Festival season is upon us, making it the prime time to hit the road in a food truck and deliver your brand to the masses. Since the pandemic, food trucks have seen a significant growth in demand for their unique food offerings and lower prices compared to brick-and-mortar restaurants. Here are some tips on how to adapt your eatery for mobile delivery.
Hit the Road
Once upon a time, food trucks were primarily aimed at sating the appetites of blue-collar workers on their lunch breaks. But food trucks have gone gourmet, with chefs like Roy Choi pioneering a movement to offer a wider range of bites to-go.
Flexible by design, food trucks allow restauranteurs to adapt existing concepts or experiment with new ones. If you’re contemplating a mobile move, consider which dishes on your menu would be replicable and portable from a kitchen on wheels.
While launching a food truck requires significant capital and planning, it is a growing industry, with a *2024 report from IBISWorld stating that food trucks saw a 10.9% increase in revenue between 2019 and 2024.
Taking It To-Go
When building a food truck menu, consider convenient ways to maximize existing inventory and streamline execution. Ready-made items, pre-prepared foods, and heat-and-serve solutions are all ways to cut back on labor while delivering a quality product.
Roma® Epic Crunch™ French Fries, for instance, are a convenient way to add some golden spuds to your offerings with minimal prep work. Consider loading them with toppings like kimchi, caramelized onions, and spicy mayo to create a premium shareable. Entice® Egg Rolls are another labor-saving option, offering high quality fully cooked convenience in a variety of crowd-pleasing flavors.
Food trucks also allow operators more flexibility in embracing food trends. In part, the growing success of food trucks has been driven by consumers' appetite for authentic global flavors, driving demand for concepts inspired by Asian, Latin, and other international cuisines. Branded turnkey convenience programs like Contigo Taqueria™ and Zebec Mediterranean Café™ make it easy to tap into international flavor trends with built-in marketing support and signage, restaurant-quality products, and zero franchise fees.
Fusion fare continues to be en vogue as eaters’ palates have grown more discerning and adventurous. Interest in fusion dishes, like Choi’s Korean-Mexican tacos, has exploded, and trucks are the perfect testing ground for mashups like Birria Bao Buns, Mediterranean Meatball “Subs”, or other globally inspired handhelds before adding them to a permanent menu.
Eaters have also shown an increased appetite for desserts. Appeal to their sweet teeth with mobile offerings like a dessert taco featuring a fried Contigo® Flour Tortilla coated in cinnamon sugar, then filled with Nature’s Best Dairy® Butter Pecan Ice Cream, Heritage Ovens® Sweet-style Cornbread crumbles, and topped with a caramel drizzle.
And when you’re in need of carryout containers and cutlery, consider First Mark® as your first option for its wide range of products.
Location, Location, Location
Food trucks live and die by foot traffic, so figuring out where to park can be just as important as what’s on the menu. High-traffic areas like business districts, college campuses, parks, and breweries are all good options, but don’t overlook gameday. Tailgates, watch parties, and stadium-adjacent events can be especially lucrative opportunities for operators serving portable crowd-pleasers like pizzas, sandwiches, and other favorites that fans can enjoy on the go.
Building a social media following is crucial for your success. If you’re heading to an established venue like a brewery or farmer’s market, partner with your hosts on social media, post your location schedule in advance, and use limited-time specials to create buzz.
Consider marketing yourself for non-traditional and out-of-the-box events. Weddings, outdoor movie screenings, and corporate conferences are all opportunities for your brand to shine. After all, hitting the road in a food truck could put you behind the wheel of a new revenue stream for your business.
*IBISWorld, 2024 Food Truck report