Before opening another sit-down restaurant, we encourage restaurant franchises and owners to join the food truck industry first.
There are many benefits to joining the mobile kitchen industry, and that’s especially the case if you already have an established brand and business.
So, with that in mind, below we will be highlighting five reasons why a restaurant franchise should join the food truck industry.
Reasons Why A Restaurant Franchise Should Join The Food Truck Industry
- The Cost Of A Food Truck
- More Flexibility With A Food Truck
- Expand Your Brand
- Potential To Get More Involved With Your Customers
- Expand Easier
5.) The Cost Of A Food Truck
One of the biggest appeals of a food truck (especially when comparing it to a brick-and-mortar location) is the cost. While a mobile kitchen is still quite the investment from a money standpoint, it’s typically less money to start a food truck than a sit-down restaurant. It’s also typically cheaper to run a food truck than a sit-down restaurant.
Therefore, you are, in theory, taking less of a risk with a food truck business.
4.) More Flexibility With A Food Truck
With a sit-down restaurant, you can’t take as many risks with your menu (unless your business is already known as a restaurant that changes up the menu all the time). Taking that a step further, there tends to be more flexibility with a mobile kitchen.
After all, you can take a food truck wherever you would like, meaning you can work wherever you want to work and attract customers in many different locations. You also don’t have to operate during normal business hours if you travel to food truck events, hold catering gigs and simply only plan on being at a certain location for a certain amount of time. With a sit-down restaurant, you typically have to have set hours and they tend to stay the same on a weekly basis. Customers expect structure with restaurants when it comes to this department.
On top of that, you can get more creative with your menus at a food truck because that’s the type of industry this is — people are used to seeing unique twists on everyday meals.
All of this can make it more enjoyable for the owner, and it can also lead to your food truck standing out.
3.) Expand Your Brand
With a food truck, you can expand your brand since your business has the potential to reach more people — your business is mobile, so you don’t have to stay in one place. Not only that but you can promote your restaurants at your food truck business, and you can promote your food truck on your website and at your restaurants.
Plus, your food truck should have your company’s logo and name on it, so you can consider your truck a mobile billboard, which should only help with brand awareness.
2.) Potential To Get More Involved With Your Customers
This might depend on how outgoing you and your food truck team are, and also how good your customer service is. But you have the potential to get more involved with your customers since you’re running a smaller business, and you, as the food truck chef, might also take orders.
When your business is smaller (we’re talking a food truck, the manager and maybe a couple of employees while your truck is serving food), it’s easier to interact with customers since only a handful of people will be taking orders, not to mention return customers will start to recognize you and the employees.
For this reason (and so many other factors), it’s no wonder why food trucks tend to build unique atmospheres and communities, which is big for the customer service department.
1.) Expand Easier
While you won’t be able to park wherever you want, and permits and regulations will come into play, it should be easier to expand with a food truck.
Like we stated above, a food truck tends to be cheaper than a sit-down restaurant. Plus, a food truck is a smaller business (which means less inventory and ideally a shorter buildout time for your mobile restaurant), you shouldn’t have to hire as many employees, you don’t have to look for the perfect location for your business since you can travel to as many locations as you want and the list could go on and on.
There are so many reasons why we encourage restaurant franchises and owners to join the food truck industry, and the five reasons above were just the beginning.
Looking for more food truck information and advice? Check out the article below (preview and link to the entire article included).
5 Steps You Can Take Right Now To Begin Your Food Truck Journey
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3. Figure Out Where You Want Your Destination(s) To Be
This is an important step for many different reasons. First and foremost, location is everything in the food truck industry (you know what they say … location, location, location), and if you decide to go with a destination that isn’t known for its foot traffic, then you might struggle to attract customers. Not to mention, you can’t just park anywhere, and things like permits, regulations, laws and rules come into play.
Therefore, do some big-time research in this department, and see where you can and can’t park … as well as searching for amazing destinations that haven’t been picked yet. Reminder: Your business is mobile, so you can have more than one location, and you really should if you are going to survive and thrive in this industry.
Want more food truck advice? Check out more blog posts here!
Thinking about starting a food truck? Request a free custom quote and one of our food truck specialists will help you design the truck of your dreams.
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