There are many things to consider before opening up a business of any kind, and that is especially the case if you are considering opening up a food truck business.
With that in mind, we are about to visit three things a restaurant franchise should consider when opening a food truck.
Luckily, you already have the food truck concept down — even if you plan on adding some food truck twists to your menu — since you already have established restaurants with a specific food concept attached.
We encourage restaurant owners and businesses to really take these ingredients, if you will, into account when going down the path that is entering the food truck industry.
3 Things A Restaurant Franchise Should Consider When Opening A Food Truck
- The Location Of The Food Truck Business
- How Many Employees You Will Need
- How Are You Planning On Using This Food Truck?
3.) The Location Of The Food Truck Business
We are going to tackle this point in two parts:
- The area/city/state you plan on opening a food truck business.
- The types of areas and locations you plan on venturing to.
Area/City
Starting with the first part, your restaurants might be all over the map in terms of cities and states (and possibly countries), but you still need to decide which location is going to be the most beneficial for your food truck.
While many people would suggest opening up a food truck in a place like Florida or California because the weather tends to be nicer than other parts of America year-round, there are many things to consider. For example, you need to figure out where your food truck concept is going to succeed. Your food truck concept — and food truck in general — might make more sense in Chicago rather than Los Angeles, just as an example.
You might want to find an up-and-coming location where food trucks haven’t completely taken over yet but where they are starting to become more popular. Or, you might want to do the opposite and find an area where mobile kitchens are very popular. You might even want to find a spot where food trucks aren’t popular at all. The point being, there are many things to consider and it depends on what you are looking for.
Locations
Now, in terms of the second part of this equation, we will start by saying this: You can’t park wherever you want. Permits, rules, regulations, laws and so many other things come into play, and you need to follow these types of things no matter where you decide to park your mobile kitchen.
Nonetheless, you will have to decide if you want normal locations downtown, in business districts, outside of apartments, outside of gyms and things of that nature. There are plenty of places to operate your food truck business since this version of your business is mobile.
There are so many factors to consider when it comes to your food truck location. The key is figuring out what works for you and finding locations that are going to lead to food truck success.
2.) How Many Employees You Will Need
This is a very important thing to consider, and certainly a step you won’t miss. The most important thing is finding a great manager to manage your food truck, a manager who can help build a community on top of a thriving food business.
Next up, you will need to figure out how many employees you will need, and that could come down to how long you plan on staying open on a daily basis and how many days of the week. It could depend on how long your shifts are as well (among so many other factors).
The good thing about a food truck business is that you will, more likely than not, have fewer employees than you would have at a sit-down restaurant (bonus: startup and overhead costs tend to be cheaper than a sit-down restaurant on top of everything else). After all, there are only so many people you can fit inside of a food truck. Not to mention, you might only need one person handling the money/taking the orders and one person cooking the food.
Of course, it depends on how many employees you think you will need and also how long you plan on staying open at each location, assuming you open up more than one lunch truck location.
RELATED: 5 Reasons Why Restaurant Franchises Can — And Should — Enter The Food Truck Industry
1.) How Are You Planning On Using This Food Truck?
What do we mean by this? Well, do you plan on treating this food truck like a typical restaurant in the sense that you are a daily business that operates six to seven days a week, or do you plan on only using your mobile kitchen for special events?
You might only need a food truck business for special events and catering gigs, and that is perfectly fine. For instance, you might use a food truck for special events at universities, you might use it for parades and festivals, you might use it for big catering gigs and the list could go on and on.
You might just want to expand your restaurant franchise brand in the form of having a food truck that hits up specific locations on a daily/weekly basis. The key is figuring out what you want a food truck business for.
There are, of course, many other things a restaurant franchise has to consider when it comes to opening up a food truck, but the three things above definitely have to be visited at some point during the process.
Nonetheless, a food truck business is a great addition, and there are so many different reasons why we recommend them for restaurant franchises.
Interested in getting into the food truck industry? Request a quote from us today to get going!
Stay up to date on everything Prestige Food Trucks has to offer! Make sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.
For more food truck advice and inspiration, check out the rest of our blog here.