An electric mix of delectable food, live music, flea market and an electrifying atmosphere greeted scores of foodies that arrived at the beachside venue of MGM Grounds at the first of its kind Vizag Food Truck Festival on Sunday. Organised by Feast at Truck in association with Swathi Promoters, the festival saw as many as 13 food trucks and 20 stalls get together on a single platform.
Feast at Trucks is a start-up founded by a group of GITAM University alumni, who in a short span of six months, has already conducted three food truck festivals in the cities of Hyderabad, Pune and Visakhapatnam.
“Our aim is to create a food truck culture and build a community that understands and supports food truck as a service industry. Feast at Trucks is making a marketplace for all food trucks in India. By 2018, we plan to expand the festival to pan India,” Vinod Krishna and A. Dwarkanath, founders of the start-up, told The Hindu . Food trucks have become a rage across cities in India and have transformed the food culture in the country. Dosas, fish fries, shawarmas, sizzling pizzas, haleem and a lot more were on offer at the food trucks.
There was a separate flea market area which had stalls catering to lifestyle needs. Hyderabad-based band Capriccio and local band The Last Stand provided live entertainment at the venue.
Impressive turnout
The impressive turnout soon saw many food trucks scurry for replenishing their offerings. “We had to replenish our stock twice in a span of four hours. The response has been overwhelming. It is a great initiative done at such a large scale,” said Radhika Satish of Radisa, one of the participants.
For others new to the food truck segment in the city, the platform gave a much-needed boost to reach out to a larger consumer base.
Arjilli Das, who set up his food truck Fish Nutria Cart at the YMCA parking area, felt that the festival would help showcase the food truck culture in the city and give people eating-out options beyond restaurants and hotels.
Anita Nuthakki, a visitor at the Vizag Food Truck Festival, said: “The energy and ambience coupled with such wide array of food options is simply terrific. We never knew Vizag had so many food trucks offering a wide range of dishes.”
