Research Your Target Market
Before you start, you must do your research and know your target market. Otherwise, it’ll be a very difficult task to find success.
If you find a good food truck location, you may want to opt for a pop-up truck. Such a business setup limits your startup investment and lowers your initial overhead.
If you want a more lengthy operation, a brick-and-mortar is a good starting option for you.
Setting up a brick-and-mortar business may require additional time and money. But it always works better in the long run and it’s a lot easier to find potential clients than those of a pop-up truck.
Evaluate Available Space
Start with the biggest challenge … the location. Is there enough space? There are 2 aspects that need to go into consideration. Firstly, how much space will it take up?
Step 3) Investigate Your Local Regulations
Set up the correct licenses, leases and permits needed to run a food truck business. You’ll need to know the local laws regarding the food establishments you plan to open.
Step 4) Get an Insurance Policy
If you’re going to be transporting food, you’ll want insurance. Find out the rates and what is covered.
Step 5) Get an accountant, a menu consultant and a kitchen.
You’ll need a financial expert to handle the finances, a menu consultant to know how much your menu costs per item, and a kitchen expert to make sure everything is in order.
Step 6) Get a Lease
If you’re going to be confined to a certain area, you’ll need one. Your lease should lay out your responsibilities and the regulations placed on you.
Step 7) Register Your Food Truck
Work to register your truck, design a logo, and develop a website, all while you’re already operating.
Step 8) Start advertising!
Check Out the Competition
Before you make the plunge into the industry, you need to familiarize yourself with the competition. Talk to other food trucks and see who’s doing well and then get to know others in the business. The more people you talk to, the more success you’ll have.
I want to stress this very important point: Talk to other people in the industry. It’s key to becoming financially sound and making the right decision in the long run.
Party Monster
Although the concept is similar to that of a food truck, but I’m listing party monster as a food truck because I’m sure there are some people reading this who are thinking of starting a party monstor food truck/catering business.
The food truck industry can be tricky, but everything will make a lot more sense once you’ve shopped around. Keep in mind that the right type of food truck for you might not be the right type of food truck for someone else. It all comes down to the type of business, type of cuisine, and the type of clientele you want.
Choose a Food Truck Name & Concept
A food truck is also known as a food cart, mobile food unit, mobile caterer, and mobile street stall. In any case, it’s a small on-the-go food service centre, selling a variety of food items from street vendors and sidewalk hawkers. Food trucks can also be used for smoothies, fruit shakes, desserts, quesadillas and the like.
Whether you are in a remote area or a densely populated city, food trucks have become very popular because of their convenience and affordability. And their popularity continues to grow because of its flexibility – whether it’s catering for a very large event or holiday parties or for local residents to enjoy light finger food.
Successful food truck owners depend on the quality of their food and the services provided. A regular schedule, having nearby food-selling outlets, and outlet accessibility to food patrons are just a few of the things to keep in mind when choosing a food truck name and conceptualising a business .
Depending on the type of food you are selling, it’s best to come up with unique names and concepts. Avoid food names that are too similar to another food business. Otherwise, your food truck could end up in the competition with another food truck, and that could cause you great embarrassment.
Pick a Name for Your Food Truck
Once you have a set of wheels and a menu nailed down you'll be ready to communicate with potential customers and learn how to drive from a professional drivers' instructor.
Before you can start making contacts and learning how to drive, you'll need to pick a name, logo, and colors for your food truck business. This is a critical part of the operations since you're going to be spending thousands of dollars on equipment and supplies and it's important to have everything coordinated and lined up before the business starts.
There are two main options for naming your food truck because it's a good name for advertising and branding purposes. The first option is to use your personal name, which can be associated with the food truck and the brand. But some people, especially smaller businesses, want to use their business name instead of their personal name, in order to identify and communicate with their customers.
The second option is to use your business name and add the word "mobile" to the end, e.g. "MyAwesomeMobileBurger."
Here are a few examples of food truck names that went viral but were not necessarily successful:
Design Your Food Truck Logo
Before starting your food truck business, you’re going to need to establish your brand identity. The most important aspect of this is your logo. No matter what, you need to make sure that your logo is unique, eye-catching and easy to read.
This includes thinking about things like colors and layout. For example, your colors could be green and red if you’re on a street circuit. However, if you use such colors in other parts of the logo, you’ll actually look like a carnival.
Therefore, think about how your logo will look when it’s made in different sizes and printed on different materials. this will make sure your logo is the right fit for your vehicle.
Another tip for getting a logo that’s right for your food truck business is to talk to as many people as needed. Feedback from professionals in the industry is one of the best ways to get to know the ins and outs of what it takes to start a food truck business.
Formal business logos are the same no matter the industry. However, a food truck logo might include different or additional elements like a race flag or a food truck t-shirt.
Create a Food Truck Business Plan
Before you can get your food truck business off the ground, you first need to come up with a plan. This plan should include all of the aspects of your food truck business. It should also include what you expect to produce, your costs and the people you will be serving. Keeping track of your expenses will also help you to assess your profitability.
A food truck business plan will help you make important decisions regarding your business. You need a plan that includes the time you will spend on each aspect of your business. You need to prioritize which aspects of your business you will specialize in. You also need to decide how much money you will need in order to get the truck and equipment you need for your business.
In addition, you will need to write down your customer profile. This profile will be a list of all of your potential customers. You need to know who will be coming to your truck and what their interests are. When you do this, it is easier to market your business and come up with customized menus. You will also need to write down any special preferences that your customers have.
The final aspect of your business plan will be marketing. Marketing likely will be one of the areas you least want to spend time in. But it is important for you to write down your plan for marketing in order to reach your goals. If you don’t have a plan, any time you spend marketing your business will be wasted.
Get Licenses and Registrations for Your Food Truck
The first step to starting a food truck business is to get the proper licenses and registrations. You’ll need to apply to the following:
Your local health department’s food code for your food truck.
The local health department also has specific rules and regulations for everything in regard to a food truck, including sanitation and liability issues.
Your food truck’s business license and permit from the city or county where your food truck is based.
Your business insurance needs to cover your truck, and you probably want a package insurance policy that covers both commercial trucking and food vending. (Note: It’s still not common for food trucks to be covered by commercial insurance.)
Make sure that your liability insurance covers damage to people and property, including signage and advertising.
Register your trucks with the NSCA&P.
The National Safety Council for the United States, which is a nonprofit organization devoted to public safety, has developed the National Registry of Certified Safety Professionals. It maintains a database of professionals and their qualifications, certifications, experience, and occupations. The NSCA&P has food truck sections that you can reference to know key information about some things you’ll need when you’re getting your food truck business off the ground.
Parking Permits & Regulations
First things first, the first and most important step in starting your food truck business is to get your parking permits and the necessary mobile food vending permit.
While you’re waiting for the permits to come through, make sure you research all the regulations that govern where you can and cannot park. Based on where you live, you’ll want to know how close you’re allowed to be to bus stops, intersections, fire hydrants, and electrical utility boxes.
Next, try to locate any nearby privately owned parking spaces that you can use for your food truck. You’ll also want to determine the best location for your mobile food vending business – assuming you plan to park your food truck and sell from it, you want to make sure you can access the spot easily and that there’s plenty of room to maneuver.
Once you’ve located the parking space you’re going to use, make sure your sign is the right size and angled so it’s visible to passing traffic. You also want to make sure your sign includes your basic business information. Make sure to include the type of food you provide and your hours of operation.
Next, make sure your business license and health inspection checks are up to date.
Securing a Commercial Kitchen
A commercial kitchen is what will help you create and serve your foods. It is generally a shared space where a number of food businesses share kitchen space.
If you cannot find a commercial kitchen in your neighborhood, you can always rent a commercial kitchen. Just ensure that the commercial kitchen is close to your restaurant.
The commercial kitchen is a key element in the business, and you must look for one that is up to your standards.
Fabrication and Storage Areas
A commercial kitchen must have ample workstation space where you can prepare materials of food, bake foods and store them before serving. You’ll also need a storage space where you can store ingredients and equipment.
You can quickly secure the kitchen if you find a kitchen with 6 x 8 workstation and enough storage spaces.
Other Equipment and Amenities
You will need a kitchen that has pots and pans, storage space for the damp and cleaning materials and also a food pantry to hold the ingredients.
These materials will be vital to ensuring that you can properly store and prepare foods.
Delivery of Food
The kitchen will need a way of delivering the food to customers. You can have the kitchen install a food cart for your business. It must also have an efficient way of delivering food to the kitchen’s pantry.
Once these are in place, you can easily start serving and delivering food to customers.
Finance Your Food Truck Business
And if you don’t have a food truck business planning to build one as soon as possible, start by reading this post. Sure, plenty of truck owners don’t consider their food truck business as a … Read More ..
Food Truck Business Estimated Startup Costs
Have you ever thought about running a food truck business? A food truck is an easy answer to the question, what is a startup cost. Most startup costs are tied to food costs, which is obvious. You are constantly on the lookout for the best deals on food every day. Tons of restaurants may cut their profit margins when they buy in bulk. Enough of that, how much should you start with as your food truck startup business?
The average food truck startup value will vary from person to person, but it depends on the type of business. For example, if you are a dense and health loving type, you might choose a low-fat, healthy type of meal and avoid deep fryers. Of course, there are plenty of people who don't hold back when it comes to the deep fryers! Depending on location and demand, you might skew towards a more healthy selection of food, which would be a popular local offering. If you can cook well, you can serve anything you want!
The other factor that is involved is volume, whether the food is a single item or five sandwiches. If something is hot, you probably don’t have the time to cook every day of the week, and you want to limit yourself on this as a food truck business startup cost.
Step 1: Make a Plan
Design Your Menu Board
Every time you’re planning a menu, one of the first things you should do is plan out the menu board and determine how many boards should be ordered. The food trucks usually try for between two to nine boards; one board for each meal on the menu. That being said, you’d prefer to have at least three boards on the menu for every meal, so you could have one breakfast, lunch, and dinner board for every day of the week.
A word of caution though. Avoid having too many boards, in case you don’t have enough people attending the first Sundays to warrant a board for lunch. In that case, you could always order a second lunch board for second Sunday and make it a monthly board.
This menu board is usually a simple laminated paper board, so ensure you have the best possible quality when putting it together. Got a graphic designer handy in the family who is willing to work you for free? Get that guy or gal on the job. If you’ve chosen a very small business to start, you might not be able to hire any of your family members to help you out with the graphic designing. But that’s okay. You can either hire a freelancer to design your menu boards or you could start with a ready made readymade design template from the Internet.
Purchase, Insure & Outfit Your Food Truck
One of the first things you’ll need to do is purchase your food truck. This may seem like a cheap way to go, but it can actually be quite a costly process. You’ll also need to insure it, so make sure you budget for some of that cost, too.
Now that you have the truck, you’ll need to outfit it with all of the equipment you’ll need to operate your truck. This will depend on what type of menu you plan to serve – whether it’s sandwiches, burritos or other foods.
Where to Buy a Food Truck
There are two ways to start a food truck business … buy a used food truck or buy a brand new food truck. If you haven’t already decided which type of food truck you want, it’s important to consider both options carefully and figure out a way of deciding which type of truck will work best for your business and your budget.
Buying a used food truck can be a better option if you’re looking for a cheaper and easier start-up, are interested in keeping your costs low, and aren’t seeking the highest level of quality. However, buying a used food truck is only an option if you’re buying a very high quality model.
Two types of used food trucks that you should be sure about are the size and model. The size of truck will largely depend on where you intend to open your business. A larger truck will cost you more but is more likely to generate a higher revenue as the food truck business will also require you to invest in a staff.
Your food truck needs several key components to make a successful start-up. These include a mobile wireless router, a portable power supply, a commercial grade ice machine, a commercial grade refrigerator, a commercial grade microwave and a cash register system.
Food Truck Insurance
Insurance is an essential requirement for your business. How much insurance you need is dependent on how much risk you’re willing to take. As a rule of thumb you should always insure for the worst. Some people will unnecessarily insure for reasons such as they can sell whatever they want, they can’t touch money, or they have a combination of items known to correlate with a higher risk.
Business insurance will come with a variety of coverages that can be tailored to your specific needs. Even so, there are some general policies that you should consider when starting your business.
Here’s an overview of how to start a food truck business from A to Z.
Here is the check list for starting your food truck business:
Food Truck Insurance
Before you decide on the type of insurance, you should assess how much risk your business is willing to take. Think about the worst thing that could happen to your business, and then think about how much you are willing to spend to protect yourself against it. This will help you determine if you need any additional insurance and what type you might need.
Outfit Your Food Truck
The first step to starting your food truck business is to choose an appropriate vehicle. There are dozens of food trucks on the market today, but the option that you choose should depend on your budget and the type of food that you plan to serve.
An interesting and unique food truck experience is sure to create lasting memories for customers, so it’s important that you pick an interesting and unique food truck design. A food truck with an engaging design can help you to build brand recognition, which can help you in creating long term business relationships.
When it comes to food truck equipment, a 24-inch griddle is essential. This is a large metal cooking surface that’s ideal for frying and grilling, and it’s also a good size for cooking meat such as burgers and hot dogs. In a small food truck kitchen, you’ll need to have a stovetop with enough surface area to fry and also to simmer.
Market Your Food Truck
The first step toward starting a food truck business is to market your truck. If you have been to a food truck rally, you already know the importance of marketing to potential customers. All the food truck trailers attending will want to attract the most people possible. While you may not know how to write a catchy slogan, you can hire a professional to get you started.
Marketing your food truck is no different than marketing a restaurant. You need to have a great storyboard and display that tells that story to the public. When your storyboard gives people a visual of what your food truck looks like and what customers can expect from you, you’ll be able to attract a whole new customer base.
Your storyboard should start with information about your food truck. Include any unusual elements about your food truck. Tell your customers how long you have been in business or what makes your food truck unique. For example, some food trucks are known for their famous hot dogs while others are known for something crazy like a food truck that caters to kids.
Another important part of your storyboard is the menu. List your daily specials, as well as your niches. Keep in mind what customers will like most. You may sell the best fish tacos in town, but don’t trouble yourself with selling quirky food that is hard to market.
Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is all about interacting with your customers. Not being able to reach your customers and market yourself properly is detrimental to your business. As mentioned above, your Google adwords and your SEO campaigns will work better when your social media presence is strong.
This is why people use Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and other platforms to manage their business. But if you don’t know where to start, you could easily miss out on new business opportunities.
Social media marketing can be a very time-intensive job, but it will get results if you do it right. So in this article, we’re going to take a look at how you can start a food truck business in 8 steps.
Step 1: Plan your business
The first thing you need to do is plan your business. You have to plan not only where you want to operate but how you can make your business a success. You need to know: What kind of food do you want to serve?
When do you want to open your business? What are the opening hours? How many staff will you need to hire? You also have to consider the employees, who will be the most productive in your business.
Plan your business in the best way you can. Create a schedule for your cook or food truck manager and draw out a time table of how you will get the business up and running.
Targeted Postcards
Here’s something you can try yourself… Publish a press release online. It’s not rocket science, but if you have a food business you are thinking about starting, you will definitely want to do it.
What you will be telling the world (or at least the food media and the food professionals) is your idea to create the highest quality food product you can imagine, and to do it at a price that will be affordable to everyone. You will be describing your restaurant… and all the details related to it. And you will be providing details about when it is scheduled to open, as well as the particulars of the menu. Lastly, you will enclose any press release summary or lead you have and present it in a creative, enticing way so that the media representative will see the value of covering your restaurant and your story.
Let’s take a look at some tips on how to best make the most of this specific promotional technique. But you’ll notice that the same principles and advice can be applied to everything: everything you do, everything you write, everything you produce, and every story you create.
When embarking on your food truck business marketing plan … for best results, you want to do it all in collaboration with your food truck in mind.
Participate in Festivals & Local Events
One of the easiest ways for food truck owners to start bringing in some extra cash is by selling at festivals and other local events. But participation in events doesn’t only mean participating in small events; you can also benefit from being part of food truck rallies. Doing both of these will provide you with ample opportunity to sell your food, which will make it more convenient for your customers. It also gives your customers the chance to try out a variety of foods from the food truck they’ve come to know and love.
These opportunities can help keep your customers interested in your business year-round, which helps your business to grow throughout the year. Since festivals and events can be rather unpredictable, the more exposure you can provide your business, the better.
Create a Website
That Sells!
The first step to getting started as a food truck business owner is to create a website that sells. This doesn’t necessarily have to be a full blown website – you can set up a landing page that lists the products your business offers and have them link from the homepage, instead.
For example, a Southern food truck business that offers fried chicken with two different sauces and some sides might have an email list sign-up form that goes to a landing page with the menu. Once visitors have signed up, they can then be redirected to the homepage, which is the real selling point.
No matter what you sell, whether it’s delicious barbeque sauce – or a magical elixir that makes women suddenly fall in love with you – your website will be the first place potential customers will visit. Put your best foot forward there, and the rest will take care of itself.
You Might Also Like
Brighten up your kitchen with a little help from fluorescent light bulbs.
The Best Music School to Learn Piano in Your Own Home
Personal Pizza Maker: Home-made Pizza, Homemade Meatballs, Meatloaf, and More!
Tips for Creating a Food Truck Business Plan
Starting a food truck business is a wonderful way to launch a business that can provide you with a steady income and meet your culinary goals.
How to Create a Food Truck Business Plan
Define Your Mobile Kitchen Goals
Before you get started on any project, you have to know exactly what you�re working towards. Knowing why you want a food truck business, what its goals are, and knowing what it looks like can help you plan and track your progress and ensure your truck will become a valuable addition to your business, and a lasting source of income.
Assess Your Goals and Values
Before you approach a bank for a loan, you have to know where the money is coming from. That means you have to know your total cost of starting your mobile kitchen. You should be clear on what your monthly operations costs will be, how much funding will be required for rent and food expense, and how much capital you�ll need to buy equipment.
Research Your Competition
There�s no one right way to break into the food truck business, but to meet your goals you�ll need a solid business plan. Start by evaluating your competition. What are their business goals? What do they do to engage their customers? Do other food trucks make the same amount of money as yours? You shouldn�t blindly copy them but should learn from their successes and mistakes.
Supplement sales by catering events
Organize food truck events to have food truck owners participate and to increase their sales. This also allows owners to get new business often, increase brand recognition, and get reviews from participants. You can also attend events and hand out free samples of the products you serve.
Provide Free Samples in the Mornings
One way food trucks have increased their popularity is by providing free samples the early morning hours. This is usually prior to the lunch rush and is a function of providing a service. As long as you have a food truck business that provides a service to attendees, you can provide food samples and benefit from increased foot traffic. Catering your food truck is also another option if you have a food truck business plan regarding catering.
Cater Weddings
Food trucks that cater weddings on the beach or other destinations can provide would be vendors with a captive audience and allow them to build a reputation. This also provides an opportunity for you to double your profits by bringing up to 20 hours of revenue if your food truck business is priced accordingly.
Make Coupons Available for Food Business Owners
One of the simplest ways to increase your food truck sales is to provide customers that frequent your food truck business with your business coupons and discounts. This is one of the easiest ways to increase your food truck sales and your food truck business revenue.
Accept online orders
First:
Get started by accepting orders online using an online ordering system or a call in automated ordering system. You can offer your food delivery service or food cart business by either putting your food on your internet site for internet orders, or by calling your customers for mobile ordering when they tell you they want it.
Once you’ve developed your ordering system, start collecting payment on each delivery. In order to get started you need to validate your payment method. If you are going to do mobile ordering, then you need to have a method for mobile payments. If you are going to accept internet orders you will need to accept credit cards for payment.
A great feature of most online ordering systems is that they allow you to offer any discount code that you would like. If someone wants to pay by check, use a discount code that reduces the cost of the check payment. If a person prefers to use cash, you can offer a discount code for that payment method.
Payment by phone order does not need to be considered as an online order. In this case you can offer discounts, but you must call the customer back and collect payment from them manually.
Set up an account and start selling using the online ordering system.
Take payment online before you deliver the food.
Take payment online before you deliver the food.
Pros & Cons of Starting a Food Truck
Starting a food truck business also known as entrepreneur’s starts a food truck business deserves your serious consideration. Besides the –odds of success” factor, the business offers a number of opportunities, such as:
Beyond making money, food trucks are legitimate businesses, a successful business creates a wide range of opportunities.
The food truck business is looking to become more popular with the hope of gaining access to other markets if the business model is successful, such as franchises.
Food truck business considered a fun business to start for the common man.
A food truck can also be used as a second income option, as opposed to quitting your current job.
A food truck is a dream job with low commitment.
Comparatively, the disadvantages are the amount of time, patience and money it takes to start your food truck business. If you are looking to make a quick and quality profit, food truck business probably not the right option; but if you are looking for a business that is easy to setup and requires minimum start-up cost, your options are unlimited.
The following is a list of major points that you should consider before you decide to go ahead and start your food truck business:
Advantages of Starting a Food Truck
Business.
A food truck business allows you to enjoy the freedom of being your own boss while providing you with a great lifestyle and a solid income. In addition to being your best source of income, you also have various other advantages which will help boost your confidence in the business and will make you really enjoy the start-up process.
Large potential customer audience. When you start a food truck business you have the opportunity to serve a large network of customers. This network will include people who are on their way to work, those opting to dine while traveling, families, and those who live in the vicinity.
Food trucks can drive in just about any direction at any time, making it possible to expand your customer base to even the most unlikely of customers.
You can open your food truck business virtually anywhere. Food trucks don’t have to be accessible at a chosen location. You can set up your food truck business in any location of your choosing. Many drivers of food trucks choose to begin their business in the home of business owners in order to meet with other entrepreneurs. Since business owners already have access to investors and start-up capital, food truck owners enjoy an opportunity to start their business in a location of their choice.
Disadvantages of Starting a Food Truck
Starting a food truck business is not an easy task. It requires lots of hard work and patience to flourish and survive. You also need to understand that it's not a one-mann show business and it definitely requires teamwork. It sounds easier than actually making it happen in reality. And to make it fair, you should also understand the disadvantages of launching a food truck business.
The list goes on and on, it's a tough business to be in, you need to put in the work and provide good and affordable food. Here are some of the disadvantages of starting a food truck business FREE from the reality of being in the business like temperature control and staying on budget cost, among others.
One of the disadvantages of starting a food truck business is that certain cities do not welcome food trucks and food trucks are banned from certain events. It's crucial that you know your locality's policies and laws that govern food trucks.
One advantage food truck business has is that it makes you feel good being a positive source of free food for people, especially when you have a lot of competitions to compete in.
Food trucks aren't allowed to start operating across the road from an establishment like other brick and mortar. You'll need to apply for a mobile vendor's license in your locality and conduct all the required safety compliance. This can prove to be quite time-consuming; so you should be prepared for the amount of work involved.
Frequently Asked Questions
Food trucks are a popular alternative to the increasingly expensive and stagnant brick-and-mortar restaurant business. But with low start-up costs, rapidly increasing demand, and high earnings potential, food truck business has quickly become a popular avenue as a whole, both as a means of entrepreneurship and as a means of income.
In the last few years, the number of food trucks has skyrocketed, and their number continues to grow. In fact, the food truck industry is expected to grow at tremendous rates as 25% of all restaurants plan on expanding their food truck offerings in the next couple of years.
In this post, I have put together a collection of all the frequently asked questions and answers on food trucks. Meanwhile, as you will have your own truck, increase your demand and sales by following advice on management and marketing in food truck business.
What is commercial vehicle insurance?
Basically, your commercial vehicle is a type of vehicle that is accident prone. Therefore, it is primarily meant to transport goods and people rather than passengers.
However, people mistake commercial vehicles with their personal ones causing them extra costs in the long run. Hence, drivers of commercial vehicles have to go for any kind of insurance. As a result, commercial vehicle insurance is basically insurance coverage for personal property of a vehicle. In some cases, it is added with a liability coverage as well.
Types of Commercial Vehicle Insurance
Except the personal property cover, there are two other types of commercial vehicle insurance – fleet insurance and highway insurance.
Fleet insurance is mostly for business vehicles and commercial vehicles. It is not available for personal vehicles. However, most fleets give priority to their vehicle fleet over their personal vehicles while filing insurance claims.
Highway insurance covers the vehicle in case of an accident that takes place on a public road. Therefore, it is important to carry this insurance as otherwise, getting your vehicle repaired would be a real trouble.
Exception, on the other hand, is for vehicles carrying hazardous materials. These were separated in order to protect the interests of both the driver and the public.
How do I design the outside of my food truck?
Food truck owners have a wide range of options when it comes to truck design. Some food trucks have full kitchens, while others do not. Some only serve hot food while others have other menu items as well throughout the day.
Many individuals choose to start out with a food truck that is completely ready to function. These ready-to-use trucks are custom designed by a designer, and they include removable parts that are easy to pack when the truck goes on the road.
Depending on the layout of your truck, you can paint it any color you want. But if you happen to live in a smaller city and will be driving between the same locations several times a day, it may be wise to opt for a color that is easier to see from a distance.
If you do not own a food truck yet but are interested in starting one, you should consider using a graphic designer to design the outside of your truck. A graphic designer will take into account the needs of a fast food restaurant, will create a design that is easy to see from the road, and will offer you a variety of different truck designs that are suitable for your truck.
When you create a design and pick a final design, that design will be placed on your truck. The original designer will design the truck for you to function in different areas of the country and will make it lightweight and portable.
What are some popular food truck concepts?
Some of the most popular types of food trucks include the following:
The taco truck is a small, mobile, utilitarian vehicle where they serve authentic Mexican tacos.
The gyro truck serves traditional Greek food. Typically they are a mobile food stand that differentiates itself from the gourmet food truck by offering food of a certain ethnic origin.
The Japanese truck serves fairly cheap, yet delectable sushi, rolls, and miso soup. The price of the sushi and rolls might seem unfairly cheap, but the sushi may not always be of top quality.
The deli truck sells only sandwich and hot dogs and offers several different kinds of breads and condiments, such as sauerkraut, cheese, onions, and relish.
The standard food truck shares most of the same attributes as a regular food truck, but might be specifically used to promote one thing. For example, most trucks are open for only one day a week when they take advantage of the marketability of their specialty product.
Why do food trucks fail?
Do you want to start a food truck business in hopes of a future full of profit and happiness?
Here’s what you should know.
Location or as a Niche Food?
Food trucks can greatly vary in size. If you’re planning to go big time, you’re going to need a truck that can fit out multiple cooks and seating. If your truck is small in size (under 5 ft. in height), it will only seat 7-10 people depending on additional appetizers you choose to use. If you are a small business owner or a parent, this may not be the route for you.
This will also drastically affect the food you’ve chosen to carry. If your location has size constraints on parking, you will not be able to carry heavier fare like burgers and appetizer plates. However, if you are opening a smaller truck, you will not need to carry the size of food you would have to be able to fit larger scale food items.
Location or as a Part Time Job?
Bottom Line
You don’t have to be a master chef to open your own food truck. In fact, most food trucks are run by solo operators who may not be experts at preparing food. Many of them simply served the top item on their local restaurant’s menu before creating their own food truck business. As long as you can produce a quality product in your food truck, you should be able to earn a profit.
Learn the ins & outs of owning a food truck and make smart business and lifestyle choices for your food truck business.