Man's best friend can now enjoy food trucks as much as the rest of Australia has been...
The ‘Canine Wellness Kitchen’ – Australia’s first dog food truck – is the brainchild of canine chefs Katie Crandon and Laura Yeomans, who began catering for dogs with their ‘Because I Luv My Dog’ dog food brand about two years ago.
The pair use a kitted out Iveco to take their home-made dog food around Victoria’as many community events, festivals and markets.
The Canine Wellness Truck features fridges and freezers, a chilled server and sink facilities that allow Katie and Laura to serve an impressive array of doggie treats – the menu reveals a choice of a dozen options that can all be washed down with a couple of ‘Pooch Pint’ options (bone broth served in ‘stubbies’).
Capping off the genuine bar grazing experience for the dogs is a special dog bar set-up below the serving window on the Daily, allowing them to eat at the bar.
Initially available through selected independent outlets, Katie and Laura realised that it would be difficult competing head-on with the major pet food players even though they had a strong point of difference.
“We thought there was a good opportunity going straight to the consumer to fill the niche – there were times when we’d attend events and there wasn’t anything there for pets, they’d be lucky to scrounge a chip or two,” Katie said.
While Katie and Laura are experts in canine cuisine, experts on trucks they weren’t, and so started the research to build the best vehicle to suit their needs, this involved attending festivals where food trucks were serving, to gain some first-hand insights into what they might need.
“There were a lot of food trucks based on the Iveco Daily and when we looked further, we found an overwhelming positive attitude towards the brand by the owners – the Daily has a great reputation in this industry,” Katie said.
Working with Iveco Dealership, Adtrans, and bodybuilder A&B Food Truck Outfitters, the duo settled on a 45C Daily cab chassis, specifying it with an 8-speed full automatic transmission, 170 horsepower engine, airbag rear suspension and reversing camera.
Katie says the Iveco, or ‘Ivy’ as she’s affectionately known, is an extremely comfortable vehicle and easy to drive.
“It’s just like driving a car, I sometimes forget that it’s a truck and need to remind myself that we’ve got a higher body, there’s also plenty of great in-cabin storage and once on-site the reversing camera is really useful for parking and setting up,” she said.
“Adtrans and A&B Food Trucks were absolutely wonderful to deal with during the build process and have also provided us with excellent aftersales support.”
Katie says that since launching the Daily-based Canine Wellness Truck in September, interest and demand has been strong.
“The last few months have been extremely busy – it’s not unusual for us to serve 200 to 300 dog owners over a weekend,” Katie said.
“As well as gathering a following by attending events, the truck is like a mobile billboard and gets a lot of attention. Since we began operating the truck we’ve had a lot of enquiries, for example we’ve been approached by several pubs who are interested in stocking our beers for patrons’ dogs.”