Being a food truck owner is not for the faint of heart. If you think you are going to get rich overnight, then you better think again. A food truck is a business, and just like any other business, it takes time to grow it.
Unfortunately, not everyone who enters this industry makes it. Even more unfortunate is the fact that some people spend their life savings on a food truck and don’t end up succeeding.
If you are thinking about entering the food truck industry, then please don’t get discouraged, because this really is an amazing industry that is filled with passion, happiness, food, etc. However, it’s important to know what you are getting into before you, well, get into it. Therefore, remember this. Being a food truck owner is not for the faint of heart, and we will give you four reasons why.
Why Being A Food Truck Owner Is Not For The Faint Of Heart
- The Price Of A Food Truck
- All Of The Hours
- Running A Business While Trying To Be A Chef
- The Offseason
The Price Of A Food Truck
How much does a food truck cost? Well, it depends on what you are looking for. If you want a food truck that comes with warranties, is reliable and fits all of your needs, then it’s going to cost more than something you’d get at the local used car lot.
This is clearly a huge investment. Not everyone has a huge chunk of change to drop, which means most people have to take out a huge loan to purchase their food trucks.
Therefore, if you are not willing to take on a major risk right off the bat, then you probably aren’t cut out for the food truck industry. It’s important to remember that a food truck is typically cheaper than opening up a sit-down restaurant, so if you want to be a chef and own your own business, then the mobile kitchen industry is probably your best bet.
All Of The Hours
Just like any other profession, especially when you are first starting off, you have to put in the hours if you plan on making a lot of money. Most food truck owners work at least 10 hours per day. Sometimes six to seven days per week!
If the thought of spending all of your time at work discourages you, then this is probably not the industry for you. With that in mind, so many food truck owners are living out their dreams. They love being food truck owners. Not only are they chefs, but they get to make people happy.
If you have a great food truck environment, then the only place you want to be is at your food truck. Therefore, working 10-hour days might actually be a perk. However, working 10 or more hours per day is certainly not for everyone.
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Running A Business While Trying To Be A Chef
Running a business while trying to run a kitchen (aka be a chef) is not easy. Not only do you have to worry about every customer’s meal, but you have to worry about things like business plans, inventory, social media, marketing, etc.
Not everyone can manage all of that at once, but if you like to call all of the shots — which is the point of being a boss, right? — then being a food truck owner probably sounds like a dream come true.
This is one of the biggest reasons why you are going to be putting in so many hours. When you aren’t cooking up a storm and serving customers at your lunch truck, you are likely thinking of ways to make your business better, doing payroll and things of that nature.
In every sense of the word, running a business while trying to be a chef is tough. Some people can’t handle it, but some people, of course, can.
The Offseason
The offseason is brutal for the simple fact that attracting customers might not be the easiest task of all time — well, if you live in a place like Colorado or Chicago, places that tend to have colder winters.
Some people close down shop altogether in the winter, but these same people aren’t making any money off of their food truck businesses in the winter. It’s closed, after all. Others continue to hustle by doing catering gigs and hitting up food truck events.
It really just depends on where you live and how bad you want to succeed, but the offseason can be a very unfriendly time since less people are eating at your lunch truck. Of course, it’s nothing personal. People just tend to go outside more during the summer, which can be considered the busy season for many mobile catering trucks.
If you run a food truck full-time and take the winters off, then you have to make sure you budget your money like no other. After all, your busy season might not go into effect until May or June, which means you are going to have to make your money go a long way — to say the least.
While being a food truck owner is not for the faint of heart, it can be a very rewarding industry if you put everything you have into it. There are so many successful business owners in this industry. If you really, really want it, then you can be one of those people as well. Just be ready to work harder than you have ever worked before.
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