A Year in Review | 2022
Aug 11, 2023
Can you believe that it has already been over one year since we took the plunge in serving our first pizza out of our trailer! What a year it has been. Although our concept of Porcupine Eatery started in 2021, It wasn’t until we picked up our trailer 2 days before our first wedding did it all become real. That has been the general gist of how things were at the start with Porcupine. It was, more or less; if we commit to it, we will need to find a way to make it work!
I’m so proud of what Christine and I have achieved so far. Working 2 jobs for the majority of 2022, 15 hour days, 7 days a week… We took many risks, but it was all worth it looking back. The biggest was both leaving our jobs before the close of last year to fully commit to Porcupine Eatery. Things happened so fast last year that we barely had time to figure out all of our management tools, so in January we sat down and had a proper review of the year and aimed to create more structure in the company and were determined to honing in on our skills and building the best team that we could. We officially welcomed Steph to the team full time (a now integral part of Porcupine), but also appreciate the invaluable help from Diego, Codey, Patti, Bro, Spencer and Jacquie when needed. We are still small, but are growing and continually learning to be the best that we can be and aim to create the best possible working environment for our staff.
In the past year we have done more than we could have ever imagined, we served at amazing public events including: White Night, Queenscliff Music Festival, Flavour Fest and many more… We were also lucky enough to be a part of many private functions and weddings. In our first year to date, we have serviced over 130 private and public events!
We have learnt so much so far running a small business. So many mistakes were made, but always lessons gained. Learning who we are and what our product stands for, and understanding that even though we started off as a food truck, that we can produce restaurant-quality food using the best local ingredients available. And the realisation that we are naturally transitioning towards private catering - a growth of Porcupine Eatery that we are all excited for.
We are about to take part in the last events before taking a break, finishing off with Makers & Shakers Market on the 22nd-23rd April (and our final wedding of the Summer/Autumn season) as well as the One Fine Day Wedding Expo on the 29th-30th April. We will then take a well deserved break from May to mid-June.
Steph will be taking care of all Porcupine Eatery admin while Christine and I head overseas. First we’ll be flying into Hong Kong to visit my family and celebrate our one year wedding anniversary (since they were not able to come last year), as well as celebrate my Ah-Ma turning 90 years old! We will then head over to Italy for a month! A part-holiday but also gastronomical research into techniques, produce and food in general that we can bring back and add to our menu.
We will start off in Milan and will be attending the TuttoFood Expo to keep up-to-date on the latest food trends. We will then make our way down to Sicily, visiting as many regions as we can through Rapallo, Venice, Modena, Bologna, Florence, Napoli and Rome. Our goal is to understand the different regional cuisines in Italy and hopefully bring back some food and recipes that aren’t commonly seen yet here in Australia.
Finishing our tour of Italy, we will then head over to Scandinavia. Visiting friends through Denmark, Sweden and Finland. Although I’ve been there many times before, this will be Christine’s first experience - something she is so excited about, being from a design background. (And I’m excited for her). On the way home we will have a stopover in Singapore, and will hopefully return refreshed, inspired and ready for the upcoming wedding and events season.
Finishing our tour of Italy, we will then head over to Scandinavia. Visiting friends through Denmark, Sweden and Finland. Although I’ve been there many times before, this will be Christine’s first experience - something she is so excited about, being from a design background. (And I’m excited for her). On the way home we will have a stopover in Singapore, and will hopefully return refreshed, inspired and ready for the upcoming wedding and events season.
We look forward to finishing off the rest of April, and then can’t wait to share our journey overseas and what we discover along the way! Stay tuned and we hope to serve you all when we get back!
Chris
Head Chef & Co-Owner
Head Chef & Co-Owner
