The matriarch, Thess Alegre, with her famous chicken and family when they first started operating in 2019.
Photo by
Rodney Braithwaite
Nanna Marce has been operating for almost six years, but the team’s journey started before the family even arrived in Australia.
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“Way before the food truck even was a thing, every time there was a bring-a-plate party, our friends would ask us to bring a platter of chicken with my mum’s sauce on it and that was the go-to,” family matriarch Thess Alegre’s daughter Jobelle Collier said.
After a while, friends started offering to pay for her food, but Thess wasn’t having it, making chicken from the heart, not for friends to pay.
“A few years after we moved to Australia, my brothers and I were so hooked on The Great Food Truck Race ... we were obsessed, but it never crossed our mind that it could be a thing for us,” Jobelle said.
“Eventually, we started convincing her again, ‘you should start your business, you should sell the chicken’.”
Then the kids were drawing plans, getting permits and preparing a menu.
“Nanna Marce is like my mum’s heart on wheels just roaming the town,” Jobelle said.
“Like everything she does, Nanna Marce in a nutshell — it’s food, but it's also my mum’s love and my mum’s passion coming alive.”
Nanna Marce herself was a woman named Marcelina in the Philippines who raised Thess; the truck is a tribute to her, as she was a street food vendor herself.
The famous chicken that inspired the Nanna Marce food truck.
Photo by
Rodney Braithwaite
Over the past five years, the truck has attended many private events, been a staple at local events and spent many weeks parked at the Shepparton lake, but some days of operation stick out more than others.
“A wedding that we did, they’re a couple that have been supporting the business for a long time ... and to be entrusted with their wedding is actually so special,” Jobelle said.
“Anything at the quarry is pretty special as well.”
There would be no highlights without lowlights, and one of them was trying to operate a food truck when the whole world was put on pause.
“We started in 2019 and literally that was just before everything shut down,” Jobelle said.
“I remember we had events lined up and a couple of markets, a few music events and the festivals in town as well and suddenly things started getting cancelled and we sat at home for a little bit and thought, oh, what are we going to do?”
After some time enjoying family, they had to find a way to make their business work.
“COVID-19 was a time when everybody thought on their feet and pivoted, and so we got permission to park in our backyard and opened it up to whoever wanted to order their food,” Jobelle said.
“We felt the support of the community in COVID-19 times because our bookings got replaced by time in the backyard.
“We got to know so many people through that ... I think the best thing as a small business, is when people share thoughts about you.
“People were telling their friends and their family about us, and Mum and I spent a couple of nights just in disbelief, and we were like that’s so kind that people would tell others about us.”
When life returned to something like normal, they started booking events again and got a permit to be able to operate at the lake.
To learn about their time on Amazing Race Australia, their secret to making delicious food and their venture into shoe accessories, listen to the full interview on the Shepp Happens podcast now by heading to tinyurl.com/2su3vh9w
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