How we became the busiest truck at a Woolworths Christmas party, and what we did when the crowd blew straight past the contract.
Key Takeaways
Back in December 2024, an events agency got in touch. They were putting together Woolworths' end-of-year Christmas party at the head office in Bella Vista, and they needed a truck to feed part of the crowd. Outdoor setup, a handful of food trucks, and a big team of staff ready to knock off and celebrate.
The brief was straightforward. 800 serves. One truck, 13 staff, two things on the menu: southern fried chicken wings, and popcorn chicken with fries.
We served 1,350.
There were about five trucks on site. From the second service opened, ours was the line that kept growing. Not because we were slow, the opposite. People were getting food in their hands seconds after they ordered, and at a party that gets around quick. Short wait, good food, and suddenly everyone's pointing their mate at the truck with the fast queue.
So we kept half an eye on the stock as the line built. Pretty soon it was obvious we were going to sail well past 800. Plenty of operators would just keep serving and sort the numbers out later. We didn't want to do that. We got the organiser on the phone mid-event, told them exactly where we were at, and asked if they wanted us to keep going.
They did. We had the stock. So we kept going.
By the time the two hours were up, we'd served 1,350. That's 550 over the booking, and the food and the wait never slipped.
The number that matters
1,350 serves. One truck. 13 staff. Two hours. Do the maths and that's more than 11 serves a minute, held the whole way through.
High-volume catering is hard. We've learned that the hard way ourselves over the years, and we've got a lot of respect for anyone who takes on a big crowd. For us, moving that fast comes down to two things: the menu, and the team.
Two items. That's on purpose. Wings and popcorn chicken are quick to cook, easy to hand over, and people genuinely love them. When one truck is pushing hundreds of orders through a two-hour window, every extra choice on the board is a few more seconds per customer, and that adds up fast. Keep the menu tight and the line keeps shuffling forward.
Then there's the crew. Thirteen people in one truck sounds like a crowd, and at a quiet gig it would be. Not here. Everyone had one job and knew it cold. Nobody was doubling up, nobody was waiting on the person next to them. Order in, food out, next one please. We'd run that rhythm enough times that the team didn't have to stop and think about it.
That's the whole trick really. Simple food, done fast, by people who've done it before.
Here's the bit agencies care about. The moment you hand your client's event to a vendor, that vendor is a reflection of you. If we drop the ball, it lands on your desk. So we don't.
On this one, that looked like:
Book the wrong vendor and it's your name on the line, not theirs. We get that, and we take it seriously.
For corporate event planners
Running out of food at a big event is everyone's nightmare. We plan our stock around the crowd, not just the number on the contract. We've never left a guest standing there with nothing, and we're not about to start.
Woolworths is one of the biggest employers in the country. An event at that scale is a different animal to a private birthday, and it asks for a different head on the caterer too.
We've cooked for Woolworths, Commonwealth Bank, Amazon, Bunnings, Costco, Sony, and Toyota. Big companies, big teams, and plenty of people who've been to a lot of these. They can tell fresh-off-the-grill from food that's been sitting around in one bite. They know a moving queue from a stuck one.
At that size you don't get a do-over, so we treat every large corporate booking like a major festival. The pressure's honestly about the same. If you want to know what separates a caterer who can handle it from one who can't, have a read of what to ask before booking a food truck caterer.
Reviewed by
John-ray Boukarim
John-ray Boukarim is the founder and operator of The Food Hub, Sydney's multi-cuisine food truck catering fleet. Since founding the business in 2017, he has grown the operation from a single truck to a fleet of five, delivering more than 1,500 events across Sydney, New South Wales, and regional NSW. His clients include Woolworths, Commonwealth Bank, Bunnings, Costco, Amazon, Sony, and Toyota. John-ray has built one of the highest throughput food truck systems in Australia, set up to usually serve guests in under 60 seconds per order, depending on the menu, at events of up to 2,000 people. All articles on this site are reviewed by John-ray for operational accuracy and relevance.
Last reviewed: 13 June 2026
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