Since the food truck industry is booming — and that will likely be the case for a long time — more and more people are wanting to break into this industry. Can you blame them? After all, owning and operating a food truck allows people to follow their dreams. It allows them to be a chef, it allows them to run their own business and it allows them to have creative freedom in the sense that food truck owners get to call all of the shots and come up with all of the strategies.
For better or worse, there are a ton of lessons future mobile kitchen owners can expect to learn in this industry. That is the case with any industry. However, so many people enter the food truck industry unprepared because they think they can just buy a truck, cook up some meals and get rich quick. Unfortunately, that is not the case.
While there are an endless amount of lessons kitchen truck owners can expect to learn in the future, we have provided four main ones.
Lessons Future Mobile Kitchen Owners Can Expect To Learn In The Food Truck Industry
- Being A Food Truck Owner Is Not For The Faint Of Heart
- You Learn How To Run A Business
- Being Unique Is Crucial
- You Have To Love What You Do
Being A Food Truck Owner Is Not For The Faint Of Heart
You have likely heard it many times before, but here it goes again anyways: Being a food truck owner is not for the faint of heart. Needless to say, you are going to be doing way more than just cooking and coming up with menus (more from this topic later).
You are also going to be working an endless amount of hours. Okay, so you won’t be working an endless amount of hours, but you can expect to work double-digit hours every day of the week. If you aren’t putting in that many hours (perhaps more?), then you are not going to make enough money to survive in this industry.
Oh yeah, since summer is considered the busy months for most food trucks, get used to working in a very, very hot environment. Not only are the temperatures scorching hot in the summer, but they are likely even hotter in your truck. After all, you are cooking food inside of your mobile catering truck.
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You Learn How To Run A Business
Once again, there is more to being a food truck owner than simply cooking all day. In every sense of the word, you are running a business. That means you will have to be business savvy — well, if you plan on growing and thriving, that is.
Hiring and firing employees is just the beginning. You also have to create business plans, run social media, market/advertise and the list goes on and on.
Even if you don’t make it as a food truck owner — and we are really rooting for everyone — you are going to learn how to run a business. These skills are invaluable, and will obviously help you in other business ventures, whether you make it or not.
Being Unique Is Crucial
If you aren’t unique, then you are, of course, going to be just like every other food truck. That is a problem for the simple fact that you need to stand out (especially when you are first starting out) if you plan on getting a ton of customers. Nonetheless, this is one of the many lessons you are going to learn.
You will learn that you need to be unique with your food, with the way you operate your food truck environment, with your menus, etc. Remember, one of the main reasons why you became a mobile kitchen owner was because you wanted to make your otherworldly recipes, so don’t be afraid to get creative. If you want to add your own twist to even the most basic meals, then you should! You are running the show. Make your food, stick out from the crowd and attract a ton of customers.
You Have To Love What You Do
Here’s a lesson for you: If you want to make it in the food truck industry, then you have to love what you do. If you don’t like everything about this industry, then you aren’t going to make it (okay, so you don’t have to like regulations and permits). Basically, you have to have a positive attitude with everything you do. Yes, even if you work a 14-hour day.
With that said, if you love people and food, then you should have no issues when it comes to being a mobile kitchen owner. Here’s the deal: Every single day is not going to be the perfect day, but you have to be thankful for the hand you were dealt. After all, the hand you were dealt involves you running your own business and pursing your goals and dreams.
If you don’t love everything about being a kitchen truck owner, then this industry could become a nightmare for you in no time, so make sure to always keep this lesson in mind, as well as the other lessons before this.
You are going to learn so much as a food truck business owner. Embrace and enjoy it.
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