HAPPY CHAPPY ICE CREAM

This van is your typical ice-cream van in the style of the traditional Mr. Whippy van. They offer a range of soft serve ice cream, milkshakes, thick shakes, snow cones and an assortment of drinks. They also sell bubble tea and for those feeling a little more adventurous you can try the takoyaki (octopus balls). These are a ball shaped Japanese snack made of a wheat flour-based batter typically filled with either mince or diced octopus, tempura scraps, pickled ginger and green onion.

The van itself is very colourful and attracts people towards it. However other than the takoyaki, the van lacks anything else original and most people see it as just another soft serve ice cream van.

Once again the only online presence for this van is on Facebook. There is a lack of detail about the van and what they offer. Considering the Facebook page claims the van opened on 1^st December 2009, a page was only created in March 2013. The last post at the time of writing was from the 3^rd of August. They fail to keep their customer base up to date with the location of the van and time it will be available. If this were to be fixed then people would be able to find with more ease therefore gaining more business for the van. I have discovered that self-promotion for these style food vans is very important in gaining a following. 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Happy-Chappy-Ice-Cream/171346099684791

HIGHER GROUNDS

Higher Grounds is a coffee based food cart. Not your typical food van, as there is no physical van, Higher Grounds is a coffee shop on a bicycle. The bike even has the kitchen sink attached. The blokes who run the van are very inviting and friendly. One of the guys has possibly the best beard I have ever had the privilege of coming across.

The van offers everything you would expect a coffee shop to sell, from your average coffee, to teas and hot chocolates. There is no food on offer as the simply specialize in hot drinks.

As I’m not a huge drinker of coffee, I’m not the best person to be reviewing a coffee cart. However they had a considerable amount of customers considering how many other coffee joints were in close proximity to their stand.

With nearly 750 likes on their Facebook page, Higher Grounds is immensely popular with people. They are constantly updating their page letting people know where they will be. They also have an impressive collection of photos of not only the cart but also of people enjoying their coffee. They are using Facebook a lot better than most of the other mobile food vans that I have come across. 

https://www.facebook.com/highergroundscoffeecart?ref=stream

TURKISH SAJ

A very typical looking food van, Turkish Saj serves up some delicious Turkish food. They sell a variety of gozleme, kebabs, Mediterranean style rice, salads and hot chips with drinks also available to purchase.

Gozleme is a traditional Turkish pastry dish, made of hand-rolled dough that is lightly brushed with butter and eggs, filled with various toppings, sealed, and cooked in a hot pan.

I had the lamb, spinach and feta gozleme along with the spinach, feta, sundried tomatoes and olives gozleme. It was good that they had a vegetarian alternative and both were very satisfying.

The people working in the van were very friendly and you can tell they have been cooking these foods their entire lives.

The only negative to this food van is that they have no online presence. There is no way for people to follow this van and find out where they will be stationed. This may be due to the van only operating at events such as the Curtin University event, Park’d. Whatever the reason is, I feel that this van would definitely benefit from having an online presence. This way they would be able to discover how many people are interested in them and their food. I failed to find a contact for this van at all online so I’m not sure how to contact them apart from hoping they will be at the next event you attend.

BOOST JUICE TRUCK

Janine Allis first created boost Juice in 2000 in Adelaide and the company has gone on to take Australia and the world by force. With over 250 stores in 14 countries, Boost Juice is constantly growing. One way they have brought their product to the masses is through the use of juice vans and trucks which allows the company to attend festivals and events where there are no stores to set up in. Boost Juices offer a variety of smoothies, crushes, juices and snacks. There is no difference to buying a juice at one of their stores or from one of their mobile vendors, which is what attracts people to the van, as they know what to expect.

Being a highly popular business the brand name is already out there and the public knows the product, which is evident with the nearly quarter of a million ‘likes’ on Facebook. The vans are only available for events and bookings so if you want a Boost juice you will still have to find one of their stores. This means though that there is no Facebook or Twitter account dedicated solely for their trucks. Their website however is loaded with plenty of useful information and the Facebook and Twitter pages dedicated to the business are constantly updated and offer competitions and vouchers for people who sign up to their services.

I found this truck at Curtin University as part of their Park’d initiative they are running this year to promote food trucks. As it was a nice warm day, students from the university were lining up in droves to purchase their favourite juices.

https://twitter.com/boostjuiceoz

http://www.boostjuice.com.au/

https://www.facebook.com/boostjuice?fref=ts