Launch of Food Van

SDIEA’s Hot Dog Van had its public launch at the Killarney Country Markets last Sunday (21st May), operated by SDIEA’s team of enthusiastic Business Trainees. This marks a significant milestone for the Trainees who have put much effort into planning, costing, and delivering this business exercise. It’s also a milestone for SDIEA with the launch of the ‘food van’ being a big step towards its long-planned ‘Social Enterprise’ arm. General Manager, Chiara Farrell, said “It’s great to see the Hot Dog Van out and about and trading commercially. The Business Trainees have managed a couple of ‘dummy-runs’ for our broader team on-site, which have been successful and a great learning opportunity for our trainees, who have all been involved in starting and managing a small business from scratch. I have tested the products and can say I am quite the fan of the ‘Chilli Dog’.”

Chiara continued, “Our Business Trainees will continue to operate the Hot Dog Van commercially, as time permits, and until they complete their traineeship in late July. We are currently recruiting for our Hospitality Traineeship to commence on 5 June, so our Hospitality Trainees will continue with this venture for the remainder of the year.”

Megan Harkin (Business Trainee Manager) said “The Killarney Country Markets were a great success for our team in running the van for the first time in public, despite the market patronage being down on normal numbers. We had an unexpected run on the Brekky Dog, which sold out within hours. The Chilli Dog gave the ‘Classic Dog’ a good run for its money – so we have a better idea for catering quantities for our next run, which will hopefully be this weekend.” More details on the SDIEA Facebook page.