NEWCASTLE’S mobile food truck vendors are feeling left in the lurch – and that the city is missing a valuable new opportunity to reinvigorate city life – by inaction on a council policy.
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The latest to be disappointed are owners of East End Mexican restaurant Casa de Loco, who hoped their El Poco Loco truck would help create in Newcastle the mobile food culture that has taken Melbourne and Sydney by storm.
‘‘The good things about the trucks is they activate areas that aren’t otherwise utilised,’’ Tracey Priestley, who owns El Poco Loco with her children Alli and Aaron, said.
After enlisting the help of a town planner, Ms Priestley said the council had led them to believe all they would need to trade in Newcastle was to fill out a form.
But after investing $150,000, 12 months to get the truck built in Melbourne and importing tiles from Mexico, they were told it was a no go.
Previously food trucks could submit a development application to trade at designated public sites. But that process has been abolished and there is nothing yet to replace it.
While mobile food vendors can trade at set events, such as markets, they want to be able to operate independently – at places like the beach or parks or in suburbs that aren’t serviced by cafes.
Newcastle City Council, while not commenting directly on the El Poco Loco application, said a food truck policy was being drafted internally for presentation to the council ‘‘at a later date’’.
In the meantime, the El Poco Loco van is languishing at home in Dudley with its owners considering moving to Sydney, where it is welcome.
Newcastle’s first food truck, run by The Junction’s Harrys Schnitzel Joint, gained its approval through a development application and has been trading since January 2013.
Harrys owner Mr Harry James said councils in the Hunter had made operating a food truck an uphill battle.
‘‘They talk about the revitalisation of Newcastle,’’ Mr James said. ‘‘And here we are trying to do that, bringing people to areas they don’t go to.’’
But reaction from councils such as ‘‘Sorry you can’t park there, that’s Crown land, sorry that’s state government land’’ didn’t give his food truck much leeway, he said.
Ms Priestley is astounded at the difference in attitude between Newcastle and Sydney councils.
‘‘We could go to Sydney and pull up for a five-hour shift instead [we have to wait] for a market to happen in Newcastle,’’ Ms Priestley said.
In April, the City of Sydney approved 12 permanent trucks and gave tentative approval to a further 23 – including El Poco Loco – following a successful two-year trial.
City of Sydney food truck manager Lana Zegura said food trucks offered a unique dining option that had created a ‘‘buzz’’ and sense of ‘‘community’’ in Sydney.
She said El Poco Loco had submitted a very high quality application that was one of the most detailed she had seen.
