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The Bad Mommas usually park up around Mangawhai and announce their location on Facebook.
Fried chicken and gravy.
The Philly cheesesteak.
The beignets with chocolate ganache.
Fried banana bread and cream.
A Mangawhai food truck business that began as a dream for best friends Paige McLiesh and Shaz Austin has quickly turned into a full-time job, thanks to their mouth-watering American menu.
They say the business was born out of having to cater to their families. They have ten children between them.
“When you have a big family, you have to learn to cook meals in quantities that will please everyone,” they say.
The signature meals that propelled them to popularity is their American menu with Southern-style calorific creations.
It includes their Philly cheesesteak with onion, capsicum, cheese sauce, and a thinly sliced rump steak cooked in a paprika and cumin rub.
Perhaps the pièce de résistance is the New Orleans beignets, which are a soft pillowy piece of vanilla bean dough, deep fried and topped with powdered sugar and chocolate ganache.
Another delicious dessert is the grilled banana bread with cream and maple syrup.
Their loaded fries feature 10mm cut frites, topped with a cheddar cheese sauce and bacon.
Completing the American theming is Paige’s black 5.7 litre 2014 Dodge Charger, which bears the Bad Mommas brand and tows the truck.
The Bad Mommas also saw a gap in the market with the absence of a KFC between Silverdale and
Whangarei, and have been producing fried chicken and chips drizzled in gravy.
“Our motto is that calories don’t count in the weekend,” they say.
Their creamy mayo burger has a homemade beef patty, cheese, bacon, onion with mayonnaise and tomato sauce.
“The juices go right down your arm.”
The pair have known each other for four years and worked together in the traffic management industry, despite both having done chef training courses.
“We thought, why not start a business. We are best friends and share a passion for food.”
A year ago, Shaz and Paige met a group of people on their way to the Northern Bass music festival in Mangawhai who told them they were a pair of bad mommas and the name stuck.
They never intended to quit their jobs but business has boomed and they have gone full-time.
They have picked up work at the Mangawhai Domain Markets, Te Whai Bay Winery, the Canopy Night Market in Whangarei and the Marsden Cove Market.
The Bad Mommas are also attending the Tomarata Tag each Thursday and will be at the Wellsford night market at the Community Centre on November 13.
They say that they have been overwhelmed by the feedback from the Mangawhai community, with some customers returning each weekend.
“There’s been a lot of dads on dinner duty,” they say.
