For food truck owners, the truck itself is essential to a profitable business – and that’s why more and more discerning mobile chefs are turning to Isuzu. No matter what you’re craving these days, you can just about guarantee it can be found on an Isuzu food truck.
From iced-mocktails to authentic southern American barbecue fare, Isuzu is powering a growing fleet of food trucks in and around Victoria.
Food truck businesses Those Guys Food, and the Refresher Truck both opted last year for a new Isuzu NPR 250/300 Crew Cab to literally drive their business around the state and feed the hungry masses.
Hungry?
Those Guys Food is an authentic American food truck started by two brothers, Tim and Prem Jordan from the U.S., after they made the move to Australia.
“My brother is an experienced chef and he moved out here six years ago. I followed suit in 2014 and we started the food truck business in June last year,” Tim Jordan said.
“With my brother’s experience as a chef, and with my own in the marketing area, we decided to start a food truck to showcase real American cuisine by only using fresh, locally-sourced Australian produce.”
A wide variety of locations means that food trucks must be able to handle a variety of road and environmental conditions.
The NPR, with its double acting hydraulic shock absorbers is perfect for maintaining a smooth drive when floating expensive cooking equipment across any terrain.
The N Series, renowned as a ‘something for everyone’ truck, manages regional festival terrain as easily as it negotiates Melbourne’s laneways and side streets.
With power rated at 140 kW @ 2,600 RPM and torque of 513 Nm @ 1,600 – 2,600 RPM provided by the Isuzu 4HK1-TCC engine, there’s plenty of power underfoot to make sure both food trucks and their staff can get from A to B safely and in plenty of time.
“We travel around the wine region, Queens Cliff, Geelong and Phillip Island, and Melbourne,” Tim said.
“We do a lot of music festivals, Flemington Cup Carnival, the Moto GP in Phillip Island, Stereosonic, UFC fights at Etihad, and also weddings, and university events.
“We wanted a brand new truck and a model that could service multifaceted needs, and could operate on both ends of the spectrum, from smaller events to massive festivals. We chose the dual cab so we could take our staff with us, or if we needed extra storage space,” Tim said.
Thirsty?
Refresher Truck owner, Fortune Valdez, says power and handling was what drew him to the N Series. His speciality frozen drinks demand a lot of equipment, so reliability and safety were also high on the list of priorities.
“I’d never bought a truck before and was planning on buying a second-hand model, but so many other food truck owners told me to go with a brand new Isuzu. I visited Winter and Taylor Isuzu in Geelong and decided on the NPR,” Fortune said.
“We wanted a truck capable of carrying a lot of weight and equipment easily and we needed something that could manoeuvre stock and staff around the Melbourne CBD – so we decided to go with the crew cab.
“We have two under-deck freezers, three fridges, a coffee machine, a hot water unit and a point of sale unit. It’s a lot of equipment, and it’s a lot of weight to carry.”
An effortless drive is guaranteed with the N Series even when carrying heavy kitchen equipment, with first class safety features like the Anti-lock Braking System (ABS and Anti-Skid Regulator (ASR).
After only a year behind the wheel of an Isuzu, Fortune has already made plans for his next purchase as business booms.
“The plan for the very near future is to buy another truck, another Isuzu NPR. We would go with Isuzu again of course because of the reliability and the good experience we’ve had.”
For Those Guys Food, a new Isuzu isn’t far from their minds either: “It’s a dream to drive, it handles better than a lot of cars,” Tim Jordan said.
“The turning radius and power steer works really well. We have plans for expansion, using this one to run the large capacity events, and getting a smaller truck for events like weddings and corporate functions, we’d go with Isuzu again for sure.”
