The best food truck in Cambridge shares it’s secrets.
In just one year, Don Le’s passion project has become the best eatery in Cambridge.
For most people, cooking is a work of passion but for Don Le, it’s his business.
Don started his New Zealand renown food truck Hanoi Boy in 2018, and as its dawning its first birthday, Don shared some of his secrets to a successful business in a cutthroat market.
Initially, when Don and his wife moved to Cambridge two years ago, they wanted to launch a wood fired pizza place as his culinary training revolved around western food. But when he took his Vietnamese cuisine to the local farmers market, the overwhelming positive feedback inspired him to start up Hanoi Boy.
”I wanted to introduce real Vietnamese food to Cambridge. I want to show them the heart and soul of Vietnam”
To the normal diner at his pink van, Don would seem like a seasoned professional with years of catering business experience under his toque; but, Hanoi Boy is his first time into the food truck industry.
With every dish that goes out, consistency is the key to a successful food truck.“Consistency, because people these days if they have one bad meal, you have probably lost them forever.” In a day and age where reviews are as easy as pressing a couple of keys on a phone, these words stay true to every restaurant in the country. And when it’s you versus the other trucks, it’s the little things that make them into returning customers.
Don also explained that whilst the food needs to be up to scratch, the owner has to understand its going to be a hard journey at the start. Quiet moments do come up frequently and whilst you may be discouraged to keep the truck open, customers will come soon. “There will always be a series of ups and downs” Don said while cutting cucumbers with a mandolin.
And while it is important to keep the customers happy, it is also very important to keep yourself in check. Speed may be key in some scenarios but the one sin an up and comer needs to avoid is making shortcuts.
“If you are fast but you create shortcuts, you create troubles and the quality is going to be bad.”
Don prides himself on his consistent quality that has stayed up there with the biggest restaurants around, even to the confined space of his truck.
In one of the fastest growing towns in New Zealand, Don proves that anyone can make a start into the wide culinary industry in their own way. Don and Hanoi Boy will be there, and Cambridge loves him for it.
