There are many challenges an aspiring food truck owner needs to overcome, whether you’re tackling your first business venture or have opened up multiple restaurants in the past.
While challenges can — and will — differ from one person to the next, we wanted to point out some common challenges below in hopes of preparing you for what is ahead.
Challenges Aspiring Food Truck Owners Need To Overcome
- The Cost Of A Food Truck
- Finding The Ideal Locations
- The Business Plan And Other Business Aspects
- People Saying It Can’t Be Done
- Coming Up With The Perfect Concept
- Figuring Out What Needs To Be Done
- Being Able To Make Your Vision A Reality
7.) The Cost Of A Food Truck
This is one of the biggest challenges (and likely most common) an aspiring food truck owner will face. Of course, if you own multiple restaurants, then you might have the necessary funds to make this business venture a reality, but money is still one of the most important factors for any business owner.
Without the necessary funds, you will not be able to open a food truck business. Therefore, it’s important to figure out how you are going to enter this industry, whether it be in the form of investors, financing or whatever it might be.
6.) Finding The Ideal Locations
This challenge comes in two parts.
Part 1: Deciding where you want to start a food truck business.
Some people actually move to a different city or state because they feel like they have a better chance of succeeding in a new location. While places like Los Angeles and Florida are common hotspots for food trucks, mobile kitchens are sprouting up all across America, and only you can decide where you believe your business will succeed.
Part 2: Figuring out the exact locations you want to travel to.
Do you want to serve food in downtown hotspots, outside of business districts, at events or where?
The challenge is figuring out where your business will succeed and also acquiring the proper permits for your locations, for you can’t just park anywhere and serve food.
5.) The Business Plan And Other Business Aspects
While it’s not the case for every person who enters this industry, many people who enter this industry are not business savvy enough. As a result, they struggle with things like the business plan and knowing how to run a business in general, making this a common challenge for many aspiring mobile kitchen owners.
Luckily, there’s plenty of advice out there to help you out along the way. We also encourage you to talk to food truck and restaurant owners to see how they tackled problems in the business department.
Just remember, you might be an amazing chef, but that’s not the only factor that leads to a thriving food truck — you need to be business savvy as well, or at least have someone on your team who is.
4.) People Saying It Can’t Be Done
No matter what dream a person is trying to tackle, naysayers will arise.
This is a challenge for so many different reasons. Naysayers will make you think it can’t be done, they can damage your confidence, they can bring you down to the point of you not even wanting to follow your dreams and they can be downright annoying.
Not everyone is going to be your biggest fan, but the key is continuing to put in the work and getting better and better day by day. Never let the naysayers win.
3.) Coming Up With The Perfect Concept
If you’re a restaurant franchise owner, then you probably already have your concept down. Nonetheless, it’s a challenge in itself to figure out what concept people will enjoy in the short-term and long-term futures.
You have to figure out what people want to eat and where your food will thrive. You also have to pick a concept that isn’t too common and isn’t so unique that no one wants to try it.
With all of that said, you’re the cook here, so you likely have a good idea on how to conquer this challenge. While it is, in fact, a challenge, this is also the fun part — the food is likely the main reason why you’re wanting to join this industry, after all.
2.) Figuring Out What Needs To Be Done
While there are many things aspiring food truck owners must do before they can become food truck owners, you’re the one who needs to decide what your business does and doesn’t need.
That means you will have to flip through all of the advice on grand openings, social media, websites, branding, dream teams, locations, business concepts and everything else that goes into a food truck business. This is your business, and you will have to figure out what it all needs as a result.
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1.) Being Able To Make Your Vision A Reality
An endless amount of people have an amazing idea in their head — whether it be an idea for a book, a business, a product, a service, etc. — but they don’t know how to make that idea a reality.
You might have the perfect food truck concept, food truck service, food truck strategy, etc., but if you don’t know how to make this vision a reality, then it won’t matter.
Being able to create your vision is quite the challenge in itself, to say the least.
While there are many challenges an aspiring food truck owner will face, the challenges above tend to be common. Of course, everyone’s journey is different, so while something could be challenging for one owner … it might be a breeze for the next.
Nonetheless, good luck with your food truck business!
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