Top food and coffee vans on the Fraser Coast 2023
Food trucks are an underrated dining experience bringing together cuisines and easy to eat food on the go, not to mention great coffee. Vote in our poll and help crown the Fraser Coast’s best food truck.
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Food trucks are an underrated dining experience and the Fraser Coast is home to some of the best in Queensland.
The perfect vehicle for food entrepreneurs, some get behind the wheel for a better work life balance while for others it’s a means of advertising to bring people to their restaurants.
Food vans operate in various modes and in a multitude of locations, but one thing is for sure – they’re all about conquering our taste buds.
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Here’s our round-up of the best mobile food and beverage businesses on the Fraser Coast.
strEAT
While Hervey Bay’s My Kitchen Rules winners Dan and Steph Mulheron have made the decision to sell their famous EAT restaurant in a decision they have described as “daunting and sad” they are still serving up delicious food in their food van StrEAT with Dan & Steph.
Despite taking a on new career challenge in the form of becoming sale agents at Carter Cooper Realty, the down-to-earth Hervey Bay couple will always remain serious foodies.
They say ‘strEAT’ is a thoughtful modern approach to catering and they want to deliver honest restaurant quality meals.
Those who purchase meals from strEAT can expect to try delicious dishes such as chicken roulade and rolled pork belly.
Golden Grain German Bakery
Finding love on a working holiday has taken talented pastry chef Mette Stimson from Europe to the Northern Territory and now the Fraser Coast, where the secret recipes handed down by her father have been unleashed on the local population to great success.
From Hamburg to Toogoom, with many steps in between, Mette Stimson has brought her signature German baking to the Fraser Coast.
Golden Grain German Bakery is where Mette sells her traditional German breads and pastries – brezel, berliner and scrolls all which she makes from scratch from her 1967 vintage caravan.
The Howard markets was the first port of call, and the bakery is now a common sight at many markets across the Fraser Coast.
Binney’s Tornado Potatoes
What began as a side hustle quickly became a full-time business for the owners of Binney’s Tornado Potatoes.
The iconic street food has become a staple of the region’s food festival scene, with no local event complete without the golden spirals.
Binney’s Tornado Potatoes was born in 2015, when owner Steve Binney was looking for a side hustle to keep busy.
Within 12 months the demand for the popular street food snack encouraged the former painter to dive in head first.
Now Steve operates the van full-time with the support of his wife Nyree, with the van travelling across the Wide Bay Burnett to attend a range of events from local country shows to farmers markets.
Mr Whippy
An iconic sight on Fraser Coast streets during the warmer months, getting an ice cream from Mr Whippy has been a summer tradition for most families.
Second generation owner Robby Staff says the connection the business has with Fraser Coast residents was “very special” and seeing the smiles on children and adults made “it more than just a business”.
Mr Staff’s father Bob first bought the business all the way back in 1980 and it has been in the family ever since.
There is now a small but dedicated team that prepare for the night’s work at the Mr Whippy Headquarters in Hervey Bay.
Each day the vans and the Italian-made Carpigiani vintage ice cream machines are sanitised inside and out, and the iconic vanilla soft serve and the famous caramel and chocolate topping is made fresh.
Mr Staff’s favourite ice creak is the vanilla with chocolate sauce.
MaltDB
Matthew Hubbert wanted to bring “a slice of Greece” to the Fraser Coast when MaltDB opened in 2021 and clearly the residents of the region have taken a liking to the tradition loukoumades the business provides.
Loukoumades are Greek style doughnuts which are deep fried in oil before being topped up with sugar which Mr Hubbard calls “the goodness”.
The business is growing with every month and their operations have seen them expand to as far north as Kingaroy down to as south as Caboolture while still attending all of the Fraser Coast’s major events.
The Caffeine Fix
The Caffeine Fix Mobile Cafes have been operating in Hervey Bay and Maryborough since 2006.
The business provides customers with excellent coffee, prompt, reliable and friendly service, and guarantees their coffee will be made hot, fresh and just the way you like it.
Their friendly staff will endeavour to learn your name, your favourite drink and even how many sugars you like and will serve you with a smile.
The Caffeine Fix visits business areas in Hervey Bay, including Dundowran, Hervey Bay Airport Industrial Area and Urangan.
Flavour Bites
A family run business operating out of Torbanlea, Flavour Bites has “catered to all their customers needs” since opening in 2018.
While owners, husband and wife duo Kamal and Sashimaika Kishore, specialise in Asian food they say they can cook “anything” in their mobile food van.
The family are long time Fraser Coast residents having moved into the area in 2007 and are a familiar sight at the many festivals held across the region.
Their favourite foods to make and serve are their Doner Kebab and Peking Duk.
Coffee Cart of Maryborough
The Coffee Cart is an independent, family owned and run business which endeavours to use organic and local products where possible.
Owner John Bignell this year celebrated his 20th year in the coffee making business and has seen the enterprise expand to cover all of Wide Bay and much of the Sunshine Coast.
He wants his customers “to enjoy the service that has been provided” and also to savour the taste of his locally sourced coffee beans from Kunda Park near Mooloolaba.
Mammino Ice Cream
Perhaps one of the most recognisable exports from the Bundaberg region, Mammino Ice Cream food truck is just one small part of a historically regarded Childers’ business.
Founded in 1996 by Anthony and Teena Mammino, the gourmet treat was born after Teena decided to try creating a new treat by mixing homegrown macadamias with her grandmother’s old-style ice cream recipe.
From there the business has grown, with years of iconic moments including becoming the first homemade, independent ice cream company to manufacture strawberry ice cream for the Ekka’s renowned strawberry sundaes.
The mobile food truck has become just one arm of the incredible business which allows the owners to bring the sweet treat to local festivals, events and private functions.
Despite the passing of Anthony in 2017, the business has remained in the hands of family through Anthony‘s cousin Leo Ricciardi, and his wife Helen.
Blazes Burgerie
Blazes Burgerie makes burgers, fish, seafood, chips, sandwiches, ready to heat meals and desserts.
Lisa Mudge who has owned the store for the past eight years says she “wants to provide promises good quality food and old fashioned service at an affordable price” at the Coral St, Urangan store and through the two food trucks present at many Fraser Coast festivals and events.
Hello Mr Jenkins
One of the bonewood caravans which have taken many Australian families of the past on endless road trips has now been reimagined into a mobile bar.
The caravan started life being owned by a Mr Jenkins in Sydney, cruising the Australian coastline and now travels from Bundaberg to Byron attending functions and entertaining guests.
Twisted Potato Finger Food
The team behind the Twisted Potato Finger Food Truck have been in the industry for 16 years and bring a home cooked love to all their events.
Owned by Nannette Houston and operated with the help of her husband Barry, the pair travel the Wide Bay Burnett with their two food trucks offering churros, twisted potatoes, pluto pups, slushies and a whole range of popular festival food.
They first got into the food truck industry after Barry sold his earthmoving business and Nannette looked to running her own enterprise.
After noticing a gap in the local market, handyman Barry built his wife a food truck and the rest is history.
They credit their ongoing success to their locally sourced, homemade ingredients, which include the batter that coats their popular twisted potatoes.
The food trucks now keep the pair busy full-time, and they said their love for the industry will keep them going into the future.
“It’s nice to get out and about, and in this industry it’s mostly the same people that go to different events,” Barry said.
“It’s like one big extended family.”
The Dutch Poffertjes
The Dutch Poffertjes House food truck is arguably one of the most recognisable in the region, if only for its cozy cottage core exterior complete wooden clogs and tulips.
Owner Bill Prins has operated the food truck for almost two decades, following years of working independently in a number of industries.
The first food truck initially catered to local markets in the Lockyer Valley, before Bill decided to “retire” to Bundaberg.
“After six months I was bored, I had to do something, so I built a new food van,” he said.
The Dutch born business owner now travels across the state with the poffertjes van, travelling as far north as Roma, as far west as Emerald and as part south as Redcliffe.
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Originally published as Top food and coffee vans on the Fraser Coast 2023
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