'It financially ruined us': food truck owners fold under council red tape

Kylie Rogers-Smith started Shirley's Canteen at Warners Bay with her husband Grant in the hope it would provide cash flow to bolster their struggling retail business.

Instead, the couple's dream became a living "nightmare" which left them thousands of dollars worse off and redrawing from their home loan.

"Honestly it got to the point where it was emotionally making us sick," Ms Rogers-Smith said.

"I ended up on anti-depressants and I had a couple of months where I had trouble getting out of bed.

"That combined with what's happening in retail, even talking about it now my voice starts to wobble, it just financially ruined us.

"It's been an exhausting, distressing 12 months and there's no light at the end of the tunnel."

Late last year the couple approached Lake Macquarie council to start a mobile food vendor business from the private car park behind their shop Fox and Willow.

The idea was to sell hot and cold drinks with basic toasted sandwiches, pies, sausage rolls and some sweets.

After meeting with council staff they were led to believe it would be as simple as paying a fee with a 10-day turnaround to be approved.

The 10 days passed, the husband and wife team spent $33,000 on a food truck, $15,000 on equipment and hired staff.

The night before they were due to open, Ms Rogers-Smith said she was told by the council that they would need to submit a development application for a permanent set up.

They spent thousands of dollars on reports and plumbing before they were asked to install a grease trap at a further expense.

Eventually they were told they could serve coffee while they waited for final approvals, as long as they did not charge for it.

"So for three months we gave free coffee away all day, every day, because we thought at least that's giving the girl that we'd employed a job, because we felt really guilty about her," Ms Rogers-Smith said.

The pair decided to close Shirley's Canteen rather than fork out for a grease trap with no guarantee their 12-month DA would be extended.

"We spent six months trying to get this open, which was supposed to be a 10-day thing," Ms Rogers-Smith said.

"We spent every cent that we had during a time when our business was struggling and this was supposed to be the thing to help us with cash flow and now it's just about ruined us."

Now they are trying to sell the van.

Ms Rogers-Smith feels she needs to warn potential buyers not to set up in Lake Macquarie.

"Unfortunately, what they did to us has now impacted at least five other food vendors that I know of," she said.

"Lake Macquarie council is killing mum and dad businesses and just making it so hard for anybody."

The location of a food truck and whether it is self-contained determines the regulations it falls under.

A Lake Macquarie council spokesman said they are classified into two main types, the first being those which operate for short periods of time at different spots.

A mobile food vendor is self-contained for power, water and waste. It must undergo food inspections, seek approval for trading in a public place and use the council's booking system to secure a site in pre-approved locations.

The second is temporary event traders which operate at events on public land with permission from the council and event organiser. They are self-contained for water and waste but might require a temporary power connection.

Both operators can trade on private land if they have permission from the landowner and they comply with the site's development approval.

According to the council, there are a small number of food truck businesses that operate on private land as fixed food premises out of food trucks that are not self-contained.

The council spokesman said that if these businesses need to be connected to power, water or waste, additional approvals have to be sought with the council, Hunter Water and other authorities.

"We listen to all feedback received and are always working to streamline our processes," he said.

"We recently streamlined regulation processes so that food businesses have one point of contact and familiarity when dealing with council.

"Previously, a mobile food van vendor would deal with multiple departments for food safety and public trading. With a single team involved in assessing food safety and public trading requirements, we hope to improve our interactions with vendors."

At The Ultra Edgeworth service station, Skai and Lucas Munro served their last 'burgers, fries and dirty sides' last Saturday.

Ms Munro said they faced numerous issues trying to comply with the council's rules despite operating on private land.

She said they were told they could not trade for more than four hours at a time and would have to remove the food truck overnight.

"Every time they gave us something to do, we complied," she said.

"And then they changed the goalposts, and then they changed the goalposts."

Ms Munro said she was lucky that the owner of the service station let them out of their lease early.

"In all honesty it just feels like they're on a power trip," she said.

"It's just disappointing that Lake Macquarie council doesn't support small business.

"You know, we're just a mum and dad that are trying our hardest to break free of capitalism and build something we can leave to our kids."

The Skullery will now look to Newcastle and Maitland instead.

The council spokesman said the council understands requirements can be "challenging" and it is working to streamline processes and provide clearer information to food truck operators.