Did you know that the Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival made 29.6 million dollars in 2019?

There’s no doubt that there is good money to be made as a festival food truck. Yet, there are so many mistakes that can take a bite out of your profit.

Here are 5 common food truck festival mistakes and how to avoid them.

1. Failing to Know the Competition

One of the most common mistakes people make when joining a festival food truck event is forgetting to inquire about the competition.

The number of attendees is important to know, but you also need to find out how many other vendors there will be. You’ll especially need to know if there is already another vendor selling the same cuisine.

Depending on the size of the festival, it might not be worth your effort to attend if the competition is fierce. 

At the very least, be sure to ask the event organizer to put your stall far away from any direct competitors.

2. Having an Expansive Menu

Another mistake is trying to reel in more customers by having a wide variety of menu options.

The more choices on your menu, the longer it will take you to move customers through the queue. When choices are plentiful, and lineups are long, many customers will simply choose elsewhere.

Consider cutting out the items on your menu that take the longest to make. Festival food trucks need to keep up a high speed of service.

There’s no reason not to have a festival menu that is simple for you and your customers. Plus, lowering the number of your offerings means that you can buy ingredients in bulk for cheaper.

3. Wrong Pricing 

A rookie mistake many food trucks make at festivals is with menu pricing. Remember, foodies are attending in order to sample as many options as possible.

Having a few low-cost menu options will bring new customers to your stand. Remember, lots of people will have cash with them. Keep that in mind when pricing items and keep it simple.

Items for $2, $5, and $10 makes paying for it and getting change easy peasy.

4. Not Buying Enough

You buy double the ingredients you think you will need. Yet, you still run out. Then, you have to rush to the store to buy ingredients at a higher price point.

Not only is that bad money management, but it’s also stressful and drives customers away.

Be sure to come to the festival armed with more ingredients than you think you could possibly go through. As long as your truck has plenty of dry and refrigerated storage, it’s OK to have leftovers.

Having extra after a busy day is better than the alternative. 

5. Ignoring Social Media

If you aren’t posting on social media before, and during the food festival, you are missing a huge opportunity to get your name in front of festival foodies.

Plus, all the other vendors will be promoting on social media, so you should too.

Be sure to use the festival hashtag in the weeks leading up to the festival. Make a point of engaging with people who are excited about the upcoming event.

Post pictures of your festival menu a day or so beforehand. This allows foodies to plan what they will eat on the festival day.

Also, make sure you let people know your location during the festival.  

Have A Successful Festival Food Truck

There you have it! 5 of the worst festival food truck mistakes people make, and how to avoid them.

Are you in the market for a new food truck? Contact us today to discuss your needs.

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.

Stay up to date on everything Custom Concessions has to offer! Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

The post 5 Food Truck Festival Mistakes You Could Make (And How to Avoid Them!) appeared first on Custom Concessions.

Although you can customize any of our food trucks and trailers to your liking, there are big differences between many of our trailers that cannot be changed. These differences can help you decide on what trailer or food truck is perfect for you. One of our more confusing differences is between our Gooseneck Trailers and our other trailers. Many of our customers have trouble deciding between our Gooseneck and our BBQ trailer. With many similarities, one can easily have a hard time deciding between the two. It’s important to understand how these trailers work to better fit your needs. Today we’d like lay out the differences from our Gooseneck Trailers and a BBQ Trailers to help you understand how these two work.

Hitch

Probably the biggest difference between the BBQ Trailer and the Gooseneck Trailer is how the hitch connects to the truck. BBQ Trailers us a typical Ball Mount or Square Receiver Hitch. But a Gooseneck Trailer uses what is referred to as a Gooseneck Hitch. As the trailer extends over your truck’s bed, the hitch uses a kingpin, ball and socket or other similar trailer connection method. This is located above and forward of the rearmost axle of the towing vehicle. Unlike the BBQ Trailer, a gooseneck trailer is mounted in the tow vehicle, usually in a pickup truck.

Often, this requires for the truck bed to be removed to install the frame that holds the hitch in place. More often than not, a hole is drilled in the back of the truck. This might sway some business owner’s decision between the two, especially if they really love their truck.

Size

Generally, between a BBQ Trailer and a Gooseneck Trailer, the Gooseneck will be bigger. Or, more appropriately, if you’re looking for more room and need extra storage, the Gooseneck Trailer will be a better option. Because of a Gooseneck Trailer’s hitch setup, there’s an added amount of available storage. If you don’t need a lot of room and are looking for a trailer that slightly more compact, a BBQ Trailer might be the better option.

Often, Gooseneck trailers are not used for food, but for other services: blood donation, Veteran Affairs, Fire Safety drills, etc. This is because of their size. Although our other trailers offer ample room for food preparation, the Gooseneck is our only trailer than can really offer the room needed to perform non-food activities.

Mobility

While both BBQ Trailer and Gooseneck Trailer are mobile, the Gooseneck Hitch allows for much sharper turns. When driving your trailer around, this can make a big difference. This is especially true if you’re considering bringing your trailer to conventions, expos, festivals and other events that are limited with room.

BBQ Trailers may not have the best turning radius, but they are often lighter than Gooseneck Trailers. This means you don’t need as powerful of a truck to tow. We recommend Gooseneck Trailers if you need to have a heavy duty truck hitched to the trailer. However, as long as you own a powerful truck, Gooseneck trailers can support as much as thirty thousand pounds . If you need to tow a lot of equipment and food, Gooseneck Trailers got your back.

Customization

While both our BBQ Trailer and Gooseneck Trailer are customizable to your preferences, only the BBQ trailer can come with your own BBQ Smoker in the back. The addition sits on an open bed to keep air flowing through the mechanism. True barbecuers will tell you this is one of the best ways to make great meat. If you’re planning a food trailer based on good BBQ, you’re going to want to consider getting yourself a BBQ smoker.

Gooseneck Trailers are often better customized to fit larger groups of people. With ability to add a long width of windows for placing and receiving orders, many business owners who use Gooseneck Trailers are prepared for big events with a high yield of customers.

Whatever trailer you choose, Custom Concessions will make sure every aspect of the trailer is up to your standards of excellence. As you can see, even the differences between two of our Trailers can be big. Consider researching all of our trailers on our site. Or, contact us today to discuss your ideal trailer. We bet we’ll be able to make exactly what you’re looking for.

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.

Stay up to date on everything Custom Concessions has to offer! Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

The post The In’s and Out’s – The Difference Between Gooseneck and BBQ Trailers appeared first on Custom Concessions.