How cool is it that a food truck pulls up to where you work,
live, play or visit and you have some of the best LOCAL food to enjoy. Besides the simple convenience of the truck
being “right there” its definitely a nice break from the typical chain restaurants
we see everyday. What if you wanted to
hire your own food truck to serve your event?
Actually it would be really awesome to hire several food trucks for your
event…all of your guests would have a great variety of food trucks to choose
from…besides, the food trucks just pull up and serve right?
Here is where I share The
Other Side of the Food Truck Window: A Typical Day. Absolutely, food trucks just pull up and
serve. They’re restaurants on
wheels. They can venture where they want
to; park their truck; sell food; then drive home and take the rest of the day
off. This is a very common view of how
food trucks operate. Just as anyone who
has never made a commercial video or movie would think…all you do is hit the
record button and you’re done. There is
so much behind-the-scenes work and preparation to make the video and
movie. Similarly, there is so much
behind-the scenes work and preparation to make food trucks work. So what does it take to make the food truck
roll each day?
Preparation: Before
the food truck can even pull out and head to an event, the truck must be loaded
with supplies, product and utilities.
Having enough of the right supplies and product require time to
purchase, prepare and load into the truck for each event. You also need to make sure you have plenty of
water in the tank, fuel for the truck and generator plus propane for your
cooking equipment. All of the
preparations can amount to hours before an event; some operators take an entire
day off each week from accepting events just to make preparations to launch
their food truck business for the week.
Execution: This is the part where we just pull up and
sell…Don’t forget it’s like driving to and from work. Many working professionals will drive upwards
of 1 hour or more each day venturing to and from their job. Food truck operators do the same driving to
and from an event. Some days a food
truck will go to 2-3 events per day.
Serving at an event may be as short as a couple hours for a lunch
service or last all day for 8+ hours for special festivals and events. At the end of the event the food truck gets
to venture back to its commercial kitchen to begin the next segment of the
day…Closing
Closing: After
working a nice long event or multiple events, that drive back to the commercial
kitchen (aka Commissary) seems to take longer than normal…may have something to
do with having worked a 12+ hour day already and dreading the additional hours
of unloading and clean up. Closing involves cleaning up the truck, unloading
all trash, restocking supplies, closing down your food products to the kitchen
coolers and making a final inspection of what is needed for the morning. Now it’s time to head home…and work?
Financials: After
each event, we have to count the successes of our food truck day. I’m tired, but the longer this part takes the
better I feel. This includes sorting
tickets and credit card receipts, counting the cash and making sure everything
adds up. Then comes getting the sales
ready for the bank deposit and for proper bookkeeping. Of course when you go to the bank in the
morning, you have to remember to pick up some change for your starting
bank. This process repeats the next
day…yes, but there is more!
Research and Book events:
Somewhere outside of the daily hustle of food truck operation, you have
to have your events booked on your calendar.
The whole time we are under the impression food trucks just venture
anywhere they please…some areas allow that but still requires research to
finding the best spots, who to contact and get the right permissions to
sell. You venture to local schools,
businesses, offices and apartments that would enjoy a food truck stop. You entertain bringing the food truck to
different festivals in your area just to find out they all have applications to
complete for consideration. All of this
takes time in addition to the 15-16 hour workday you just completed. So you’re finally done right? There is always more!
Maintenance and repairs:
Your food truck is your business and livelihood. It will take care of you if you take care of
it. Maintenance may not be needed on a
daily basis but needs to be on your radar and scheduled when needed. Food trucks require oil service, tire
rotation, tires replaced, transmission service just like any other
vehicles. Don’t forget to take care of
the generator as well. It is tough to
work at an event without electricity.
The tough parts are the repairs…typically they occur when you least
expect it. Many common ones include
water pumps burning out, transmission issues, engine issues, flat tires…these
usually happen during the busiest times of the year when you’re on your way to
a large event. The cost of the repairs
is usually the smaller portion of your cost…you also have a cost due to the
loss of the event, labor costs incurred while waiting for assistance, plus the
long term relationship that may be damaged due to your food truck not showing
up for an important event. Is there
anymore to the food truck business?
Absolutely.
Marketing: Social media
is huge for all businesses today. It is
just as important for the food truck operator to keep their social media
current and active; telling their customers and followers where they’ll be each
day. Don’t forget to update that website
with this information as well. Again, additional work that supports a
successful food truck business.
Personal life outside the food truck: Whether you’re in the food truck by yourself
as a single entrepreneur, teaming up with working partners or have your spouse
riding along the side with you to events, somewhere outside of the food truck
day, you need to have personal time.
Time is needed to rest, handle family obligations, but more importantly
recharge and getting ready for the next day.
If you’re lucky, you get to squeeze in some hobbies, personal
development or just hanging out with friends in what limited time you have
remaining outside of sleep. All of the
above repeats itself while you juggle the many hats of entrepreneurship.
As a food truck owner/entrepreneur you have to be able to
manage all of the supporting pieces of making your business work. You have to have the support system in place
to ensure everything is taken cared of so your food truck is able to run each day. This system includes your friends, neighbors,
business partners, family, spouse…more importantly, other food truck
owners. Who else would have a better
understanding of what your day is like than another food truck owner? Chances are they’re going thru the same fun
(chaos) you’re experiencing each day.
They understand the other side of
the food truck window: a typical day.
Ray Chow
CFTO (Chief Food Truck Officer)
