A lesser professional may have yelled "everyone please shut up" but Green and his sister-in-law Belinda Green are better than that.

It's a large 50th at the Servo bar in Port Kembla, the day is hot, the bands have just started, and everyone wants everything all at once. Fanny's van occupies little more space than a king-size bed, but inside it's a Tardis: room for everything the two Greens need to pump out hundreds of serves of high-quality cuisine.

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Just enough room, no more, and made possible by two things: the cooks have everything prepped and organised in its place, within reach, and they're skilled enough to operate within a space so confined their lower bodies could be swivel chairs.

In the Illawarra a growing band of go-getters are finding their way into one of the most exciting food trends of the past decade - food trucks. It's a lower cost entry to the food business than a restaurant - it can be either a step to a larger premises, or a standalone business itself - and capitalises on the popularity of international "street food".

Take a truck or van - it could be as big as a shed or as small as a bed - set up a commercial kitchen inside, and you're on your way to a cult following in the world of mobile cuisine.

The menu will need to be well honed - less is more, and specialised to your area of expertise - and with a catchy name, you're on the move in what should continue to be a growth industry.

Any food truck operator will also say you need to be willing to put in countless hours of hard work in preparation, as the service has to be instant or queues grow frustrated. And the hours required are often difficult, with super early starts and plenty of weekend night work.

But that can be a good fit for some - Chicken Van Man's Anu Chounlamountry prefers it to a corporate job because he can spend more time with his young kids.

The menu at Chicken Van Man - all based on an original marinade - was born by accident. Illawarra-raised Chounlamountry was trying to make jerk chicken for the family while living in London. "I tried that, I failed, and I landed on something different", he told Weekender. He spent six months perfecting the recipe and "people seemed to like it so I decided to commercialise it", so upon returning to Australia bought a van and started cooking.

So what's the secret sauce? "I'm half Thai, half Lao, so that influence is there, and having been born in Oz I like to cook a certain way on the barbecue, on the grill," he said.

Wollongong City Council has recently wound up a trial of food trucks setting up on council land, and will consider input while formulating a policy for their embrace across the city. And not before time - we're a fair way behind the food truck boom which caught on in Melbourne, then Sydney, a decade ago, itself sparked by the food truck revolution in Los Angeles from about 2008.

In fact, some called the end of the food truck boom in those cities, four years ago, as overbearing regulation, high costs for space, and heavy competition made takings diminish.

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Wollongong's policy in its draft form isn't light on regulation, with 15 locations prescribed between Stanwell Park and Windang, plus rules that no seating or signs can be set up, no music can be played, and

a five-hour limit for each truck to a standard end time of 7pm - plus application and operation fees.

But Wollongong is ripe for this innovation, as we can see by the increasing number and quality of operators - on private land when the public isn't available. You'll find them in a local car park, at festivals and markets, booked for functions.

Given how street foods go well with a drink it's no surprise they are often found at the city's burgeoning microbreweries.

Resin Brewing in Bulli often hosts the food truck from Amigo's tex-mex restaurant; Dusty Lizard brewing in Wollongong rotates, with Tres Jefes, Chicken Van Man and South East Asian favourite Klarie's Kitchen (they of the perfect five-star reviews) recently. Georg Bobbert's Barrel Shepherd brewery at Bellambi hosts a range of trucks as does the Wolf and Woman distillery adjacent.

Hank's Fried Chicken is set up at Principal Brewing in Fairy Meadow, run by Papi's founders and "dude food" evangelists Andrew Juskiw and Barry Pearson. And the splendid Servo bar, a former petrol station, modelled itself around food trucks from the beginning.

Samara's Lebanese restaurant isn't tied to drinking venues and has regular venues from the Helensburgh driving range to the Dapto skate park, and Bing Lee at Warilla.

Check these businesses' social media pages for location details - and you can catch Klarie's Kitchen at the Bellambi Pub this Sunday evening.

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