Whether it was the economic upheavals of the Covid-19 pandemic, the uncertainty around job prospects or a change from indoor dining — it all played a role in the increasing number of food trucks around Southland.
Southland District Council figures show 29 mobile food businesses have been registered in the district since November 2021.
In the Invercargill City Council area eight new permits were issued during 2021, including four since November.
The figures do not include coffee carts.
Invercargill chef Cameron Kingipotiki said he had been working in kitchens overseas for more than a decade, and noticed a rise in food trucks abroad.
He returned to Invercargill last year and got to work setting up his own food truck, Burger Scene.
"I wanted something that you’d not expect to be a food truck.”
After gutting and converting an out-of-commission ambulance, Burger Scene finally opened for business in November.
“A lot of people seem to come down wherever we are.”
One of the latest additions to the region’s street food scene was the Gaucho food truck in Otatara, which opened last month.
Brazilian national and owner Mauricio Tesche moved to Southland 13 years ago, where he has been working as a full-time mechanic.
In recent years he started to miss the traditional South American street food.
The recent Covid-19 pandemic restrictions and the potential high costs for building leases led him to make the decision to "start small” with a food truck.
“I always wanted to bring something new and different to Invercargill.
“I decided to invest in a food truck because the costs are more affordable than a restaurant where you would need to pay for rent and staff. ”
The food truck model worked for him as he learned about the hospitality industry and kept his fulltime job.
Parked in Riverton since Christmas last year, Vicky Henderson invested in her Tommy’s Tucker Truck as she wanted out of the building industry in Queenstown
and to reconnect with her hospitality roots while also honouring her late father, Tommy.
“I was tired of sitting behind the computer and I was missing interacting with people.”
Her menu had food which she and her father, who worked as a butcher, used to cook.
“All the names of the food on the menu are related to songs that I used to listen to with dad.”
