Owners of Eugowra's Fat Parcel Food Van and Escort Rock Café determined to 'pay it forward'

But it was also on this day that Judd and Tracey's hometown was being engulfed by record level flash flooding - leaving people stranded on outdoor awnings, rushing to higher ground, or unaccounted for altogether.

The same time stamp unveiled the discovery that the couples' food trucks were capsized elsewhere, with their main van pinned to the fencing of the town's police station some 100 metres down the road.

Adding insult to injury, they then watched their newest business of only three months - the Escort Rock Café on Eugowra's Nanima Street in the building across the road - become inundated with floodwater and reckless debris.

"I'm not a short man, I'm around 190 centimetres tall, about 6 feet 2 inches," Mr McKenna said as he walked through the flood-ravaged building of his former-bustling café.

"And where the mark is here, that's where the water level came up to," he said, pointing at the wall, "and to stand on the street and look at that mark through the glass from the ground up, you can clearly see that I'm at eye-level with it."

What was once a "pumping" business up until only recently, with hearty meals hitting tables and daily coffees by the hundreds, has been left in ruins.

Operating out of food trucks, the McKennas' other two business hubs on-wheels had not only locals but out-of-towners travelling from far and wide to grab a raved-about hamburger.

"I would literally dream up the most ridiculous burger ideas and it definitely kept our staff on their feet," Mr McKenna laughed, who now has just one of 22 employees since the November 14 chaos struck.

"And we're well-aware that we would never have the presence we do without the people who have supported and been with us on this journey, from our staff right through to the butts on our chairs.

"We'd have people who'd worked their guts out for five or six days in a job they didn't like and then choose to spend that hard-earned money on us; we've never taken that for granted and we've always brought it back to our customers."

Which stands to reason why the pair picked up Daroo gold in both Excellence in Hospitality and Best New Business under two-years, each some of Cabonne's biggest award categories on the night.

Though the Central West town of 700-odd people now walk alongside one another in an unmistakably long road to recovery.

The McKenna couple say their "go" is fueled by the community now more than ever, with the catastrophic flooding event also "putting things into perspective for a lot of people" across a whole host of varying reasons.

He compared the finer things in life to what is now a raw reality.

"Hopefully we get to that stage one day when we're back to complaining about 'our bloody coffee's not hot enough' or 'there's not enough froth on top of this', because then we'll know things are going good again," he said.

"But when you start complaining about not having a shower for four days or not having any electricity, then that's something else.

"And that's what gives us our go now, because our town has been absolutely devastated and we're here to pay it forward and give back to the people who have given so much to us."

From what was "quite an involved menu" of elaborate seafood baskets, pulled pork options from a smoker and "crazy" burgers, has been reduced to a simpler rollout of dining choices on a little, foldout chalkboard.

Prior to getting the smaller of the two Fat Parcel vans up and running on Wednesday, the McKenna's had been supplying Eugowra residents and outside volunteers with free meals from donated food supplies.

They were able to do this after being loaned a food van by Orange-based business, Tuckshop by Ever, it was this act of kindness that essentially started a movement.

"Michael [of Tuckshop by Ever] just said 'you take my van for as long as you need, mate' and that helped kickstart our generosity as well," Mr McKenna said.

"We have a little bit of a presence, so we're an easy target for help if you know what I mean? But I'm a very proud person and we're used to being the helpers, so it took me a couple of days to get comfortable with saying 'thank you' and accept that help and support.

"We need to slim down our menu [now] and maybe slowly expand it when we get the big van back, because during our busy periods we could have seven people pumping it out at once in that van.

"But we'll get there, eventually we'll get there."

In need of a number of big ticket appliances, new fan motors, flooring and technology, full-operation of the main van is on pause along with their café.

While the timeline for that establishment looks the down the barrel of a minimum 12 to 18 months for the same, what doesn't seem to have any deadline or restriction attached, is the McKenna's will to keep going.

"Content insurance for floods was too cost-prohibitive and I know we're right near a creek, so I gambled there and I lost," Mr McKenna said.

"Both of our vans are insured though, but other than that we're starting from scratch.

"But we all have to start over and we will; we'll all start again."

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