Info Tips News – Start a Food Truck Business, Here is What You Need to Know. This business is using a vehicle that operates to serve meals. Usually, the vehicle is large, complete with food products and kitchen equipment. Start a food truck business needs a good knowledge of the know-how to plan.
By statistics, in the US alone there are more than 35 thousand food truck businesses. The market size is $1.16 billion as of the year 2021, which has grown around 12.1% annually since 2016. So this is a good business to try.
This food truck parks in a certain location and serves people food and beverages. Either on the go or dine-in in the appointed area. The spots that can make a successful food truck business are:
- Business parks.
- Colleges and universities.
- Street-side parking in town.
- Food trucks park area.
- Event venues for parties.
Skills That You Need
But of course, you will need some skills to start a food truck business. You can learn to acquire and sharpen them to make you better prepared.
- Culinary talent.
- Customer service.
- Organization.
- Time management.
- Easy to adapt.
- Basic mathematical skills.
- Excellent and stable driving skills.
- Hard work and not easily giving up.
Things to Prepare
Even though start a food truck business seems like a small venture, there are also a lot of things to prepare and consider. From the vehicle, equipment, location permits, and many more. Here is the list for your information:
1. Vehicle
The price of the vehicle will be depending on the type and the make that you choose. Some examples are VW Bus, School Buses, or Trailer.
2. Equipment
The commercial kitchen equipment includes a fryer, refrigerator, sink, oven, stovetop, pots and pans, cooking utensils, and cleaning materials. All should be adjusted to the vehicle you have chosen and make sure that everything can work properly. Even though it is located inside a vehicle.
3. Licenses and Permits
This cost will be depending on the area you want. Every city probably has a different fee and a different regulation. A small town might charge a lower fee than a larger city. The type of licenses and permits are:
- License for business and food service.
- Permits for parking.
- Insurance.
4. Cost of Inventory
Examples are food ingredients (which could be the biggest cost), plates or packaging items, utensils, napkins, and so on.
5. Operational and Maintenance
These are the day-to-day things you will encounter. Such as fuel expenses, lighting, portable water system, equipment maintenance and repairs, payroll, and so on.
6. Pick a Name
To start a registration process for any permit and license, you have to pick a name to start a food truck business. Try to find a name that is easy to memorize by people, probably specific to the food you prepare.
That name will be your brand in the permit and the people’s minds. When you want to make a food truck chain, this name will be what people remember. So, choose a good name. Some websites can help you, along with the trademark availability.
7. Choose a Starting Location
With one location in mind, you can build a menu that you think will work in that certain location. Then, you can learn about the recipes, and the cooking process, including thinking about inventory for the ingredients.
Then, you have to deal with all the licenses and permits for that location. This could take time and a long process, so deal with this matter first.
Once you establish your business in one place, you can expand or learn about any other place as an alternative.
Benefits of Having a Food Truck Business
Having a food truck business will give you many benefits. All these benefits should be in your consideration:
1. Less Risky Compared to a Restaurant
Having a restaurant business means that you have to put yourself in a specific location. If you misjudge the market in that location, you could lose time and money. But in a food truck business, you can adjust the location more easily to any place that gives you a bigger market.
2. Increased Mobility
As mentioned above, your mobility is your freedom. You can even travel to any different area every day. You can go to any crowded area to increase your sales. Even to any event where food trucks are allowed. It could be a music concert, family gathering, and many more, anywhere.
3. Minimize Overhead and Design Costs
If you have a restaurant, you have to think about rent, utility bills, building maintenance, and many other overhead costs. But with a food truck, what you need to think about is the occasional costs for kitchen equipment and the monthly vehicle payment.
Not to mention the stock inventory. With the limited area in a vehicle, you will spend less inventory than a restaurant. This will minimize the cost as well since you will not overstock anything.
In contrast to a restaurant, a food truck business doesn’t have to think about changing decorations, performing renovations, and other things that a place will need. A Food truck will never have to think about all this.
Food trucks don’t need interior decorations, so you can use the fund for the exterior design that you like. This means you can save on the cost of design.
4. Be Your Own Boss
Food truck business is a condensed model. You can be your own boss and perform a lot of different tasks. Without having to juggle the chef, manager, or owner, as in a regular restaurant business.
5. Build a Branding Foundation
When you just start a food truck business, you can start building a loyal customer base for your food truck. Whether in one location or a few other locations that you frequently visited.
With your brand easily recognized by people, you can make a food truck chain. So that in every location of your customer base, you have a food truck standby. This means expanding your business.
6. Starting Point to Learn and Grow
Owning a food truck business will give you the experience of owning a business. You can develop the food preparation method, sharpen your customer service skills, and all the details of the daily working of a business.
7. Create Meaningful Interaction with Customers
This is a benefit of a food truck business. You can interact directly with your customers. They can give you some input, you can see their preference, and you can adjust your menu because of that.
Especially when you have some loyal customers, you will feel like you belong in that community. It will make your business more secure at that location.
To start a food truck business looked as detailed as in any other business venture. But it will give you the same yet specific kind of experience. It is a business like any other, even though in the form of a condensed business.
With all the benefits you can get, start a food truck business will be more interesting. Learn to handle a “small” business venture to learn and grow, and develop them into a good and profitable business.
