3 Must-Have Qualities For A Food Truck Employee

Are you looking to hire your first employee? Perhaps you are about to expand your food truck business so you are looking to hire an entire staff on top of the one you already have. Whatever your situation might be, you have to hire the right employees (that’s the case in any profession or industry, after all).

So, what makes up the perfect employee? Most people would agree that being a hard-worker is rather important. So is being motivated, being a learner and the list goes on and on. Here’s the thing, we can list off these amazing qualities all we want, but finding the perfect employee is going to be near impossible. With that said, if you are a good manager, then you can mold the perfect employee over time.

Nonetheless, if it’s hiring season at your food truck business, then make sure to look for these three must-have qualities when conducting your interviews.

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3 Must-Have Qualities For A Food Truck Employee

• The Most Underrated Quality Of Them All: Reliability
• Customer Service Guru
• Knowledge Of The Industry And In The Kitchen

The Most Underrated Quality Of Them All: Reliability

Bosses and business owners alike probably take this quality for granted until they need something done at an odd hour of the day. Yes, being a wizard in the kitchen and having an overload of creativity are great qualities, but if a person is not reliable, then what’s the point?

You should be able to count on your employees. Unfortunately, everyone is the perfect candidate in an interview for the simple fact that the interviewee will typically never speak ill of himself/herself. Why would they? No, everyone is considered reliable, a hard-worker and a perfect fit for the job during the interview. Then, you hire a candidate who has those self-proclaimed qualities and you find out that is far from the case. This person doesn’t want to do work that wasn’t in the job description and this person certainly doesn’t want to work extra hours — when the clock hits a certain time every day, this person bolts for the door to go home.

Reliability isn’t something you can teach, it’s only something a food truck owner can preach. A reliable mobile kitchen employee will do everything that is asked … no matter what time of the day it might be. Reliability, for whatever reason, is one of the most underrated qualities, but it is oh-so-very essential.

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Customer Service Guru

Bad reviews can sink a food truck business at an alarming rate. We live in a day and age when people are traveling to Yelp well before they travel to your food truck. This is great if you have amazing food, AND great reviews.

Why do we bring this up? Well, because your prospective employee has to be a customer service guru. No, this person doesn’t necessarily have to be the extrovert to end all extroverts (extremely outgoing, in other words), but said prospective employee should do everything in his/her power to make the customer’s experience at your mobile kitchen as pleasant as possible.

That means they should always go along with the customer-is-always-right approach. Having good customer service skills is another quality that tends to go under the radar, but that quality alone could lead to more people coming to your truck. If your customer service isn’t functioning on an all-star level, then people will stop venturing to your mobile kitchen.

RELATED: Lessons Food Truck Owners Can Learn From Dreamers. Whether you consider yourself a dreamer or a doer, there are still plenty of lessons food truck owners can learn from dreamers.

Knowledge Of The Industry And In The Kitchen

If you hire someone who has zero knowledge in the food truck industry, or skill in the kitchen, then you are going to have to do some serious managing in the beginning. The less managing/teaching you have to do, the less work you will have to do, and the easier your job will become.

Here’s the thing, you are hiring another employee or two to help you out, not make life at your lunch truck that much tougher.

If your future employee already knows a great deal about the food truck industry or knows the ins and outs of cooking, then said future employee will hit the ground running. This employee will bring great skills to the table. This employee will not only be easier to train and learn the ropes faster, but he/she will likely be a good cook — and isn’t that what it’s all about?

There are so many qualities owners look for when trying to hire more employees (and the qualities definitely change depending on the job/field); however, if you are a food truck owner, then you should be looking for an employee who is reliable, who takes customer service seriously and who also has a great deal of knowledge about cooking and the food truck industry. This type of employee will make your life easier, which is likely the No. 1 reason why you are searching for a new employee in the first place.

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