This article first appeared in edGY, The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on November 2 - November 8, 2015.

YOU have this idea to sell RM15 nasi lemak sushi and RM10 boozy teh tarik in the street outside HELP University to the hip kids who crave fusion oddities.

Your dad gives you a little more than RM80,000, which you invest in jazzing up an Isuzu truck with a kitchen, which you christened Ayam Terbang.

What’s next? Find a vacant parking lot, squat there for as long as you can and be ready to vacate the area when the authorities are near?

“You can’t just park anywhere and many do not realise this,” says Jason Wong, founder of Burger Giler Power.

Before partnering espressolab in Taman Melawati, Burger Giler Power — which started operation in May last year — was struggling with its set-up in Taman Sri Rampai.

Christopher Tang and Nizar Ku Abdul Rahman — the lads behind Subang Jaya and Taman Tun Dr Ismail-based food truck Cowboys Food Truck — found themselves in the same predicament, which led them to base themselves more often near GTower in Kuala Lumpur. There, they park their truck, pay a fixed rent and attract the weekday work crowd.

There have been many reports of food truck owners being fined and having their trucks seized by enforcement officers. Despite this, the food truck community continues to grow at a pace that town planners cannot ignore — street food is an important part of Malaysian dining culture.

We speak to Wong, Tang and Nizar to find out why they opted for wheels instead of bricks and mortar. Cost aside, is it really an easier set-up that anyone passionate about food can get into? Also, is this new wave of food trucks in Malaysia’s food and beverage scene here to stay?

According to Wong, there are over 80 vendors around the Klang Valley. He says the boutique food truck scene rides the popularity of cafés and is fuelled by those who have lived and travelled abroad — they were inspired by the different cultural influences that they saw in the food offerings and concepts there.

There’s nothing new about food on wheels. We are used to seeing trucks and carts tepi jalan selling tau fu fah or cendol. Food-wise, those braving the weather are presented with nothing new — unless you’re into pimped-up trucks. The grub is similar to that you find in most independent restaurants, albeit at a slightly lower price.

While the start-up cost is lower than bricks-and-mortar outlets, the regulations for food trucks aren’t as straightforward as those for mobile street vendors. The business is also not entirely legal in Malaysia.

“It’s not that we don’t want to have the permits or that we want to run our business illegally. We have approached the right people but we’re not getting it (the permit),” Wong explains.

Do regulations exist for these businesses to operate legally? Does the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) issue licences for street food vendors to operate at certain locations?

One proposed solution to the conundrum is for the authorities to set aside parking bays for traders to operate in commercial areas. In June, the Petaling Jaya City Council announced that new guidelines will be in place to regulate food trucks in the neighbourhood.

The latest effort by DBKL is the Kuala Lumpur Food Truck Feast, which began in September. The event is held every first and third week of the month at Dataran Merdeka.

“We don’t want to give them any reason to say that food trucks are a nuisance. I believe 9 out of 10 food trucks place a huge emphasis on cleanliness. We pick up the trash and don’t make a mess. We don’t make noise. We have that mindset that if we go to a community, we want to add value instead of just going in, making a sale and being a nuisance,” says Wong.

You have to be street-smart when running a food truck. You aren’t protected by many laws and regulations. “Get to know the people, community and your local council,” advises Wong.

How did they do it?

What is it that makes food trucks the appealing option? With rent on the rise, setting up in the streets is a cheaper way to enter the food and beverage scene.

It’s also whether you have the money and want to risk that investment in bricks and mortar, says Tang, who set up Cowboys in December last year.

Tang and Nizar invested more than RM70,000 in the truck and another RM50,000 in the fixtures, body and equipment. Their aim is to earn at least RM10,000 a month, assuming Cowboys gets a catering gig at least once a week.

In a typical month, 60% of their operation is conducted in the streets. They plan to spend at least 30% of their time in catering, which would provide them with a more stable income.

Wong pumped in RM125,000 to kick-start his food truck business, serving up gourmet burgers. He explains that the operational cost is lower than running a restaurant.

“In the Klang Valley, rent for a unit in a shopping mall is RM20,000 to RM30,000 a month — and that’s omitting the prime shopping malls. A food truck, say you’re going with a five-year loan, you’ll be paying about RM1,200 a month,” Wong says, adding that his food would have had to be priced a lot higher if he had chosen to operate from an outlet.

The operational cost for a food truck includes rent, utilities, the vehicle’s maintenance, petrol, fuel for the generator and workers’ salary, and excludes the costs of ingredients. For Wong, this roughly amounts to RM6,000 a month.

Burger Giler Power operates three times a week and makes an average of RM1,000 a day. In the long run, the numbers don’t look exciting and there are many uncontrollable factors that drastically affect sales, such as the current haze.

“If you think about it, you are outside, you have weather, for example. Imagine it is at night and it rains, even if it’s for half an hour, the whole night is pretty much ruined,” Nizar points out.

Tang and Nizar acknowledge that there is no sure-fire way to success and that running one truck alone is not enough.

“I won’t say you can’t be a millionaire by staying with your food truck. But running one truck is not going to bring you anywhere, unless you are selling weed or alcohol,” Nizar says jokingly.

What’s next for Klang Valley’s stylish food trucks? It’s still a rapidly growing community and like the mushrooming of third-wave cafés in recent years, we ask the same question — are there too many trucks in town?

“Even if you don’t make it in the food truck scene, the collateral or loss is not as big as if you go straight for a restaurant,” says Wong.

“Not everyone is ready to make that sort of commitment yet and the food truck scene helps people explore that.”

More and more food truck vendors are turning their business into bricks-and-mortar establishments. The Little Fat Duck boasts two outlets while Thyme Out has opened its first in SS15, Petaling Jaya.

This year, Burger Giler Power expanded its services to supplying food to cafés and will have an outlet in Melaka’s Shore Oceanarium by year end.

For Tang and Nizar, Cowboys is a stepping stone to bigger plans, although they insist that wheeling around will remain a part of their business strategy.

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