Get Your Food Truck Ready for Summer In 6 Easy Steps

glass of ice water on a picnic table in the sun

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Summer is the busiest season in the food truck industry, so make sure you’re prepared to handle the rush and take advantage of maximum profits. Before the summer kicks off it’s important to get your food truck in good shape, plan a seasonal menu, and strategize your marketing efforts.

Follow these six tips on how to get your food truck ready for summer to have the biggest season yet.

1. Get Your Food Truck Maintenance Done Early

Before summer kicks off, make sure your food truck is in top shape so you don’t have to slow down for repairs and maintenance during the busy season. Take care of the oil change, check the tires, fill up the fluids, flush holding tanks, and get any other needed repairs done.

2. Keep Your Truck Cool

Make sure your food truck’s AC is operating smoothly before the long summer days start. The last thing you want is for food to go bad or to overheat your employees working all-day outdoor events.

Stock a refrigerator with drinks and refreshments just for your employees to help keep them cool for their entire shift. To keep your food safe, be sure and keep items within recommended temperature ranges.

3. Switch Up Your Menu

No matter what style of food you serve, you should start offering menu options that play off the summer season. Think about cool drinks, refreshing snack options, and frozen desserts to beat the heat. A seasonal menu will keep your customers’ attention and leave them wanting more.

4. Build Community Through Your Social Media

Summer is a great time to build a community around your food truck since you’ll encounter the most customers during this season. Before it starts, post fun challenges on your social media pages and offer coupons for customers who complete the challenges. When summer rolls around, they can use those coupons at one of your events.

For the challenges, you can have your followers share your social media pages with friends so you get more exposure.

5. Invest in Promotional Swag

You’ll be in front of more customers during the summer months than any other time of year, so take advantage of promotional swag to spread brand awareness. Stickers and pens are great options to giveaway to customers for free, and make sure you outfit your staff with crisp new t-shirts for summer.

6. Plan a Summer Kick-Off

Memorial Day is typically seen as the start of the summer season, so make sure you have events lined up for Memorial Day weekend. Promote it as your food truck’s “kick-off” to the season with special discounts and incentives to increase customer turn out. Make it a party and set the tone for how the rest of the season will be so that your customers will want to keep coming back all summer long.