There are thousands of food trucks in America doing roughly $2.7 billion worth of business per year. Food trucks have become a growing fad, often found on busy street corners, at special events, and more.

Wondering whether it’s too late to join in and open a food truck? We can safely say that’s not the case! First-time restauranteurs will have an easier go of this type of mobile business, and it’s a great way to get started in the culinary world. Check out these 7 reasons to open your own food truck.

1. Low Initial Investment

Unlike a traditional restaurant, a food truck can be a great option for anyone who doesn’t want to put down a hefty lump sum. The main cost, as you might expect, is when you purchase a food truck—which is still significantly cheaper than paying for a large indoor space!

This means you can put more of your money toward what matters, like marketing your business or crafting the perfect menu.

2. Low Operating Costs

Even after you start your food truck business, you’ll find that the low overhead allows you to keep more of what you make. Food trucks require a small staff, and your expenses are typically limited to ingredients, supplies and equipment, and gas. Don’t forget about the lower (and easier) taxes!

3. Freedom to Move

This is one of the most obvious benefits of a food truck business. When you aren’t attracting customers in your current location, when you want to follow the crowds to a local event, or when you want a change of scenery, all you need to do is drive away!

4. Customer Connections

Food trucks create a casual, interactive experience. This lets you connect with customers directly, rather than having them interact with a server only. This (in addition to your mouthwatering food) can help you convert customers into true fans, prompting them to recommend you to friends.

5. Effortless Branding

Whether you’re extending an existing restaurant business or starting a new brand of your own, you can’t go wrong with a mobile food truck. As you drive around from place to place, your truck will act as a moving billboard, advertising your company, and increasing brand awareness in your community.

6. Fewer Employees

With most business opportunities and restaurants, you’ll have to hire, train, and manage a full staff. This can be a huge drain on your time, and it can make it difficult to catch employee mistakes. However, a small team is easier to train. You can spend more time with them, and the time you’ll need to manage them is much less than it would be with a full staff.

7. Follow Your Dream and Work With Food

One of the great points about owning your own food truck? You get to spend all day being creative with food! If you consider cooking to be your passion, you’ll get to follow that dream every day you open for business.

Get on Track to Open a Food Truck Today

If you want to make great food, own your own business, and connect with your community, there are few better ways than a food truck! Once you’ve decided to open a food truck, don’t forget to keep us in mind as you consider your next steps. We offer a huge range of food trucks for a spectrum of industry needs, so check out what we offer.

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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Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash 

The food truck industry has surprisingly grown by 7.9% from 2019 to 2020. This might seem surprising, considering the hard hit that COVID-19 dealt the restaurant industry, but food trucks are a whole different game. The fact that they can easily accommodate social distancing protocols may be one factor contributing to their popularity.

With that in mind, food truck safety has never been a more pressing or important issue. What can you do to keep yourself and your customers safe?

Keep reading to find out!

1. Fighting the Weather

Food trucks and bad weather are a combination no business owner or customer wants to see, but it’s a cold (and wet) reality. Food trucks receive exposure to even more of mother nature’s bounty than permanent structures. This can include strong gusts, hail, snow, heavy rain, and even lightning.

As the owner of a business that will be significantly impacted by adverse weather, you should always be up to date on the latest forecast.

Some excellent resources for weather include:

• Farmer’s Almanac
• Weather Underground
• The Weather Channel

If your local area sees heavy snow in winter, make sure to winterize your truck. Even if your local weather isn’t severe during the colder months, you’re not off the hook. If you plan to travel to colder climes for winter festivals you’ll still need to do some winterizing research. Not planning in advance could cost you a lot of time and money in repairs until your business is ready to reopen.

2. Make Sure to Legally Cover Yourself

If you plan to feed protesters, law enforcement, employees on strike, or “permanent replacements,” make sure you have covered yourself—legally, and otherwise.

Feeding protesters is a form of activism. It could even be considered a promotion of human rights—though it can open you to legal problems and risk personal safety. For example, the Black Lives Matter movement that escalated throughout 2020 saw several food truck operators get arrested while distributing meals.

Of course, it’s entirely up to your own discretion to decide how much risk you are willing to take, and what causes you are willing to support with your food truck activism. Just remember: any time you take a risk, there could be unintended or unforeseen consequences.

3. Keep Clear of Risky Driving

Just because everyone loves food trucks doesn’t mean that you don’t need to be safe on the road. Last year, over 40,000 people died in motor vehicle crashes.

As a larger vehicle that has less capability to react quickly in a sticky traffic situation, you carry more risk. Not to mention your livelihood is wrapped up in the integrity of your vehicle.

Identify blind spots, get to know the dimensions of your vehicle intimately, know where and when you can set up, and get proper permits and licenses.

4. Kitchen Risks in a Truck

While your food truck is first and foremost a vehicle, everyone also knows you’ll have to struggle with all the same issues any kitchen does.

Keeping proper food truck safety standards regarding the quality and integrity of your food is a given.

However, safety precautions for normal kitchens should also be assessed. Things such as smoke inhalation, preventing cuts and burns in a small space, and identifying slip-and-fall zones, should all be priorities. Add to that heat-stroke and cold-weather exposure risks. You have a lot to think about as far as safety is concerned.

Make sure to have first-aid kits at the ready and a plan for putting out electrical or oil fires.

Food Truck Safety: On the Go

Be sure that food truck safety for you and your customers is number one. All the success in the world can’t protect you from being unprepared for the whole realm of food truck hazards.

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 Should I Stay Or Should I Go: 4 Food Truck Safety Tips appeared first on Custom Concessions.

Food trucks have experienced a revival, especially as a safe and delicious option for getting takeout food in the age of coronavirus. However, due to their changing locations or lack of permanent space, sometimes it can be difficult to build a loyal customer base. 

One of the best ways to get the word out about your food truck is to generate customer feedback. The more customer reviews your business receives, the more exposure and buyers you will get. Here are a few ways that you will get many more reviews and boost your business profile in no time. 

1. Post Regularly on Social Media

A good social media presence is essential for your business. You should set up social media accounts for posting business updates, new menu additions, and promotions or specials your food truck may run. Some of the best social media sites for restaurants include Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, and even TikTok.

When your customers follow you on social media, you’re giving them the opportunity to engage with your business. When they leave feedback on your photos in the form of comments, your social media algorithm will boost your online presence and expose your business to more potential customers.

2. Remind Your Customers to Leave Reviews

Online reviews can be a huge advantage for your business, and they are also a completely organic way to generate customer comments. If your business has an online presence on review sites like Yelp and Google, then your customers can easily give you a star rating and leave their comments.

Reviewing a business through a third-party site is one of the easiest feedback methods. Your customers will be prompted to rate the business, leave their review, and usually have the option to upload photos. You can also easily respond to customer comments through these sites. 

3. Have Unforgettable Menu Items

For positive feedback, a foolproof way to generate more customer comments, along with interest in your food truck business, is to be unique. Make sure if you have a signature dish, promote it, and if you don’t, you should think about adding dishes to your menu that will make your business stand out. 

If customers see there is something unique about your food truck, then they are much more likely to leave a positive review or give you firsthand feedback about what they enjoyed about their experience. Be sure to remind them to give their feedback when their order is complete. 

Customer Feedback is Key to Expanding Your Business

When you run a food truck, you rely on your customers to keep you in business, which is one of the many reasons why customer feedback can be so important. For even more customer comments, you should consider letting customers fill out a survey in change for coupons or freebies. 

Want to know more about the best way to run your food truck business? Visit our blog for more details.  

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 3 Ways to Get Customer Feedback About Your Food Truck appeared first on Custom Concessions.

Photo by Jess Vide from Pexels

Food truck businesses are still going strong even in the wake of COVID-19. However, that doesn’t mean mobile businesses are easy to run. To be successful, you need to be prepared.

Keep reading to learn about the top 6 reasons food trucks fail and how to avoid them. 

1. You Lack a Brand Identity

Major companies can be identified by a single logo or a three-word tagline. How? They built their brand identity from the beginning and stuck to it.

If you don’t have a solid idea of your brand identity, neither will your customers. It will be difficult for them to talk or post about you (word of mouth is the best form of advertising), and you won’t stand out against your competition. When planning your food truck business strategy, make sure you have a clear idea of your concept, style, and what you have to offer.

2. You Don’t Have a Business Plan 

We’ve all heard the statistics of how often small businesses fail. One reason why is having lack of direction and a good business plan. A business plan maps out the future of your investment and takes unexpected events into account.

You should draft a business plan with a professional and determine your goals. This will keep you focused and help you succeed.

3. You’re In Over Your Head 

You’ve decided to get into the food truck business because you’ve heard it’s a pretty profitable endeavor, and hey, who doesn’t like food? You did your research, have your grand opening, but you’re not seeing a profit. You could be in over your head. 

It’s easy to skip over crucial steps when planning to open a mobile business. If you went ahead with your idea without a business plan, understanding the demographics of your area, or preparing for inconvenient expenses, you’re setting yourself up for failure. 

4. You Don’t Know the Market

If you’re looking to break into the street food business, you need to know your market. Market trends fluctuate over time; people’s interests in food trends can change nearly overnight. You need to know what the demand is like in your area, as well as the market in general. 

Plant-based food surged in popularity in 2019, and CBD-infused food and drink dominated 2020. You’ll need to be aware of these trends, regardless of whether you chose to jump on the bandwagon or not. 

5. You Don’t Have the Right Employees

Your employees need to have the skills to work on your food truck, but they also need good customer service skills. Just like restaurants or stores, food trucks also have loyal customers. Hire friendly, well-trained people to represent your business. 

6. You Aren’t Consistent

Customers expect consistency in service as well as the quality of food. Even if your food truck has a basic menu, all cooks should know how to cook it the same way. One poor experience could turn away a loyal customer for good.

Avoid These Reasons Food Trucks Fail

If your dream is to open a mobile food truck business, you have a lot of planning to do. You need to make sure you have a solid brand identity, a business plan, and the right people working with you. Avoid these 6 mistakes and you will be on your way to success. 

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 Top 6 Reasons Food Trucks Fail appeared first on Custom Concessions.

Photo by Vladislav Murashko from Pexels

2020 has been hard on all of us, and it’s been particularly challenging for the restaurant industry.

Throughout the winter, many business owners are thinking about what’s coming next year. To help you prepare, we’ve lined up these New Year’s resolutions to keep your food truck business going strong through 2021.

Importance of Resolutions for Food Truck Operators

It can be easy to dismiss the idea of New Year’s resolutions as frivolous and quickly forgotten, but it’s important to be prepared for anything. Setting attainable resolutions can keep your business on track and help it thrive in the eventual recovery of the economy. 

While you are thinking about your goals for next year, keep these seven resolutions in mind. You can customize them to better fit yourself as a food truck operator, and adopt just one or as many as you want! 

1. Think Healthy

We’ll start out with the theme of most New Year’s resolutions: the goal of generally being healthier. People are looking to eat more fresh, local food at the beginning of the year, and you’ll be right there for them with smart, delicious options.

2. Try Out New Ideas

Now is the perfect time to experiment with your menu and try out new items you’ve been thinking about. There’s usually a bit of a lull after the holidays, which could leave you with more time to test out dishes you didn’t have time to mess with before.

3. Become More Organized

The extra time that January provides is also an ideal time to get everything organized. You can use the downtime to research the best programs for accounting, ordering, and maintenance of equipment.

4. Take Care of Employees

Now’s the time to assess your staffing needs. If you need to hire more people, take the time to find qualified workers. If you’ve got everyone you need, make sure to let them know that they’re appreciated.

5. Go Online

If you don’t already have an online presence, now is the perfect time to set that up. If your truck isn’t on social media, it’s a good idea to start an account and engage with your customers. Creating a website with online ordering options can also be a great option to increase your sales potential.

6. Get More Involved In Your Community

Becoming more involved in your local community is always a good goal. It gets the word out about your truck and helps locals connect with you and your business. It can be as simple as participating in your city’s food truck festivals or partnering with local charities.

7. Increase Sales

If you can keep all of the above resolutions, it’s going to be easy to increase your sales. Having a specific goal that’s both realistic and optimistic is going to make it easier to achieve. 

Keep Those Resolutions

It can be easy to blow off New Year’s resolutions, not just for food truck operators but for everyone. Post them up somewhere you’ll see them every day to keep up your motivation and make 2021 a big success. Take time throughout the year to evaluate how you are doing on your goals—whether it’s once a month, or once a quarter.

Are you looking to make the most of 2021 and upgrade your food truck for the coming year? Contact us today for a free quote.

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 7 New Years Resolutions For Food Truck Operators appeared first on Custom Concessions.