Hugs With Mugs: Barista says City of Kwinana’s new mobile food vendor booking system lost him $4000 last month

For the past four years, three coffee van vendors have braved 5am starts at Mandogalup Fire Station to bring customers their morning cuppa but the trio is there no more due to a new booking system.

The station is next to Anketell Road and by Perth suburban standards is practically in the middle of nowhere.

When Hugs With Mugs owner Corine Hubbard and her partner Dan Anderson-McKelvie first started serving coffee there, they sold about only three coffees and made $16.

But passing drivers soon knew that Hugs With Mugs, Barista on Wheels and Mr Edz Coffee would be there in the mornings for their coffee fix.

Mr Anderson-McKelvie said the trio had built a close relationship and supported each other’s businesses over the years.

This was why Mr Anderson-McKelvie was shocked when he found another coffee van in his usual spot last month.

He was even more shocked when told to move on by the City of Kwinana due to a booking system he claims the businesses were not adequately consulted about.

The caffeine-giving trio previously had reached a gentleman’s agreement in which one van would park in the early hours, followed by the other and so on.

Under the city’s new system, vendors can book timeslots of up to four hours between 5am to noon.

“I’ve been there coming up four years, and it’s always been first in, best dressed,” Mr Anderson-McKelvie said.

“We got an email on June 5, which is my first knowledge of it, saying that there’s a booking system taking place and you have to book your spot.”

Bookings now apply at nine car park locations in Kwinana: Peace Park, Mandogolup Fire Station, Bulrush Park in Wellard, Honeywood Oval, Homestead Park, Rhodes Park in Calista, Wellard Oval, Sloan’s Reserve and Kwinana Adventure Park.

The Hunger Games-style system means another challenge for early morning coffee traders who need to log on to a website at midnight when bookings open to attempt to secure the one spot available at any of those sites for the month ahead.

Mr Anderson-McKelvie was able to book for June but missed out on July and August and will be working seven days a week elsewhere to make up for the lost income.

“I’ve got 30 days to sort something out. What do I do now?” he said.

“I told the council if I end up out of house and home, because this is detrimental to my lifestyle and my life, and I end up on the street, I’m gonna be camping on your grounds.”

He believes he will lose about $4000 in income per month due to the change.

“Why are (the city) even bothering with us at all,” he said.

“The place is running smoothly and has done for years, and we’ve got a clientele now that rely on us, and we are there, hail, rain, shine, sun, it doesn’t matter, we’re there, and now they’ve got people just wanting to book in.

“We’ve put the time in and we’ve earned our clientele there. It’s not right.

“When our customers heard about what happened to us at Mandogalup, we started a petition and every one of them signed.

“They are disgusted with Kwinana council and trying to understand how they can do this to three businesses that have been there for years and said they won’t support other vendors at Mandogalup as they don’t want second-best coffee.”

Another of the vendors, who did not want to be named, agreed with Mr Anderson-McKelvie’s sentiments.

Hugs with Mugs made it to the top three in a recent Triple M Perth’s Best Coffee Competition voted on by the public.

Kwinana mayor Peter Feasey said the changes came in after feedback from mobile food vendors, local schools, sporting clubs and fixed food businesses. The updated policy was adopted by the council on May 22.

“It enables more trading opportunities to help activate local public spaces and encourage healthy food and drink options and a new booking system was introduced to ensure the process is equitable for everyone,” he said.

Mr Anderson-McKelvie doesn’t believe this system is equitable, saying other vendors were benefiting from the clientele the trio had painstakingly built over the years.

“While it is unfortunate that the vendor is unhappy, the process of reviewing the policy was open and transparent and all affected parties were notified of the subsequent changes,” Mr Feasey said.

“Should Hugs for Mugs have submitted the required regular hirer application form as per the city’s instructions, they would have been able to secure the site via the online bookings system, however as they did not another vendor was able to book the site.”

But Mr Anderson-McKelvie said he wasn’t aware of the new booking policy until it was implemented on June 5 and claimed there was no face-to-face consultation, letters or emails sent to vendors before then.

Hundreds of Mr Anderson-McKelvie’s loyal customers have signed a petition asking for Hugs With Mugs to be able to permanently trade at the location.