After a wait of almost three years, Wanaka’s Brownston Street food vans have moved across the street to the new food stall village created beside Bullock Creek.

Three of the four food vendors now established at the new food village moved on Tuesday and reopened their businesses yesterday (Wednesday April 14) to a steady flow of customers at lunch time.

The four businesses are Sushi, the Burrito Cafe, Firebird and Coco Hut but there’s further space for another couple of vendors.

The first to be established in the landscaped setting was Chrissi Roper’s Coco Hut, which specialises in Southeast Asian cuisine. Coco Hut hadn’t been a part of the group of food vans on the northern side of Brownston Street, and decided to get set up in the new village ahead of the rest.

Chrissi said she thought the village was a great idea and a beautiful setting for this style of dining.

“I've been to different outdoor food courts in other countries and it's nice to go with friends but you don't always want [to eat] the same thing. So it's really nice to have the choice; like someone might want a burrito, and someone else wants some fried chicken or pad thai and everyone's happy. 

“It's a lovely way of doing it, you know, to sit together and enjoy your food by the beautiful creek,” she said.

Sushi’s Akiko Suzuki said she had learned of the food truck village concept three years ago and was keen to become a part of it but just had to be patient. She spent 10 months building up customers on the other side of Brownstown Street and was very happy to move into the village.

“Finally, we are here, and we are so pleased to be here,” she said.

Firebird’s Peter Hvid said they shifted onto their new site in the rain ‘but it’s all worth it, right?”

Firebird has a permanent spot in the sun and Peter said the “lovely setting” with the creek, stonework, landscaping, tables and seats should prove very attractive.

“It's beautiful; it's a nice place to sit, so the hope is that it will be a nice place to come for families and everybody,” he said.

The plan to establish a food stall garden was proposed by the Teat Family Trust, the Brownston Street site’s landowners, in 2018.

The original food truck hub started in June 2017 on Adventure Rentals’ land on Brownston Street where the land was zoned commercial and licensed food trucks were permitted.

On the opposite side of the same street, the Teats’ land was zoned medium density residential and, with the blessing of the Wanaka Community Board, project manager Casey Teat applied for resource consent.

The consent was approved by the Queenstown Lakes District Council in December 2018 but neighbours who had submitted against the proposal appealed the decision to the Environment Court in 2019.

However, during this lengthy appeal process, the zoning of the Teats’ land changed under the Proposed District Plan, which allowed the commercial activity to proceed and redefined the food trucks as buildings. As consent was no longer required, it was withdrawn together with the neighbours’ appeal. 

It took years to sort out but Casey told the Wanaka App he was “very pleased” with the outcome.

PHOTO: Wanaka App