Whether you’re an entrepreneur who’s looking to open his/her first business or a sit-down restaurant owner who’s looking to expand, you’re, more likely than not, thinking about opening a food truck.
While it might seem like a pretty straightforward process, there are many things to consider when starting a mobile kitchen business.
In the spirit of that thinking, we’re about to highlight three out-of-the-box things to consider when starting a food truck, and those three things can be found below.
Out-Of-The-Box Things To Consider When Starting A Food Truck
- Should I Relocate For A Food Truck Business?
- Weekly Locations Or A Catering Machine?
- Stick With What Works Or Create A New Brand?
3.) Should I Relocate For A Food Truck Business?
While this might sound like a no-brainer for some, others never consider it. And if you live in a bad spot (aka a place that doesn’t have a lot of foot traffic), then you might not be as successful as you want to be … to put it lightly.
Relocating could be something as simple as moving over one city or something more extreme like moving halfway across the country.
The key is figuring out where your food truck business will thrive.
Some ingredients to think about:
- Where will my food sell and where will it be popular?
- Perhaps I want to find a spot where it’s not popular in hopes of sticking out.
- Do I want to keep my business open year-round, and if so … do I want to move to a place that tends to have less harsh winters?
There are so many things to think about when debating on if you need to move to see success in the food truck industry. Everyone’s journey is different. There are food trucks in Florida, New York, Los Angeles and even Alaska — they are sprouting up all across America.
Where do you see your food truck business succeeding?
2.) Weekly Locations Or A Catering Machine?
This is a question that many restaurant owners are likely pondering.
Are you going to run your food truck like a normal truck in the sense that you travel from location to location on a weekly basis, or do you plan on only treating your truck like a catering service?
Spoiler alert: You can do both, and many food truck owners do.
Why did you plan on opening a food truck in the first place? Yes, you want to make more money and a food truck provides a great opportunity to do exactly that — especially if you own restaurants and already know what you’re doing — but what was your main goal with a food truck?
To spread brand awareness? To make catering easier for your sit-down restaurants? So you could travel to food truck events and treat your truck as a special event vehicle?
There could be many reasons, but it’s important to decide what path you’re going to take before you travel on it.
How can a food truck business best complement your sit-down restaurants? Everyone’s answer is different because every business is different.
1.) Stick With What Works Or Create A New Brand?
Should I stick with the same menu and food concept …. or should I create something completely new?
This is definitely an out-of-the-box thing to consider because many restaurant franchise owners would only think about going with their current menus (or smaller versions of their menus) and food concept. Why wouldn’t they think like that? After all, they already have the ingredients put in place and people love their food. It has already led to so much success.
However, it’s a unique thing to consider. If you own a restaurant that specializes in burgers, then your food truck could do that same concept but make the burgers more unique in terms of what actually goes on them — just as an example. Or you could incorporate a completely different concept than your burger restaurants, such as Mexican, Hawaiian, Thai or seafood concepts.
The point being, you can get as creative as you want with your food truck. You could even change the name. Of course, one of the main things you have going is the fact that people already recognize your business, so you might want to play it safe and just go with the same name, logo and a smaller menu. That is the direction that most owners seem to go in when complementing their restaurants with a food truck.
Many big companies have multiple brands and products, and if you’re looking to do something outside the box, you could create a different brand and sell different food at your mobile kitchen.
Need more advice when it comes to all things food trucks? Make sure to check out the article below (preview and link included).
10 Things Every Future Mobile Kitchen Owner Can Look Forward To
Preview:
You Can Change Things Up With Food Truck Events
Tired of showing up at the same location every day for work? Well, in the food truck industry, you don’t have to! You can literally sign up for food truck events, which are all over the country. Not only are food truck events fun for everyone involved but you get to cook up a storm and show off your otherworldly recipes in the process.
In this industry, you can also hold catering gigs, which is yet another way to change up the work scenery/environment/location. Events and catering gigs also add another stream of income, which should be a major goal for any business owner.
Food Literally Becomes Your Life
While you have to be business savvy if you are going to make it in the food truck industry, one thing remains true for every owner — food literally becomes your life. Everything revolves around your product, which is, of course, food.”
Interested in getting into the food truck industry? Request a quote from us today to get going!
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For more food truck advice and inspiration, check out the rest of our blog here.