Munch Express – a cafe on wheels – will roll into the mountain’s Summit Park from this weekend, bringing with it an array of food and drink options for visitors. 

The mobile van will open between 9am and 3pm on Saturdays and Sundays, with the potential for weekday and special event operations, subject to patronage.

The Sydney-based company, which has been in business for three decades, was recently awarded the Wollongong City Council tender to operate at the site for 12 months.    

Munch Express has a fleet of about 80 mobiles vans that service the Sydney metropolitan area. 

The decision to move south – and fill a much-needed gap at Mount Keira – was made in order to grow the business, director Greg Fitzgerald said.

“We jumped all over it [the tender] as an opportunity to get into the area,” Mr Fitzgerald said.  “Plus, it’s such a great spot up here; who wouldn’t want to work here?” The van will offer coffee – a large costs $4 – along with cold drinks and food like sandwiches, wraps, meat pies and sausage rolls. 

“What we’ll put in place is a rock-solid offering for the area here on Mt Keira,” he said. Coffee vans have only operated at the site on an ad-hoc basis in recent times.

The move marks stage one of a grand plan to revitalise Mount Keira Summit Park.

The dilapidated park has been in need of some tender loving care for many years, particularly since the closure of the old cafe building in 2011. The building has since been demolished. Council is working on a community-backed vision for the area, with a final report expected to be presented in April.

“Some clear visions have been defined, some clear opportunities have been realised, but it really is up to the community now to come forward and tell council what they really want to see happen up here,” Destination Wollongong general manager Mark Sleigh said.

Opposition spokesman for the Illawarra, and Keira MP, Ryan Park said the coffee van was “just the start” and more work was needed to fully transform the area into “the destination it has the potential to be”.

“This is going to hopefully kick off 2016, where we want to see  Mount Keira Summit Park really become a mountain of opportunities and a mountain of possibilities for our local tourism industry,” Mr Park said. 

“We need serious investment up here and that’s why I’m … urging local government and the NSW government to work together [to] remove the bureaucratic red tape and really accelerate this to become a massive tourist opportunity.”