The days when the west seemed forgotten or ignored by Melbourne’s developing food truck industry sure seem like a long time ago and a long way away …
Tonight on Somerville Road there were 14 – that’s right, 14 – food truck in operation!
I’ve liked all the truckers I’ve met.
And I like that they like each other.
But I wonder how they can all make a buck in such an intense environment.
Those that I talked to tonight said business was good without being outstanding.
There was certainly a happy vibe in evidence!
And, no, I didn’t partake, having already eaten in Carlton …
consider the sauce 
I was there a couple of weeks ago when there were about 7 or 8 trucks. The atmosphere was great! People were meeting friends at the park, buying from a number of trucks and then sharing. We took ours home, but bought from two trucks (when we would normally have only bought from one).
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I haven’t bought from the trucks before, but love the idea. Isn’t it just the same as having 14 restaurants in a row, but better as you can take away?
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That’s a different way of looking at it! But you can take away anywhere. You should take the kids down one night … it’s quite a scene. And with so many trucks, there’d have to be something they’d like! Wouldn’t there?
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Have been meaning to take them for ages…..might be a school holiday event! And yes, I’m sure there’ll be something they will eat! Love the idea that we can try from many trucks, rather than just one restaurant!
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14… Wow. That can’t be sustainable, surely? I do like food trucks but let’s do some quick maths. Say a successful truck gets 60 covers in a night, and that’s being generous. Average $12 per cover. $720, which has to pay for food, the truck, council permits, and wages/profit (most trucks seem to have 2 servers). Not to mention the time spent prepping and pre-cooking.
It seems like a very tough way to make a living. I think that a lot of people who run food trucks do it simply because they love it. But thank you very much for their passion as it makes the rest of us very satisfied 🙂
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Average $12 per cover. $720,
Juz there are at lot of restaurants that dont take even that sort of money
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That was a deliberately very generous assumption, I’m sure there are lots of trucks not doing anywhere near that. Just saying that it seems like something you do because you want to own a food truck, not to make a bundle of cash.
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