If you’ve made it this far in the series, we know you’re serious about learning how to start a food truck. So starting today, we’re moving on to a new unit of your food truck journey that’s crammed full of serious information, know-how, and advice to start your business off on the right, uh, wheel.
FoodTruckr
FoodTruckr’s Annual Food Truck Industry Survey
At FoodTruckr, our passion and purpose is to support your food truck business—whether you’re just getting started or you’ve been in operation for a decade. We do that by providing you with insights and resources to support your planning, marketing, and day-to-day needs. In order to better serve you and support this industry we care Read more
FS005- Customer Service Tips and Marketing Insights from the FoodTruckr Team
This episode of FoodTruckr School is a bit different—Pat’s not here, so the team at FoodTruckr HQ took over! Matt Gartland, Nicole Farley, Jonathan Wondrusch, and Mindy Holahan held a roundtable discussion just for you where we shared insights on everything from developing customer relationships to the origin story behind the FoodTruckr brand.
How to Start a Food Truck 02: Decide What You’ll Sell
Your unique selling proposition (USP)—or the concept that you come up with for your truck—is one of the key ingredients in your recipe to successful food truck ownership. You’ll be working with the USP and refining it a lot over the next several months, but for now, it’s simply important to come up with a solid idea with a supporting plan that’s as detailed as possible. So grab your favorite note-taking device and start those brain engines—we’re about to do some serious thinking!
Six Food Truck Resolutions for 2014
The start of a new year is a magnificent time to reflect on the joys you experienced in the last 365 days as well as everything you hope to achieve in the future. Entrepreneurs and small business owners commonly use this time to think critically about how they can start or grow their businesses over the next 12 months. If you’ve always wanted to try your hand at a fresh food truck business or you want to take your truck to the next level, now is the time to rev those engines!
Location Updates for Food Trucks: Helping Fans Find You
If you’re used to parking in busy areas and getting a fair amount of walk-up traffic, you might not think you really need to worry about broadcasting your truck’s location. But here’s a little secret: Every food truck can benefit from sending out location updates. That’s right—every single one.
Nine Ways to Winterize Your Food Truck
‘Tis the season of giving—did you remember to add your food truck to your gift list this year? With temperatures dropping and snow starting to fall, your food truck deserves a little extra special something. Before you head out on the road to meet your legions of hungry fans, make sure your food truck is in tip-top shape with these nine important winterization precautions.
Six Seasonal Strategies to Delight Fans in December
As people cut their budgets in order to save more money for tree-trimming and gift-giving, it can be tough for food truck owners and other personal service providers to attract fans who may be reluctant to spend money on themselves. Fortunately, FoodTruckr has the scoop on six seasonal strategies your food truck can use to delight fans all throughout December.
The Top Three Mobile Payment Processors for Food Trucks
Mobile payment processors give your truck freedom—allowing you to attract customers who would walk on by if you only accepted cash, while also making it easier for you to manage credit and debit transactions. Of course, payment processors aren’t all knights in shining armor. They’re still businesses in their own rights that strive for profit, which means that you need to understand your options.
Food Truck Branding 101: Build a Brand That Rocks
We all learned at an early age not to judge a book by its cover, right? That’s bad advice when it comes to brands. On a daily basis, customers are bombarded with advertisements and challenged to make quick decisions. In a split second, a hungry fella walking past your truck is going to decide whether or not to eat your tantalizing sandwich—and the power of your brand will influence his decision.
The 10 Commandments of Customer Relationships
The food truck gods are fickle beings, and your truck may be plagued by customer droughts if you fail to please them. But if you can figure out the secret to the sacrament of success, you’ll be rewarded with floods of excited fans who pray for the day your truck rolls into their neighborhood.
Want to know how to get into customer heaven? Honor these 10 commandments of customer relationships faithfully and you’ll be blessed with a flock of hungry, happy followers for your truck.
Casting, Cooking, and Concepts: An Interview with Ilene Winters of “The Great Food Truck Race”
Boardwalk Breakfast Empire made it to the second week of “The Great Food Truck Race” before a narrow loss during one of the show’s challenges left them vulnerable to elimination. However, the talented teammates learned a lot and made tons of fans along the way. We spoke with contestant Ilene Winters to get the scoop on the show’s casting process, what’s next for her team, and some advice for aspiring food truck owners.
How to Write a Food Truck Business Plan
Before you quit your day job and invest in a $50,000 truck, you need to figure out if your dream is even viable. So grab some takeout from your favorite truck for inspiration and sit down with your note-taking device of choice. You’re going to write a food truck business plan—and it will take some time. It’s essentially the recipe that will determine your future success.
Growing Your Catering Business: How to Meet More Event Professionals
How to meet more event professionals (a.k.a. why associations are your friend) In our last post, we discussed a variety of event professionals and how to work with them to make your food truck’s catering business more successful. Remember that the key to working well with event professionals is to listen—listen to their needs, and Read more
Building Your Catering Business: How to Work with Event Professionals
One of the strongest messages we heard from food truck owners in our recent post 50 Food Truck Owners Speak Out: “What I Wish I’d Known Before Starting My Food Truck is that catering special events can be the key to building a thriving food truck business. After all, catering for special events like weddings Read more
4 Ways a Website Brings More Hungry Customers to Your Truck
A vehicle, a menu, and a place to park—these are the essentials your food truck needs before you can open for business. Once you’re ready to expand, you might branch out by sharing your location through social media and participating in community events. But when should you add a website to the mix?
Facebook vs Twitter: Which Platform Do Food Trucks Use Most?
Stress much about social media? You’re not alone. The platform choices are endless. And deciding what to post and when is enough to drive anyone batty. Food truck owners have a harder go than the average social media user because so much of their businesses rely on customer outreach and engagement through social channels.
Let’s end the madness, shall we? To do so, let’s focus on data to tell the true story of which social media channels work best.
7 More Business Lessons Food Truck Owners Can Learn from Smart Online Entrepreneurs
Here are seven insightful online entrepreneurs who have made it their mission to help other entrepreneurs grow their businesses. Each has a particular focus you can learn and apply. They may not sell food. But they do share an experience. And when it comes to winning hearts and minds, it’s all about the experience.
7 Timeless Business Lessons Aspiring Food Truck Owners Need to Know
The business responsibilities that come with being a food truck owner can be a tall order. Filling that order takes a willingness to work on your entrepreneurial mindset and character. If you’re hungry to advance your entrepreneurial know-how, look no further than online entrepreneurs.
The Great Food Truck Race: How It Works and What You Can Learn
The Great Food Truck Race offers valuable insights into the dos and don’ts of running a food truck. While the show is certainly sensationalized—what “reality” show isn’t—it provides some context to real life situations that you can study and judge. You can ask yourself: How would I handle that situation? Is that issue real, or contrived? Am I making the same mistakes as these food truck owners?
