Unlikely vegan vendor pleasing crowds at Crankworx in Rotorua

A local vegan "junk food" vendor has drawn huge lines and enormous demand at this year's annual Crankworx festival.

The event, in its fifth year, had more exhibitors and vendors this year than ever before, media director Paul Gunn said.

He said they had 40 per cent more expo holders than previous years and ticket sales were up close to 25 per cent.

An unlikely contender, Rotorua-raised Kaya Sparke's Vegan Eats van had been racking up "hour-long" lines, selling out by the end of every night.

The philosophy of the van: "Feed the people from the plants."

Sparke said Crankworx was not initially interested in having her food truck at the event, however, once it was clear there was a hole in the market for vegan and vegetarian options - they were interested.

The truck creates vegan alternatives for the well-known Big Mac and fried "chicken" burgers, as well as vegan aioli and fries.

With homegrown vegetables, homemade sauces and crafted "mock" meats - everything in the burger, bar the bun, has been made from scratch.

She said sales had been incredible, with the family-run truck flat out and customers coming back three times a day.

Owner Kaya Sparke and her brother-in-law Blade Janaway are only a small part of the big family unit that help run the van. Photo / Stephen Parker

The feedback was extremely positive, with big-name mountain biker Casey Brown singing her praises, she said.

A personal favourite moment for Sparke at the event was when a man stormed up to her truck after his burger and yelled "there was no meat in my burger and it was a delicious", before throwing down the empty box.

The truck had been in the works for three years, as Sparke and her mother saw a gap in the market for "vegan junk food".

"Everyone told us not to do it in Rotorua as they thought we would fail, but I wanted to as it is my hometown."

Crankworx was the first big event the van had vendored for, with Sparke saying this was their first chance to "dip their toes in a big festival" on home soil.

The van planned to give the event another go next year and decided they will bring in a vegan breakfast burger to cover every meal.

But it is not just the food stalls benefiting from the big numbers.

Tahnee Seagrave riding the qualification round of the Pump Track Challenge. Photo / Stephen Parker

Well-known mountain bike brand Evo Cycles has been a key retailer at the event, with owner Sam Fletcher saying customers were more engaged than ever.

After last year, the retailer decided to set up two sites for this year's event, however, Fletcher said after assessing the numbers, three was the goal for next year.

The MTB Craft Bar had also been inundated with customers, almost selling out of local beer and refreshments, a worker said.

All the vendors the

Rotorua Daily Post

spoke too at the event expected big numbers for the weekend.

However, the event was not too big to do their bit for the week-anniversary of the Christchurch massacre.

The event shut down the gondola, paused riders and silenced exhibitors for the national two minutes of silence at 1:32pm yesterday.

A remembrance wall had also been set up at the event, where festival-goers were expected to write notes and their condolences.

A donation bucket was also present.