Spring is finally here, food truck owners. What does this mean? Well, it simply means the busy season is right around the corner. Now is the time to really get your mobile kitchen running on all cylinders.

While spring isn’t necessarily going to be as busy as the summer (depending on where you live), most food truck owners should still see an increase in sales. Also, since more people tend to start venturing to food trucks during this time, it provides mobile kitchen owners with the perfect opportunity to get prepared for summer.

In the grand scheme of things, more customers means more sales, which means more money for your food truck business. Therefore, we have come up with some ways to attract more customers during spring. Use them to your advantage, food truckers.

RELATED: 15 Motivational Quotes That Will Inspire Every Chef In The Food Truck Industry. In need of some serious motivation/inspiration? Then let these motivational quotes be your guide.

Ways To Attract More Food Truck Customers This Spring

• Target the spring breakers. It is spring break season, after all. While you don’t want to completely base your strategy around targeting spring breakers, it is okay to try to attract them to your truck. Here are a couple of tips for this strategy: In hopes of targeting big groups, hold specials surrounding big groups. You could also have special spring prices.
• Drop new meals. People love to try new food. Your regulars probably wouldn’t mind seeing a new menu item, even if it’s only for a limited time. Also, if this meal works like a charm, and people are buying it left and right, then think about making it a mainstay during the summer.
• Test things out in general when it comes to your menu. This alone could help you create the perfect summer menu. And it could, of course, attract more customers to your food truck during spring.
• Up your social media efforts. If you haven’t been posting on a regular basis during winter, then now is the time to start posting on a regular basis. Get into a routine, create a daily/weekly strategy. Reminder: Social media is a very valuable weapon for business owners, and food truckers have to take advantage. Hold giveaways, ask your customers what they want to see at your truck this year (or questions in general), post pictures of your delicious meals and come up with a posting strategy, one that you will follow each and every week.
• Remind your customers that spring is here, and also give them a reason to come to your truck. The point here is to make your food truck known.
• Add summer-like items, even if you don’t plan on keeping them on your menu in the long run. Spoiler: Items like ice cream, smoothies, hot dogs and cold beverages of any kind are typically welcomed with open arms when the temperatures start to heat up.
• Look back at your numbers. See what worked (and what didn’t work) last year around this time, and then apply what you learned to this year. The longer you are a food truck owner, the more meaningful this process will become.
• Work on building a community, because that is something that many successful food truck businesses have — a community.
• Work on your customer service, and really make it a goal this spring to take your customer service game to the next level.
• Enjoy the process. You entered the food truck industry because it was your dream. Yes, this is a tough industry to conquer, but appreciate what you have (a food truck business), always think of new ways to be better and don’t take this golden opportunity for granted. Above all else, have fun and cook like you’ve never cooked before!

RELATED: How A New Food Truck Owner Can Conquer The Mobile Kitchen Industry. If you are new to the food truck industry, then this article has your name written all over it.

Need more advice and information when it comes to being the best food truck owner you can possible be? Let these articles be your guide.

How New Food Truck Owners Can Take Their Businesses To The Next Level

“Being new to the food truck industry is tough. Heck, being the new guy on the block, if you will, is never easy. Still, that does not mean new food truck owners can’t succeed in this magnificent and delicious industry.”

“If you are looking for ways to take your food truck business to the next level, and if you are also new to this industry, then we have quite the treat for you today. Take the information below to heart, and also make sure to incorporate the tactics into your own food truck business. Make the strategies below yours, and good luck out there!”

How To Get The Most Out Of Your Food Truck Grand Opening

“You did it…”

“You came up with an otherworldly business plan, you picked a food truck concept, you made your menus, you hired an employee or two, you figured out your locations, you tackled permits and regulations, you raised enough money to buy a food truck (and then you bought a food truck), and you are now ready to enter the mobile kitchen industry. Also, you have notified your friends and family about this life-changing career, and you have also built up your social media following. What’s next?”

Why Future Mobile Kitchen Owners Should Steer Clear Of A Cheap Food Truck

“If you are in the market for a food truck, then it is absolutely crucial that you find the perfect truck.”

“Of course, there are many questions you need to ask yourself during this process. For example, you should be asking yourself this question: Should I buy a high-end food truck, or should I buy a cheaper truck?”

“First things first, you have to figure out your budget. You also have to figure out how much money you are going to need, and if you are going to finance a truck or pay in cash. There are many reasons why you should buy a high-end truck, though. For instance, this is your business, so quality should be a top priority. Not to mention, a high-end truck typically comes with warranties, and it typically won’t break down on you — well, at least not for a very long time.”

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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However, some people don’t understand how hard it really is to run a food truck. They just want to be a chef, cook food and make people happy. Little do they know, owning and operating a mobile kitchen takes a lot of skills. For one, you ideally need to be an expert in the business department.

Some folks might think they just need to be a great cook to enter the food truck industry, but there are so many other traits you have to bring to the table on top of that.

RELATED: What Not To Do When You Are A Food Truck Owner. Simply put, you need to avoid these things if you plan on being a successful food truck owner.

5 Must-Have Traits For The Food Truck Industry

• Hard Worker
• Persistent
• Time Management Guru
• Communication Skills
• Patient

Hard Worker

Before we get started with this trait, it is important to keep in mind that there are an endless amount of traits that owners need in the food truck industry. With that said, being a hard worker, along with the other traits that will follow, are some of the most important.

In the food truck industry, you have to outwork the competition. After all, there are so many different trucks you are competing with, and every single one brings something unique to the table.

You have to work hard when it comes to cooking up a storm in the kitchen, you have to work hard when it comes to marketing and you have to work hard when it comes to learning more about the industry and running a business.

The food truck industry incorporates long hours (try at least 10 a day), so working hard is a must.

Persistent

As a result of you working so many hours in the food truck industry, it is important to stay persistent. Not to mention, it is very easy to get burned out when your life consists of work, work and more work after that. However, you have to stay on track day in and day out, and you have to be determined every step of the way.

If you start to slack, your employees and customers will notice. If you want to make it in the food truck industry, you have to be hungry (literally and figuratively).

Time Management Guru

When you are at the office (or in this case, a mobile catering truck) for 10 or more hours a day, you have to take time management to the next level. You have to plan out your entire day in the food truck industry. Not just that, but you also have to be very detailed in your schedule — you need to incorporate everything.

If you can learn how to become a time management guru in the food truck industry, then you will make life that much easier, and more enjoyable.

Communication Skills

This is one of the biggest problems with startups. If you aren’t communicating your strategy with your employees, then don’t expect them to be on the same page as you.

Communication is one of the things we take for granted, but it is something owners can’t afford to lack in the food truck industry.

RELATED: How To Retain Customers In The Food Truck Industry. This industry is all about the customers. The more you retain, the more your business will grow.

Patient

If someone told you that the food truck industry was a quick way to get rich, then said someone is foolish. Owning a food truck business is like any other business — it takes a great amount of time before things are running on all cylinders and you are making a great income from it. That is where being patient comes in.

Over time, and with a lot of work, your mobile catering business will grow stronger, but you have to be willing to put in the work.

To stay up to date on everything Custom Concessions has to offer, make sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. You can also find more food truck blogs here.

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If you are doing any of these things, then you need to shift your mindset immediately by doing the opposite. As most food truck owners already know, this is not an industry for the faint of heart — blood, sweat and tears will go down in the food truck industry.

Now, we are not saying people do all of these things. However, from time to time, there are probably an endless amount of food truck owners who get caught doing one of them. Breaking those habits as soon as possible is how you are going to grow your food truck business.

Let’s get to it, shall we?

RELATED: How To Retain Customers In The Food Truck Industry. Return customers are perhaps your most important customers, so you have to know how to retain them.

What Not To Do When You Are A Food Truck Owner

• Leave Social Media And Digital Marketing Out Of The Equation
• Not Know Your Numbers
• Don’t Adjust Your Menu And Strategy
• Go Through The Motions
• Not Look At The Bigger Picture

Leave Social Media And Digital Marketing Out Of The Equation

We understand, social media and digital marketing in general are big projects, and you are already having to worry about running your food truck. With that said, it is crucial to get your mobile kitchen’s name out there. It leads to more business and customers, after all, which is huge when it comes to your business growth.

If things like social media and digital marketing become too much of a burden, then don’t just put them on the back burner — hire someone to take on these projects. More likely than not, a social media or digital marketing expert is going to know way more than you. That is okay, as long as their services fit into your budget.

Not Know Your Numbers

If you don’t know your numbers, how are you supposed to know if your food truck is making any money, food truck owners? You have to know your finances. If not, you could be caught off guard, and you might not be able to rebound from a financial standpoint.

At the same time, make sure you are separating your business and personal finances — keep track of everything.

Don’t Adjust Your Menu And Strategy

If you don’t adjust your menu and strategy, well, hopefully your customers really, really like your food. You need to adjust your menu and strategy when the temperatures start to drop, when the busy months are just around the corner and when a new food is sweeping the nation (at one point, bacon was being incorporated into a wide variety of foods — it is crucial to catch the trends).

The important thing is that you are changing things up. If you notice something not working, then get rid of said something and try out another food item in its place.

Go Through The Motions

Going through the motions. This is something we all get caught doing, and it is something a food truck owner absolutely can’t do.

As a food truck owner, you are not only managing a business. You are the boss and leader at your mobile kitchen. You need to motivate your employees, give them direction, let them know when they are doing something wrong and the list goes on and on.

If you go through the motions, then how do you think your team is going to respond? Hopefully you have a very strong team and a game-winning strategy in place. If not, you could lose plenty of business. Return customers will be able to taste it in the food and they will be able to see it with your customer service skills.

RELATED: Common Reasons Why Food Truck Businesses Succeed. If you follow this article’s lead, your food truck business could enter Successville in no time.

Not Look At The Bigger Picture

Food truck owners are successful people. They started their own business, after all. They have dreams and goals. Food truck owners have to continue to revisit these dreams and goals, especially when it comes to their mobile kitchen business.

If your main goal of the year was to incorporate catering, then you have to do everything in your power to make that happen. If your dream is to be able to franchise your food trucks, then you have to keep that dream in mind every step of the way and work toward it every single day.

The food truck industry can be brutal on the mind, body and soul, because you are constantly working, but you have to always look at the big picture if you want an unlimited amount of success.

To stay up to date on everything Custom Concessions has to offer, make sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. You can also find more food truck blogs here.

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After all, without customers, who would buy the delicious foods that mobile catering trucks have to offer? Without sales, a food truck would sink just as fast as it started. That is why we are going to talk about the importance of retaining customers. Just to go into a little more detail, we will explain how to retain more customers in the food truck industry.

RELATED: Common Reasons Why Food Truck Businesses Succeed. If you want to succeed in this industry, then you might want to incorporate the information from this article into your food truck business.

How To Retain Customers In The Food Truck Industry

• Otherworldly Customer Service
• Customer Loyalty Programs
• To-Die-For Food
• Build A Community

Otherworldly Customer Service

If you have bad service, or even mediocre service, you better hope that your food is amazing — and then some. If not, then don’t expect to retain many customers.

Going to a food truck should be an experience, and you can make it that way by having otherworldly customer service. You don’t want to hold up the line during the busy hours, but it is so important to engage with your customers and make them feel like they are part of a community (more from that later).

Customer Loyalty Programs

Customer loyalty programs are a great way to retain customers, because they literally give customers incentive to come back. If you are going to incorporate these loyalty programs into the mix, it is crucial that you have a healthy balance. For instance, you don’t want to lose a significant amount of money because your program is too generous, but you also don’t want to make this program extremely tough for customers to cash in on their rewards.

Nonetheless, by adding this into the mix, people will continue to come back to your kitchen truck.

To-Die-For Food

Let’s be honest: People go to your food truck because they want an amazing meal. If you offer this to them, then not only will they come back for more, but they will tell their friends and family as well. In this industry, word of mouth is huge.

So, make sure you are cooking up your famous recipes with a lot of love, because your customers are all about the food.

RELATED: Some Common Reasons Why Food Truck Businesses Fail. Unfortunately, not all food trucks make it in this industry, which is why owners need to gain as much knowledge as possible. 

Build A Community

By building a community, your customers will feel safe. They will also get to know you and other people who come to your mobile kitchen. You might operate in a big city (such as Los Angeles or New York), but there is nothing wrong with making your food truck community feel like a small-town restaurant.

A community allows your customers to feel right at home, and it also makes your job more enjoyable as well. Not to mention, building a community is how you retain customers.

To stay up to date on everything Custom Concessions has to offer, make sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. You can also find more food truck blogs here.

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