The food truck industry is tough.
Not only do you have to come up with a lot of money to buy your food truck, but you also have to buy the equipment and all of the inventory. The spending doesn’t stop there, though. You probably have to hire an employee or two to help you out at your truck.
On top of that, you are going to be spending most of your time at your mobile kitchen, or at least working on your business — well, if you want to achieve a great amount of success in this industry, that is.
However, before you even get to that point, you will have to make a business plan. Believe it or not, the business side of owning a food truck is a big part of the equation. You will also need to come up with a food truck concept, make your menus and the list goes on.
After all of that, there is still no guarantee that your business will succeed.
Nonetheless, one of the biggest issues you will face when first starting off is attracting customers to your mobile kitchen. After all, not a whole lot of people know about your mobile catering business yet. A grand opening could help, but it could also cost a lot depending on what you plan for it.
We are here to say this: There are plenty of ways to get customers to your truck when you are new to the industry; however, just to keep things simple, we will be providing you with two easy ways to lure in customers.
Use these tips to your advantage, and good luck on your quest of conquering the food truck industry!
2 Simple Ways To Lure In Customers At Your Food Truck Business
- Social Media Is Your Friend, And You Should Treat It That Way
- Specials Galore
Social Media Is Your Friend, And You Should Treat It That Way
You might not be a huge fan of social media. You might even think social media is for the younger generations. Whatever the case, you have to use social media to your advantage. It is the perfect tool to attract more customers to your food truck. In fact, it is your friend. It is a secret weapon which will be essential when it comes to the growth of your business.
There are an endless amount of ways to gain more customers via social media. First and foremost, you need to post engaging content. You know, content that your followers/customers can relate to, and content that they want to see. You need to post content that your followers/customers will click on, like, share, comment on — you name it.
In a nutshell, social media is a great platform for you to reach out to your customers, and for them to reach out to you. Not only can you tell your following where your food truck will venture to next, but you can also get some useful feedback on a social media network like Facebook on top of that.
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Once you learn the ins and outs of a social media network like Facebook (or maybe you will just hire someone to take over this aspect of your business, which is completely fine), you can really use it to your advantage. For example, you can do giveaways, contests, etc. By giving away free food, you are attracting customers to your food truck. People love free food, and they will gladly venture somewhere to get it, such as your lunch truck.
Reminder: You don’t have to give away free food for an entire year to lure in more customers. Simply giving away a free meal, menu item, dessert or drink will do the trick.
Social media keeps your followers and customers informed, and it is also crucial for brand awareness and making your truck known to an endless amount of people.
Specials Galore
If you want to lure in customers and feel like doing it in the easiest way possible, then start offering up specials. Once again, people love food. As a result, people will go out of their way for a free meal or a good deal.
The best part is you can tailor your specials. You don’t have to offer up free meal after free meal. You can also have happy hours in which food (it could be a special item or certain items on the menu) is being sold at a discounted price during a certain time (for example, 2 to 4 p.m.).
Another option is offering twofers in which a customer can buy two meals for the price of one — that will surely get people to come to your food truck. Now, you, of course, don’t want to give away all of your food for free, but just think of this as an investment, an investment that will lead to you gaining and retaining more customers.
There is another kind of special, of course. You could have daily specials, and said daily specials could feature a food item that is only offered on a certain day of the week or month. This could lead to an increase in customers on a certain day for the simple fact that people can only have that food item once per week/month.
There are so many ways to attract customers in the food truck industry. In many cases, the food does all of the work for you — because it is so amazing, and people love food. However, using social media and specials to your advantage is a must.
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