Insights from 4 Food Truck Owner / Operators
We sat down with four experienced food truck owner-operators to bring you valuable insights into their journeys—covering everything from their backgrounds and how they got started to their top tips, marketing strategies, best practices, and more. Catch these in-depth interviews soon on our YouTube channel.
Summary and Key Takeaways
1. Food Industry Experience: He brought extensive experience from the food industry to his venture, having managed 17 McDonald’s stores over a 20-year period.
2. Brick & Mortar vs. Food Truck: He contrasts the high investment risk of brick-and-mortar restaurants with the lower entry barrier of food trucks, suggesting the latter as a more viable option for new entrepreneurs.
3. Building a Food Truck: Despite building a food truck from scratch, he advises against this approach, recommending purchasing from a reputable builder to avoid potential pitfalls.
4. Licensing Challenges: He encountered significant challenges with licensing in Chicago, noting the complexity of dealing with city regulations and wishing he had been better prepared for this aspect.
5. Builder's Advantage: He emphasizes that a professional builder can ensure that a food truck meets all codes and regulations, potentially saving months of time and hassle.
6. Menu Development: His strategy in developing the menu involved taking inspiration from Chipotle, focusing on what customers would prefer rather than personal preferences and targeting a specific market segment.
7. Menu Simplicity: He advises sticking to a limited menu to avoid customer confusion and reduce waste, highlighting the importance of simplicity in food truck operations.
8. Marketing Tips: He recommends investing in an eye-catching wrap for the truck, utilizing it as a moving billboard to attract attention and stand out.
9. Dynamic Location Strategy: Unlike a static brick-and-mortar location, he stresses the importance of continuously moving the food truck to different locations, as repeat customers are less common.
10. Location Regulations: He abides by the rule of parking at least 50 feet away from restaurants during the day and takes advantage of the numerous spots available in Chicago, contrasting it with the limitations of smaller cities or towns.
11. Marketing and Exposure: He proactively traveled everywhere with his food truck, regardless of immediate profitability, to increase visibility and secure private party bookings, viewing it as a long-term marketing strategy.
12. Staffing Flexibility: Typically, he operates the truck with three people, but staff numbers can increase to 4-6 during the summer season.
13. Sales Variability: He experiences a wide range of daily sales, with good days seeing up to 450 tickets and bad days as few as 50, with an average ticket price of $15.
14. Weather Impact: Weather plays a crucial role in determining a good or bad sales day, with winter months generally seeing a slowdown.
15. Uber Eats Partnership: He uses Uber Eats exclusively, as it allows for location flexibility by simply updating the truck's address to the building it's parked near.
16. Point of Sale System: For transactions, he relies on Toast as his point-of-sale (POS) system, appreciating its efficiency and user-friendliness.
17. Steps for Aspiring Owners: His advice for newcomers includes being well-informed, asking plenty of questions, and purchasing a food truck from a reputable builder to ensure a smooth start.
Summary and Key Takeaways:
1. Culinary Experience: Before mastering the art of cooking in a confined space, he gained valuable experience working on several food trucks.
2. Purchasing the Truck: Despite having limited credit, he managed to buy a used food truck through a builder that offered financing, a decision he later regretted as he spent as much money refurbishing it as he did purchasing it.
3. Research and Permitting: He wished he had conducted more thorough research on the permitting process, especially regarding the regulations set by the Local Health Department, which were not as straightforward as he initially thought.
4. Operating Locations: He learned that operating on private property allowed him to serve the public without the limitations he faced when just parking his truck anywhere.
5. Key Advice - Accounting: One of the most crucial pieces of advice he offers is to hire an accountant, which he considers key to managing a food truck business successfully.
6. Menu Concept: His menu was creatively developed by choosing five popular food truck items - burgers, grilled cheese, tacos, mac n cheese - and adding his unique twist to them, understanding that a limited menu reduces the need for excessive inventory.
7. Marketing and Public Relations: Collaborating with a PR company for two years significantly boosted his social media presence, and his participation in the Food Network's Chopped brought consistent attention to his business.
8. Marketing Strategy: He emphasizes the importance of regularly posting high-quality photos and videos of the food, acknowledging that while immediate returns might not be visible, they do eventually materialize.
9. Event Selection: He strategically chooses to operate at private parties, breweries, and festivals, avoiding random neighborhood spots, and emphasizes the financial stability of prepaid private events. “You want to try to get as many of these events as you can”
10. Staffing: The food truck operates efficiently with a three-person team: the owner, a cook, and a cashier.
11. Operating Costs: He notes monthly expenses such as chicken, cheese, and cream, with gas costs averaging around $200 per week.
12. Vehicle Preference: Between a truck and a trailer, he prefers operating with a trailer, specifically one measuring 8.5 x 12 feet, citing parking as a significant factor.
13. Best Practices: He advises understanding the nature of food truck operations, including the acceptance of occasionally running out of food or specific items, and the importance of managing labor costs by operating solo during less busy events. Understand you are just a food truck: “It’s OK to not have an item today”
14. Avoiding Mistakes: He suggests avoiding the temptation to create overly elaborate specials, as customers generally prefer simple, good food from a food truck.
15. Steps for New Entrants: For those considering entering the food truck industry, he recommends getting an accountant, conducting local research and talking to existing food truck owners, ensuring compliance with local permits and truck standards, being creative with the menu without overcomplicating it, and taking the plunge to start the business - just do it.
Summary and Key Takeaways:
1. Initial Partnership: He started with one food truck, forming a strategic partnership where one was a chef and the other a numbers expert, complementing his skills.
2. Expansion Decision Within just eight months, they purchased a second truck, committing to the food truck business as a long-term venture.
3. Brand Multiplication: Over time, they successfully expanded to operate 15-20 food trucks, establishing multiple brands in the process.
4. BLT Kitchens Ownership: In addition to food trucks, he owns BLT Kitchens, a shared kitchen space where 140 tenants rent space, diversifying his business interests.
5. Value of Partners He acknowledges the invaluable contributions of his partners, particularly the culinary expertise which he lacked.
6. Food Truck Appeal: The appeal of a food truck business lay in its low entry barrier; the ability to own an asset that could be sold if needed offered a safety net compared to leasing in a brick-and-mortar setup.
7. Initial Investments: They started with a used truck with a cheap wrap, and installed used equipment themselves, even modifying the truck structure to fit certain equipment. Doesn’t quite recommend taking this route.
8. Transition to New Trucks: Eventually, they transitioned to purchasing new trucks, recognizing the long-term benefits.
9. Employee Training: Training and vetting employees thoroughly, especially in driving and operating the truck, was a key focus.
10. Growth and Opportunities: They experienced some lucky breaks early on, such as a significant event at the Super Bowl in Phoenix, which helped them expand quickly from one to two trucks.
11. Career Shift and Vision: Kyle, previously in a comfortable sales job, took a considerable pay cut to start the food truck business, driven by a vision of scaling the brand for significant growth and profitability.
12. Importance of Marketing: With a background in marketing, he understood its value and invested in SEO to make their truck the go-to choice, handling customer feedback strategically.
13. Social Media Engagement: They emphasized creating engaging content, like reels and customer interactions. Had a system in place where any reviews with 3 star or less would be sent to them so they could respond to the customer and any 4 or 5 stars were posted online.
14. Event Strategy: Preferring private events with known labor and food costs as well as knwon revenue over unpredictable festivals. For exampl, opting for events like 60-person birthday parties for predictable outcomes.
15. Event Selection Importance: He believes that choosing the right event is crucial; a failed event impacts him more than running out of food.
16. Staffing Based on Brand: Staffing varied depending on the brand, with 2-3 people for a Mac n Cheese truck and 4-5 for an Aoili Burger truck.
17. Simple Concepts: In hindsight, starting with simpler concepts would have been preferable.
18. Financial Management: He emphasizes the importance of managing labor and food costs, accepting that bad days are inevitable and planning for recovery on subsequent days.
19. Event Profitability: He breaks down the financials of an average event, illustrating how sales, food costs, labor, gas, wear and tear, and insurance factor into a typical 10-15% profit margin, with some events reaching up to 60%.
Numbers: if you have sales of $1,000 at an event, expect to pay $300 on Food, $250 on Labor plus expenses with gas, wear and tear, and insurance typically leaves you with about 10-15% or $100-150 in profit.
20. Best Practices: Investing in marketing, especially SEO, maintaining quality without cutting corners (like using fresh ingredients for burgers), and meticulous financial management, including hiring a competent bookkeeper, are his best practices.
21. Advice for Newcomers: He advises creating a solid business plan, getting financials in order, building up social media presence, and considering the right partnership, although not essential, can be highly beneficial. Most importantly, he emphasizes taking care of employees and leading by example.
Summary and Key Takeaways:
1. Family Background in Food: Growing up with parents who owned restaurants, he was always involved in tasks like setting up tables and helping in the kitchen, gaining early exposure to the food industry.
2. Career Shift to Food Industry: After earning a finance degree and feeling unfulfilled in the corporate world, he decided to pursue his passion for food, seeing it as his "happy place."
3. Introducing the Food Truck Concept to Parents: He had to explain the concept of a food truck to his parents when he announced his intention to open a "restaurant on wheels.
4. Early Entry into the Food Truck Business: Joining the food truck industry 12 years ago, he was both naive and eager, fascinated by the concept's novelty and potential.
5. Initial Steps in the Industry: His first step into the food truck business involved doing a ride along with a guy who operated a food truck in the suburbs. Learned by doing.
6. Truck Building Process: After purchasing a truck, he worked with a welder to customize and assemble it, utilizing resources like Google to find where to buy boxed trucks.
7. Advice on Building a Food Truck: He suggests having a clear idea of the menu before customizing the truck and equipment, emphasizing the importance of a well-thought-out plan.
8. Permitting Strategy: He navigated the permitting process smoothly by finding grey areas within regulations, notably not needing propane or a hood as he didn’t cook on the truck.
9. Menu Design and Space Constraints: He advocates for a simple menu to manage limited fridge and space efficiently and to serve food faster.
10. Importance of Simplicity and Ticket Times: Keeping the menu focused and simple is key for both operational efficiency and customer satisfaction, especially when dealing with potential long lines.
11. Maximizing Profitability: He stresses the importance of developing a menu that not only considers operational efficiency but also focuses on unique and delicious offerings to attract customers.
12. Innovative Brand Development: He creatively approached brand development by cold emailing a design school professor and convincing him to use the food truck's design as a student project, effectively leveraging local resources.
13. Entrepreneurship Philosophy: He views entrepreneurship as a journey of creativity, resourcefulness, and determination, advocating for making the most of local resources and opportunities.
14. Proactive Marketing Strategy: He accepted every event opportunity, using his food truck as a mobile billboard, which helped in building brand recognition and attracting more events.
15. Creating Opportunities: He believes in creating one's own luck, emphasizing that hard work often leads to more opportunities.
16. Seeking Guidance and Experience: He advises talking to experienced individuals in the industry to gain insights and prepare for the demanding nature of the food truck business.
17. Reality Check on Food Truck Business: He emphasizes that success in the food truck industry requires hard work and dedication, and it is not a path to quick riches.
18. Market Research and Food Knowledge: He underlines the importance of thoroughly researching the food and understanding the market dynamics in the area of operation.
19. Menu-Centric Approach: He recommends designing the menu first and then developing the rest of the business around it, ensuring that the food truck aligns with the culinary offerings.
20. Truck Build-Out and Trust in Builder: He suggests finding a trustworthy builder to handle the truck's build-out, allowing for professional expertise in the customization process.
