When it comes to the foodservice industry, there are a whole lot of different paths that you can potentially go down. You can open up a fancy bistro that allows you to serve a few discerning customers to something really special, or perhaps you want something that offers everyone the chance to have to delicious, convenient food. And what better way to offer great taste and convenient than by having your food go to your customers. Anyone who’s seen the movie Chef knows just how fun and exciting running a food truck can be. Of course, just because it’s a lot of fun doesn’t mean that it’s not a whole lot of hard work as well. With that in mind, here are some things that you can do in order to make sure that your food truck is the greatest success possible.
Save money by restoring an old truck
The most important part of any food truck is, of course, the truck itself. Most people end up looking around at trucks to buy and they panic at the sheer cost of it all. However, if you want to save a lot of money then one of the best things that you can do is to find an old van and restore it. That way, rather than paying for everything brand new, you can save money in exchange for time and elbow grease. Plus you can head over to places like 4WD Supacentre to find things like awnings for the van, and there are plenty of places to buy the kitchen equipment you need at a decent discount. That way you can get started without having to bankrupt yourself.
Choose your menu carefully
One of the biggest challenges of any food business is trying to choose the menu. This can be an extra challenge when you’re running a food truck since you’re going to have much more limited resources and you may well also end up working to a much faster schedule. The best thing you can do is to keep things simple. Make sure that you have a few things that you can do really well and commit to them. They need to be fast, tasty, and easy to prepare in large numbers.
Pick your location
Location is always important when it comes to a food business but the great thing about a food truck is that you have a lot more flexibility when it comes to where you set up shop. The best thing to do is scout what locations are busiest at what times of day and build a series of stops around that. It’s also a good idea to pick photogenic locations since your presence on social media is going to be crucial to your success.
Now, none of this is meant to somehow discourage you from trying to set up your own food truck or to tell you that it’s too difficult to bother with. However, when you’re dealing with an environment that’s as high pressure as food service and you combine it with the challenges that a food truck can bring, being unprepared can make your life a whole lot harder than it needs to be.