Mr Whippy vans aside, food trucks in Sydney are a relatively new phenomenon. When the City of Sydney approved 10 trucks to start operating in 2012 (four of which were taco trucks), it was three years after Melbourne’s truck boom, and decades after the United States’ first mobile snack vendors.

Today, the Sydney Food Trucks website lists more than 500 operators in its directory, and some of the city’s most beloved trucks, such as burger specialist Mister Gee, have become so popular they’ve upgraded their camper van wheels to a real home.

“Launching a burger brand when food trucks were still burgeoning really made us stand out, says Mister Gee owner, Gee Ozgen, who opened a brick-and-mortar location in North Strathfield last year. “We’ve been able to use that awareness to bring customers to the permanent store, as well as draw on everything we know about operating a small kitchen to maximise efficiency.”

For many independent operators, launching a food truck is the first to step towards opening a full-service restaurant scene. Albeit, still an expensive step – a City of Sydney report from 2016 found that the average setup costs for that first wave of food trucks was just shy of $150,000. Ozgen says that figure is reasonably accurate based on his experience, but notes a permanent location will cost at least $100,000 more.

“The food truck market is now a lot more saturated compared to when I started, but I still think they can be a great way for new brands to test their concepts,” says Ozgen. “The costs and risk are considerably lower than fitting out a brick-and-mortar store and signing a massive lease.”

Here are five of Sydney’s best food trucks that have expanded to permanent site in recent years.

Ricos Tacos

Talk about an upward trajectory. Toby Wilson started selling tacos from a tiny stall inside Chinatown’s Dixon House Food Court in 2016. He launched a food truck four years later, as well as a tiny taco cart, which operated on weekends at The Grifter brewery in Marrickville. Wilson opened a permanent location in Chippendale in 2021, expanding the menu to include breakfast hits such as chipotle hash browns and pancakes with chorizo syrup, and these days you can find Ricos Tacos across two levels at The Norfolk Hotel, Redfern. There’s a courtyard barbecue, Mexican football themed-bar, and the same dedication to fresh and vibrant tacos that first put Wilson on the food map.

305 Cleveland Street, Redfern; ricostacossydney.com.au

137 Enmore Road, Enmore; firepop.com.au

399 Church Street, Parramatta; fratellipulcinellaparramatta.yqme.com.au

Mister Gee

Inspired by food culture in America, Gee Ozgen built the first Mister Gee truck in 2014, slinging burgers and baklava shakes from outside a Burwood car wash. Sydney’s first great burger truck became Sydney’s first food truck tragedy when a gas leak caused it to explode while in transit in 2018. Thankfully nobody was hurt and Ozgen started operating pop-ups in restaurants and bars while he built a new set of wheels. A real-deal Mister Gee burger shop opened last year in North Strathfield’s Bakehouse Quarter with a menu featuring Ozgen’s greatest hits, tried and tested over the past 10 years.

2/5 George Street, North Strathfield; mistergee.com.au

Smoky Cravings

Filipino restaurants such as Sir Manong in Rooty Hill and Blacktown’s Cebu Lechon are drawing more people to the western suburbs every weekend. Smoky Cravings is almost certainly the most popular new Filipino player, though, beginning life as a food truck in 2022, Its grilled skewers of chicken, pork and offal created queues so long that owners Rocky and Charisma Benzon got out of the festival game and into restaurants, opening a whopping four Smoky Cravings restaurants across Parramatta, Campsie, Tempe and Kings Cross.

Various locations; instagram.com/smokycravings

With Callan Boys