Barry Smith has always had food on his mind.
As the former-owner of The Mad Butcher, for many years Mr Smith’s job was to sell meat products and machines to service stations, convenience stores and schools.
But when supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths bought into the service stations across the country, Mr Smith quickly found himself out of business.
“I lost 25,000 sites overnight,” Mr Smith said.
“I had 2500 hot dog machines which I had nothing to do with.”
But when the 66-year-old came across a food truck on eBay which was situated in Melbourne, he saw an opportunity.
“The machines caught my eye because we never sold the machines, so they shouldn’t have had it,” he said.
“And I thought, there’s a good idea; I’ll get some of those and put a few hot dog machines in them and set up a little franchise and sell them off.
“We were doing markets selling meat and we would see people setting up their coffee and food tents and they were there for two hours setting up before the market.
“Whereas we’d come along with the meat trailer, open up the site and we’d be ready to go.”
By 2018, CFC Trailers was born– a Loganholme business which sells vintage and retro coffee and food trucks to customers keen to capitalise on the latest restaurant trend.
Now, almost four years on, business is booming, with the company now helping hundreds of customers fill the niche for meals on wheels.
“It’s a very big market,” Mr Smith said.
Over the past decade, the food truck industry has revved up in Australia, with the demand driving CFC Trailers.
According to the Australian Mobile Food Vendors Group, there are now more than 5,000 food trucks across Australia, and the industry continues to grow, despite a slow year in 2020 due to Covid lockdowns.
The mobile food revolution that started in the US quickly hit our shores, with food trucks and mobile vendors now frequently popping up and adding a new flavour to the scene across the city.
And with the trailers selling for anywhere between $18,500 and $23,500, it’s a much cheaper investment for foodies than a brick-and-mortar restaurant.
But the road to success wasn’t always so smooth for Mr Smith.
The Businessman said he spent about 18 months going back and forth from a company in China–which he now owns 49% of, to perfect the mobile kitchen designs.
“It’s quite an extensive process.”
“Our team has spent massive amounts of time formulating the best way for us to build your trailers as efficiently and effectively as possible.
“When we got the first ones here, they were absolutely diabolical.
“But when we started working with a Chinese company, and started flying over and physically showing the designs we wanted and how to meet the Australian standards, we got better and better.
“We were committed to getting it right, and we did.”
