The little food truck that could
Revisiting a South Dunedin success story
Fresh from writing about cheese roll burgers (I’m still traumatised), I’m back covering food.
Recently I wrote about the pair behind a food truck offering $4 takeaway meals. Unsurprisingly, that attracted a lot of attention, but even they were surprised when on opening night they had a line stretching around the street.
The Dunedin Bowling Club officially opened for business in South Dunedin on Matariki, June 14. Since then they regularly sell out of food, and have even won a prize for best sustainable business.
“It was a very steep learning curve,” Liam Arthur said of that opening night where he and co-owner Jackie Bannon served 300 meals, many of which were free for those who shared their Facebook post.
“It was pretty stressful, I don’t like to think about it,” Bannon said.
The food truck, which offers $4 meals to those who bring their own bowl, was now even busier but the work was getting easier for the pair.
They regularly sold out, serving between 300-350 meals a night.
It was pleasing to see how many donations the social enterprise business had received, so others could enjoy free meals, Bannon said.
“We don’t ask any questions, we assume that people aren’t going to abuse the system.”
A charity had already been in contact, wanting to distribute some free food vouchers, which had been purchased by others.
“We trust our community members to know who really needs it, as opposed to us,” Arthur said.
The menu at The Bowling Club, so named because of the bowls people brought, varied depending on what day it was, but Friday was now officially ‘curry night’, he said.
The business operated in the car park of the South Dunedin Community Network on King Edward St between 3.30pm to 8pm every Monday and Friday.
Originally they started with four main meals on rotation, but after conducting a poll they decided to cut one of those meals, a Moroccan chicken and lentil stew.
Instead, they introduced a new system where a new menu item was added on Monday, with this week featuring BBQ beans and grits in homage to Bannon, who was from the United States.
One eye-opening part of the business was seeing the type of bowls or containers people would bring in: they ranged from former margarine bottles to a cut-down Just Juice plastic bottle.
She said the only major issue they had encountered was capacity: “We don’t have any more physical space to make any more food than what we are doing”
A physical space, rather than the food truck, was one possible idea with the pair preferring to remain in South Dunedin.
Arthur said they were able to keep costs down as they bought wholesale, and decided early on to move away from the chicken and pork on the menu to vegetarian options.
Bannon said the business, which earlier this month won a ‘best sustainable award’ from Keep Dunedin Beautiful, were also hoping to expand and employ some others to work at the food truck.
“We are really stoked with how it has gone, we are excited with how much people have got behind it . . . it feels great to serve really nice food which is mainly plant-based, and is really cheap and delicious,” Arthur said.
All the best for them.
So last week I confessed my love of basketball while comparing that with issues facing rugby. This was evident at the Nuggets’ game on Sunday. Possibly the best finish to a local sporting event you’ll ever watch.
I looked into Sam Uffindell’s time in Dunedin this morning, after revelations emerged that his time at the University of Otago may have been less than stellar.
I went down a wormhole, and found this old video from 2003 (unrelated to Uffindell), but contains one of the worst student carnage scenes ever (and I have seen a few student carnage scenes).
Welcome to the flushing toilet from hell. Fast-forward to the end…
Gross.
I’m also grateful video cameras (remember those) weren’t really a thing when I was a student.
Armed with my camera, I climbed up Baldwin St on Saturday, alongside my youngest.
I hadn’t noticed this before, but it is terrific.
Baldwin St was always a site of great election billboards, I think Labour started it back in the day.
I think the most eye-catching local government billboard would have to go to this one by Cr Lee Vandervis at high tide in the Andersons Bay inlet back in 2006. You can read that story here.
And then there is this local legend of the 2020 general election. You can read about him here.
Let me know if you spot any interesting hoardings, or election stunts.
My interest comes during the final big push to get people to register for local body elections. It is pleasing to see some names starting to appear on community boards.
Last week, the Dunedin City Council issued a statement saying “the Saddle Hill and Strath Taieri community boards, which together have 12 seats to fill, are yet to attract a single candidate”.
As of Wednesday, three people have put their names forward for Saddle Hill, and four for Strath Taieri.
Nominations close at noon on Friday 12 August 2022.
So far five people have put their name forward for the Dunedin mayoralty: Bill Acklin, Aaron Hawkins, Carmen Houlahan, Mandy Mayhem-Bullock, and Rich Seager.
Here is a cool peak at what is under the not-Durex-sponsored Dunedin Railway Station.
There are lots of things on in the city at the moment, including the New Zealand International Film Festival, which begins at the Rialto this week.
Also on is a talk by Dr Tom Mulholland, who will discuss strategies to maintain physical and mental health in times of stress.
The event is a fundraiser for the Life Matters Suicide Prevention Trust, with the Dunedin-based charity active locally and nationally. It will be held on Thursday from 10am-12pm at Dunedin Public Art Gallery, tickets $20.
More information is here.
And now it is time for Tweet of the Week!!!
Here is Paul Pope with this, um, gem:
For those lovers of nostalgia, check out the early scenes of Dunedin in Shaker Run.
The plot involves two stunt drivers on the run from secret police in the South Island of New Zealand, while carrying a virus for the CIA.
Sounds topical.
Enjoy your week. Please email me with any tips to hamish.mcneilly@stuff.co.nz.
Hey Hamish! Thanks for taking the time to chat with us - hope to share some food with you sometime :)
Strath Taieri up to 7 candidates now, so they have a race now. From looking at the rest of the community boards for Dunedin, no others are yet full.