Dandenong Markets Food Court

Background

Dandenong Market is a much-loved iconic market located in Melbourne. It first opened in 1866 and is the second-largest market in the city. The Market is the centre of community life and is a mecca for foodies with its amazing variety of fresh local produce, fruits and vegetables, spices, rices, lentils, beans and nuts on offer.

The Challenge

We were approached to create a cooking cart that was compact, portable and could be hired out to Dandenong Markets clients for sampling and cooking demonstrations. The cart would need to be designed to enable the variety of functionality that was required. It had to suit any type of client no matter what they were demonstrating or sampling.

It was important that it:

a) had the basics such as a cooktop, a fridge and freshwater.

b) was self-contained (with fresh and grey water containers).

c) had counter space and was made of the correct materials for it to meet hygiene standards.

d) was portable so it could be wheeled around to any location within the market.

e) could easily be seen and heard by customers watching the demonstration.

The Solution

What we designed was a cart that all packs up into one very compact unit making it easy to wheel out into the retail space and assemble with minimal disruption. Because the cart was designed to be quick and easy to set up it requires no tools at all. There is also a mic and speaker system that comes with the cart for maximum impact.

The cart will be used for demonstrating or sampling food so it was imperative that it had a gas cooktop with sink and a hygiene grade prep space and chopping board. Being able to see what the demonstrator is cooking is also very important so we installed an angled mirror making it easier for the audience to see what was being cooked even in a crowd.

Other features included two fold-out wings that made extra counter space if required, perfect for samples or extra product. And because the cart had to be self-contained we devised a simple 2 container approach for it to have fresh water out of the tap and be able to dispose of the greywater. The two containers are easy to access and can be filled and emptied with ease.

The final product has a large blank panel at the front of the cart giving it flexible branding opportunities for each of its demonstrators.