza and it really felt like we were part of the community because people loved our food, and still do,” he said.
Although the Foongs closed their restaurant to pursue the food-truck idea, the catering side of their operation remains an important component of the family business.
“This food-truck idea emerged through Jan du Plessis, the owner of the Werk Space, which we use each time we do Baakens Food Truck Friday.
“My daughter, Tayla, and I sat down to try and come up with a strategy of how we were going to implement the idea.
“One moment I was sitting with a pencil and a piece of paper, the next I had a list of about 10 people who were potentially going to help me take the food business in Port Elizabeth to a whole new level,”
“And I must admit, it has been totally worth it.”
Grant and his wife, Nina, have five children. “Tayla, 24, is the brains behind the marketing strategy for the family’s food ventures. Cole, 17, Reade 16, Leah, 14, and Tai, 12, also play a part in making the family’s passion for food a success,” Foong said.
“My children have always been involved in everything we’ve done, but only where they want to. Tayla has always been the creative one in terms of helping with the branding.
“Tai loves to help his mom in the kitchen while Cole, Reade and Leah like selling.
“So they’ve come on board on their own free will.”
Foong says the food the family makes is a reflection of who they are – “filled with love, flavour, colour, wholesomeness and happiness”.
Asked if he hoped his children would follow in his footsteps, he said: “We always hope that our children will follow in our footsteps and put us on new levels.
“But the main thing is that, if they keep the values that we’ve lived and served Port Elizabeth by, they are sure to be successes.”
Questioned about the attributes that have made his food brand successful, he said a key was running the business in the city and meeting people with similar mindsets.
“That has let us step away from the negativity like comparing ourselves to other cities such as Johannesburg or Cape Town, but instead to look at ourselves and make a success of the things we have to offer and express that to the people who have very little knowledge about them.” Foong listed five critical work ethics. “Be passionate, don’t procrastinate, associate yourself with people who know what they are doing and have been where you want to go, listen to the older folk who have a lot of experience – and laugh a lot,” Foong said.